賽林·馬爾科奇　藍(lán)嵐

It can seem like there’s never enough time—not enough for sleep and not enough for play， not enough for cooking and not enough for exercise.

There’s a relatively new term to describe this feeling： time famine， or the sensation of having too much to do without enough time to do it.

In order to structure what little time we feel we have， one strategy we deploy is scheduling. In fact， reliance on organizational tools like daily planners has been on the rise. In two recent surveys， 51 percent of respondents said they regularly used their calendar app， while 63 percent of office workers consider calendars “very important.”

The idea is that scheduling will make you more efficient： When you allocate your time， it organizes your day into a series of appointments， meetings and calls， while blocking off free time for other activities or tasks.

But in a series of eight studies， Gabriela Tonietto， Steve Nowlis and I found that scheduling can sometimes backfire—and actually make us less productive.

An appointment approaches—and time “shrinks”

Much of scheduling’s downside has to do with the anticipation of a meeting or appointment. When we know a scheduled meeting or phone call is looming， it can make us feel like we have less time to do what we need to do.

In one study， we asked attendees of an academic conference whether they would go to the presidential address taking place about an hour later. Some said they would， and others said they wouldn’t. Those who planned to attend the address reported that the hour leading up to it felt shorter.

In another study， we had half of the participants imagine that a friend would be coming over in an hour， while the other half were told to imagine they had no plans. We asked all of the participants how many minutes they “subjectively” felt like they could spend reading during that same hour.

Those who were told to imagine that a friend would be coming over reported that the hour leading up to the visit had only 40 usable minutes for reading. Those who were told to imagine they had no plans felt as if they had 49 minutes to read.

So the presence of an upcoming activity seems to have shrunk how much time people felt they had to do something.

Why might this happen？

We believe that when there’s an appointment looming， we direct our attention to it， whether it’s mentally preparing for it or simply dreading it. This makes the future appointment feel more substantial; as a result， the time interval leading up to the scheduled activity feels limited and insufficient.

Free to do… less？

But in the end， you still have the same amount of time leading up to a scheduled event.

So feeling like you have less time shouldn’t really matter， right？ But it does. The feeling by itself can influence what people decide to do.

We know that when something is scarce， people consider it more valuable and are less willing to part with it.

The same is true for time. If time feels limited， people are less likely to use it—even when it’s in their best interest.

So in another study， we gave participants an empty calendar for the next day and asked them to fill it up， as accurately as possible， with what they had scheduled （including preparation or transition times）. This allowed us to correctly calculate how much free time they had in between each planned event.

We then gave participants an opportunity to participate in a second study. Everyone made a choice between participating in a 30-minute online study that would earn them $2.50， or signing up for a 45-minute online study to receive $5.00. Each would take place during an hourlong window.

On our end， we strategically chose the hourlong window for the participants. We told half of them that the study would take place within an hour of an event they’d scheduled. The other half would take the study during a time period that concluded with a half-hour cushion before their scheduled event.

We found that participants in the first group were much less likely to choose the longer but more lucrative study—despite having more than enough time to complete the study.

In yet another study， we wondered if the mere reminder of an upcoming event could have a similar effect.

Before beginning an unrelated study， we told half of the participants that they would have about five minutes to do whatever they wanted. We told the other half they had about five minutes before we would “get started.”

For those in the latter group， the simple mention of “starting something” was enough to change their behavior. We found that they engaged in significantly fewer activities， whether it was answering emails or checking social media， in this short five-minute period.

You’re less famished than you think

Some might think that time famine arises because they have too much to do and not enough time to do it.

While this may certainly be the case at times， our results suggest that the fault also lies in our own perception of what we feel can be done with the time we have. In other words， it’s important to realize that we might be contributing to our time famine.

If you love scheduling and planning out your days， a trick could be to schedule events or tasks back-to-back， which leaves you with larger chunks of unscheduled time. Several uninterrupted hours of unscheduled time will feel longer， especially if there’s nothing scheduled looming.

It can be effective to remind yourself that time isn’t as short as it feels. Even if you don’t think you’ll have enough time to complete something， you can still start a task and finish it later.

As Aristotle once said， “Well begun is half done.”

大家的時(shí)間好像永遠(yuǎn)都不夠用——睡覺(jué)沒(méi)時(shí)間，玩耍沒(méi)時(shí)間，做飯沒(méi)時(shí)間，運(yùn)動(dòng)也沒(méi)時(shí)間。

有個(gè)比較新的詞用來(lái)描述這種感覺(jué)：時(shí)間饑荒，即“手有活兒而時(shí)不足”的感覺(jué)。

我們覺(jué)得時(shí)間就那么點(diǎn)兒，為了合理安排，采用的一大策略便是“日程安排”。事實(shí)上，依靠日程本之類(lèi)的管理工具的人與日俱增。最近兩項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，51%的受訪者表示經(jīng)常使用日程安排類(lèi)應(yīng)用，63%的辦公室職員則認(rèn)為日程安排“非常重要”。

人們相信安排日程能夠提高效率：分配好時(shí)間，你的一天便會(huì)理順成一連串的約見(jiàn)、會(huì)議和拜訪，同時(shí)還會(huì)為其他活動(dòng)或任務(wù)留出空間。

然而，加布里埃拉·托涅托、史蒂夫·諾利斯和我做了8項(xiàng)研究后發(fā)現(xiàn)日程安排有時(shí)會(huì)適得其反——實(shí)際上，效率會(huì)因此而下滑。

約見(jiàn)迫近，時(shí)間 “縮緊”

日程安排的弊端絕大部分在于，我們對(duì)會(huì)議或者約見(jiàn)會(huì)念念不忘。一想到會(huì)議或者電話(huà)將如期而至，就更覺(jué)得手頭的活兒沒(méi)時(shí)間干了。

