1 . Success in 18 minutes

I believe that routines are the ________ to success — whether in career, in fitness goals, or in your relationships. Routines provide us with an opportunity to reach our goals and ensure that we are taking steps in the right ________. In my view, ________ things like exercise routines, we must also include routines for ________ — a time ________ to planning and reflecting on what we’re doing and where we’re going.

In his book “18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done”, Peter Bregman outlines an 18-minute daily routine that will help us to reflect on where we are going, and to ________ that we remain on the right path throughout the day. Here, I will outline this routine, how to do it, and why it’s important. This routine is flexible, so take the parts that are ________ to you and make it your own.

Taking 5 minutes in the morning to plan your day is ________ important. Bregman ________ sitting down with your to-do list and figuring out what you can do that will make today highly ________. Plan what you are going to do today. These 5 minutes in the morning can look like anything. The point is to take some time to reflect on the day ahead and plan your direction.

Set an alarm for each hour. When your alarm goes off, take one minute to reflect. Take a deep breath. Reflect on the last hour — did you do what you wanted to get done? Did you ________ what you were doing? Then make a plan for what you are going to do for the next hour.

Take 5 minutes at the end of your work day to reflect on how the day went. Bregman suggests asking yourself the following questions:

One: How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure? Is there any better way to ________ them?

Two: What did I learn today? What do I plan to do — differently or the same — tomorrow?

Three: Did I interact with others? Is there anyone I need to thank, or ask a question, or   ________ thoughts with?

Again, the point is to reflect and ensure you’re on the right path, as well as setting you up for a productive day tomorrow.

Taking time to plan and reflect on your days is important. A simple, 18-minute routine is all you need to achieve this. ________ this process is simple and quick, it has powerful results. “The moments add up to days, the days add up to years, and the years add up to your life. You’ll know you’re getting the right things done. It all starts with your one thing.” ________, don’t hesitate. Start your reflection routine from today!

2 . There are plentiful ways to help increase your efficiency.     1     But according to time management trainers, employing even one of the strategies can save most people hours each week.   

Clarify actual expectations. When you take on a significant task, talk with key participants about what they expect. Perhaps they need a PowerPoint deck; perhaps they don’t.     2     By clarifying what’s actually needed and to what level, you can save hours of time on getting tasks done.

    3     Depending on what you need to accomplish, you can potentially save time by sharing what you’ve done by word of mouth. When you are asked to research a particular topic, instead of writing up a formal presentation, you may accomplish your purposes in less time during a one-on-one discussion. This strategy also works well if you need to communicate about more abstract concepts.

Develop templates (模板) and checklists. To speed up your process on routine items, come up with a template or checklist. You might want templates for activities like putting together reports or presentations. Checklists are valuable for weekly planning or other repeated activities.     4    You can keep them more systematically, but simply having them recorded in a Word document is sufficient.

Time box your work. Finally, a strategy for doing a good job faster is deciding how much time you will spend on a task, and them sticking to it. If you tend to overinvest in the research stage, you may want to tell yourself you have to stop after one to two hours. Time boxing doesn’t guarantee you’ll finish the work in the assigned time.     5