How many awesome¹ Mondays have you had in your life? If you are like me, not many I reckon. Mondays can be grim. You are feeling very fragile, nervous, perhaps a little depressed² at the mountain of work facing you, and you are having fits of nostalgia³ about the great weekend. But what if you could organize Fridays a bit better to make the entry into the Monday atmosphere less traumatic? Read on, because you could soon be making your Mondays awesome.

你这辈子遇到过多少美妙的周一？如果你跟我一样，估计不多吧。周一可能很讨厌。你觉得脆弱紧张，一想到堆积如山的工作，或许还有点情绪低落，忍不住怀念美好周末。但是，如果你能更好地规划周五，进而更平和地过渡到周一呢？继续往下读吧，很快你就能拥有美妙的周一了.

1. Get one major task finished

搞定一项主要任务。

This is the task that you have said that you will do by Friday. TGIF (Thank God it’s Friday) is now here and you just have to get it done. Here are some tips to make sure this happens this Friday and not Monday or Tuesday … or even next Friday!

有些任务你说要等到周五再做。谢天谢地，现在就是周五啦，赶紧去搞定吧。下面这些建议可以保证你在本周五就完成任务，而不用拖到下周一周二……甚至下周五！

Alert colleagues that you will be unavailable for a few hours.

告诉同事你这几个小时会很忙。

Set yourself a time limit – use one of the new task management apps if that helps you. Use the ‘Pomodoro’ time alarm if it suits you. This allows you to work in 25-minute blocks with a 5-minute break after the first slot. Breaks become longer as you progress through the day. It’s up to you.

设定一个时间期限——如果可行，可以选用一款任务管理软件。要是番茄钟定时器比较管用，也可以尝试一下。这样你可以先工作25分钟，再休息5分钟。随着全天工作的延续，休息时间也相应延长。时间随你设定。

2. Find a quiet place to work

找个安静地方工作。

There may be areas where you can shut yourself away to finish the above task. This is essential as you can avoid the ‘drive-bys’ and all the other interruptions that inevitably⁴ mess up your concentration. Not only is valuable time lost but stress levels are increased.

或许你能找到可以关上门单独完成任务的地方。这很有必要，因为能保证你免受汽车喇叭及其他干扰，以免注意力受到影响。干扰不仅浪费宝贵时间，还导致压力的增加。

3. Now plan the week ahead

提前制定一周计划。

Make a to do list now, rather than on Monday morning when you may be overwhelmed with the mayhem. When planning the week ahead, keep in mind that Mondays and Tuesdays are the most productive days at work, so plan the most difficult tasks for then.

现在就制定任务清单，而不要等到周一早上，因为到时候你可能会混乱无措。在提前制定一周计划时，别忘了周一和周二是工作效率最高的两天，所以请把最困难的任务安排在这两天。

With the to do list made, you can easily cut it by 50% so that you are left with the top priorities for the coming week. Employees frequently misjudge timing⁵ and also tend to put minor⁶ jobs on the list.

任务清单列好后，你可以轻松剔除一半，只留下下周最紧要的任务。员工通常会对时间作出错误判断，而且还会把琐事列到清单上。

4. Ask for help on Friday, not Monday

在周五而非周一请求帮助。

If you are going to need extra help during the coming week, Friday is the best day to ask for it. This gives managers time to allocate⁷ staff, and there is also a better chance that your request will be granted. It shows that you are planning ahead. Your line manager may well be more open to such requests on a Friday than on a hectic⁸ Monday morning!

如果下周你将需要额外帮助，最好在周五就提出来。这样经理才有时间安排人事，而且你的请求也更容易获得批准，因为这表明你在提前作规划。相比在忙乱的周一早上，在周五的话，部门经理更容易答应你的请求！

5. Plan meetings for later in the week

计划好后半周的会议事项。

If you decide on meetings, it is better to leave Mondays free, unless the meetings are high priority ones. The reason is that everybody else is also under pressure and you can all have a more productive day.

如果要开会，最好不要安排在周一，除非会议真的特别重要。原因在于，其他人也都压力重重，你得安排在更有效率的时候。

If you are running section meetings, make sure that there is a strict time limit on them and that there is a no-device policy in place.

如果你要赶部门会议，一定要设定时间，而且要确保现场没有设备策略。

If you are ever asked by your supervisor⁹ what suggestions you have to improve meetings, mention the two points above as they can really make a difference

.