在一項(xiàng)研究中，我們?cè)儐?wèn)學(xué)術(shù)會(huì)議的參會(huì)者一小時(shí)后是否去聽(tīng)會(huì)議的主席致辭。有表示要去的，也有表示不去的。計(jì)劃要去的人告訴我們，他們覺(jué)得演講前的一小時(shí)比平時(shí)要短一些。

在另一項(xiàng)研究中，我們讓一半的受試者想象一小時(shí)后有朋友來(lái)訪，而讓另一半想象一小時(shí)后沒(méi)什么安排。我們征詢(xún)了所有受試者，“主觀上”他們認(rèn)為自己可以在這同一小時(shí)內(nèi)讀多少分鐘的書(shū)。

想象有朋友來(lái)訪的人回答在這一小時(shí)里僅有40分鐘可以用來(lái)讀書(shū)。想象沒(méi)什么安排的人感覺(jué)自己的讀書(shū)時(shí)間能有49分鐘。

因此，隨著即將要做的事情迫近，人們似乎就會(huì)覺(jué)得手頭的時(shí)間縮水了。

原因何在？

我們認(rèn)為，約見(jiàn)到來(lái)之前，無(wú)論是為了做好心理準(zhǔn)備還是單純因?yàn)楹ε?，人們的注意力都?huì)轉(zhuǎn)移到這件事上面。一旦轉(zhuǎn)移，約見(jiàn)仿佛就觸手可及了。結(jié)果我們感到現(xiàn)在和安排好的事情中間間隔變短，時(shí)間就不夠用了。

盡量……少做？

但是說(shuō)到底，安排的事情到來(lái)前的那段時(shí)間長(zhǎng)度是不會(huì)改變的。

所以就算覺(jué)得“時(shí)間縮水”也無(wú)所謂，對(duì)吧？事實(shí)并非如此。這種感覺(jué)會(huì)在做決定時(shí)產(chǎn)生影響。

眾所周知，物以稀為貴，越是珍貴，越不想舍棄。

時(shí)間也是如此。如果時(shí)間有限，人們就不太可能會(huì)利用它，即便利用這些時(shí)間是有益處的。

所以在另一項(xiàng)研究中，我們給受試者一張空白日程表，要求他們填上第二天計(jì)劃要做的事（包括準(zhǔn)備時(shí)間和過(guò)渡時(shí)間），越詳細(xì)越好。據(jù)此我們就能準(zhǔn)確計(jì)算出他們?cè)趦杉轮g空余出來(lái)的時(shí)間。

在接下來(lái)的研究中，我們給予受試者選擇的機(jī)會(huì)，從以下兩種網(wǎng)絡(luò)學(xué)習(xí)中二選一：一種時(shí)長(zhǎng)30分鐘，能掙2.5美元，另一種時(shí)長(zhǎng)45分鐘，報(bào)酬為5美元。每一種都會(huì)在一小時(shí)的區(qū)間內(nèi)進(jìn)行。

作為研究者，為受試者選擇這一小時(shí)的區(qū)間有我們的策略。我們告知一半的受試者，網(wǎng)絡(luò)學(xué)習(xí)將在他們?cè)纫?guī)劃好做某事的時(shí)段中的一小時(shí)內(nèi)進(jìn)行。對(duì)于另一半受試者，我們告訴他們，網(wǎng)絡(luò)學(xué)習(xí)完成后有半小時(shí)緩沖時(shí)間，之后可以去做原先規(guī)劃好的事。

我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，第一組受試者雖然有更多的時(shí)間完成學(xué)習(xí)，但是他們選擇耗時(shí)較長(zhǎng)但獲利較多的那種學(xué)習(xí)類(lèi)型的幾率更低。

在另一項(xiàng)研究中，我們想要了解的是，如果只是提醒某件事即將到來(lái)，是否會(huì)產(chǎn)生類(lèi)似的效果。

在一項(xiàng)不相關(guān)的研究開(kāi)始前，我們告訴一半受試者，他們有5分鐘自由活動(dòng)時(shí)間。我們告訴另一半受試者，他們還有5分鐘，之后研究就要“開(kāi)始”了。

對(duì)第二組受試者來(lái)說(shuō)，“開(kāi)始做某事”的提醒足以改變他們的行為。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在這短短的5分鐘內(nèi)，他們要么回復(fù)電子郵件，要么查看社交媒體，從事的活動(dòng)顯著減少了。

其實(shí)你并沒(méi)有那么“饑荒”

有些人可能認(rèn)為，產(chǎn)生“時(shí)間饑荒”的原因是手上的活兒太多，而時(shí)間卻不足。

有時(shí)的確如此。但我們的研究表明，這種錯(cuò)覺(jué)和我們認(rèn)為可以用自己所掌握的時(shí)間做什么息息相關(guān)。換句話(huà)說(shuō)，認(rèn)識(shí)到是自己導(dǎo)致了“時(shí)間饑荒”這一點(diǎn)非常重要。

如果你喜歡安排和計(jì)劃每一天，這里有個(gè)小竅門(mén)可供參考：可以把各件事或各個(gè)任務(wù)安排得一氣呵成，這樣就剩下大塊的未安排時(shí)間。這段時(shí)間無(wú)人打擾，更顯悠長(zhǎng)，尤其是后面不再有計(jì)劃好的事情迫近的時(shí)候。

提醒自己“時(shí)間并不比感到的那般短暫”是個(gè)有效的方法。即使覺(jué)得時(shí)間不夠，仍舊可以開(kāi)啟任務(wù)，然后遲一些完成它。

亞里士多德不是說(shuō)過(guò)嗎：“好的開(kāi)始是成功的一半。”

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)選手，單位：廣西民族大學(xué)）