如果上司问你有什么改善会议的建议，那就说说前面提到的两点吧，确实会有效果。

6. Make Friday an email-free day

让周五成为“屏蔽邮件”的一天。

If you are in a managerial role, consider what many companies have done by banning all internal emails on Fridays. Everybody gets more work done. You can benefit enormously from this. Think about the following reasons many companies are now advocating for this:

如果你位居管理层，那就想想有多少公司已经禁止在周五发内部邮件了吧。这样所有人都能完成更多工作，你肯定能受益匪浅。看看下面这些理由吧，很多公司都在大张旗鼓：

It makes more use of the office phone system

可以更充分地利用办公电话系统。

It reduces digital clutter¹⁰

减少数据混乱。

It encourages more face-to-face interaction with coworkers

鼓励员工多进行面对面交流。

7. Friday is the day to change your routine

在周五改变日常例事。

Colleagues are more relaxed and more open to informal chats, lunch appointments and discussions on Fridays. You can try changing your routine by:

在周五，同事们都比较放松，也更乐意闲聊或讨论午餐约会等等。你可以试着改变日常例事：

Gravitating to people who inspire you

和激励你的人相处。

Avoiding the whiners and the rumor¹¹ mongers

避开牢骚满腹和八卦嚼舌的人。

Changing your office route so that you meet new colleagues you do not normally see

改变一下办公惯例，这样你或许能结识平时不太注意的同事。

Asking colleagues if you can shadow them for a few hours. You may feel that you want more input¹² on the financial and marketing¹³ areas, for example.

问同事你是否可以一个人呆几个小时。比如你可以说，你需要更投入地做好财务和市场营销部分的工作。

Changing your routine and meeting new coworkers will be stimulating¹⁴ and help you to get out of the rut. Friday is a great day to do it as people are in a better mood with the weekend coming up.

改变日常惯例或结识新同事可以激发热情，使你摆脱庸常。周五绝对是个好机会，因为周末就要到来，大家心情都比较愉快。

8. Offer to help your boss or a colleague

主动帮助老板或同事。

Because you have been so productive on Monday, you now have some spare time on Friday. Instead of surfing the Internet and catching¹⁵ up on Facebook, why not earn some brownie points by offering to help your manager with an outstanding task that he or she is trying to finish, or asking a team member what help they need.

鉴于你周一时的工作效率很高，现在周五可以比较空闲了。与其上网浏览Facebook，何不主动帮助上司解决他/她正努力完成的任务，或者问问小组同事有没有什么需要帮忙的，给自己赢些好印象呢？

9. Finish off mindless tasks

结束漫无目的的任务。

Friday is a great day to do routine tasks. They are fairly easy and it is the end of the week, when energy is inevitably low. This could be anything from tidying up digital files, to working on reports, minutes, performance assessments¹⁶, and accounting¹⁷.

周五是适合处理日常琐事的好机会。琐事做起来比较容易，而周五又是上班的最后一天，精力显然不太充沛。琐事既可以是整理电子文档，也可以是处理报告、会议记录、业绩评估或会计核算。

By doing this, you are freeing up Monday and the rest of the week when these could be irritating obstacles to one of your top priorities. A missed deadline could creep up on you.

这样的话，下周一你就能轻松得多，接下来也不会因为琐事造成的繁琐而影响到重要任务。不然错过截止期限可就麻烦了。

10. Show appreciation¹⁸

表达感激。

Last, but not least, finish the week with a flourish. Send an email (or a thank-you note if you still know how to use a pen!) to a colleague who has performed well, or who has gone the extra mile to help the team out. By just saying thank you will increase motivation and good will, which will contribute to making your workplace a happier and more productive place.

最后，用感激的言辞结束一周吧。如果乐意，可以手写一张感谢便条，要么就发一封邮件，感谢表现出色的同事或竭力为团队出力的员工。简单道一句感谢不仅表达激励与友善，还能让工作氛围更愉快、工作效率更高。

Now that you have finished your week by planning wisely and getting rid of a lot of clutter, you are in pole position to have an awesome Monday. Enjoy it for a change!

通过明智规划与摆脱杂乱，现在你已经结束了这一周，并且即将迎来美妙的周一。享受这一改变吧！

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities¹⁹ no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely²⁰ and with too high a spirit to be encumbered²¹ with your old nonsense.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“充实度过每一天。虽难会有疏忽与蠢行，但你已经尽己所能；所以请不要放在心上。明天又将是新的一天，请平和喜悦地去开始，并做好再次犯傻的准备吧。”~ 拉尔夫•瓦多尔•爱默生