Yesterday started with the best of intentions. I walked into my office in the morning with a vague sense of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I sat down, turned on my computer, and checked my email. Two hours later, after fighting several fires, solving other people's problems, and dealing with whatever happened to be thrown at me through my computer and phone, I could hardly remember what I had set out to accomplish when I first turned on my computer. I'd been ambushed. And I know better.

    When I teach time management, I always start with the same question: How many of you have too much time and not enough to do in it? In ten years, no one has ever raised a hand.

    That means we start every day knowing we're not going to get it all done. So how we spend our time is a key strategic decision. That's why it's a good idea to create a to do list and an ignore list. The hardest attention to focus is our own.

    But even with those lists, the challenge, as always, is execution. How can you stick to a plan when so many things threaten to derail it? How can you focus on a few important things when so many things require your attention?

    We need a trick.

    Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru, knows all about tricks; he's famous for handcuffing himself and then swimming a mile or more while towing large boats filled with people. But he's more than just a showman. He invented several exercise machines including the ones with pulleys and weight selectors in health clubs throughout the world. And his show, The Jack LaLanne Show, was the longest running television fitness program, on the air for 34 years.

    But none of that is what impresses me. He has one trick that I believe is his real secret power.

    Ritual.

    At the age of 94, he still spends the first two hours of his day exercising. Ninety minutes lifting weights and 30 minutes swimming or walking. Every morning. He needs to do so to achieve his goals: on his 95th birthday he plans to swim from the coast of California to Santa Catalina Island, a distance of 20 miles. Also, as he is fond of saying, "I cannot afford to die. It will ruin my image."

    So he works, consistently and deliberately, toward his goals. He does the same things day in and day out. He cares about his fitness and he's built it into his schedule.

    Managing our time needs to become a ritual too. Not simply a list or a vague sense of our priorities. That's not consistent or deliberate. It needs to be an ongoing process we follow no matter what to keep us focused on our priorities throughout the day.

    I think we can do it in three steps that take less than 18 minutes over an eight-hour workday.

    STEP 1 （5 Minutes） Set Plan for Day. Before turning on your computer, sit down with a blank piece of paper and decide what will make this day highly successful. What can you realistically accomplish that will further your goals and allow you to leave at the end of the day feeling like you've been productive and successful? Write those things down.

    Now, most importantly, take your calendar and schedule those things into time slots, placing the hardest and most important items at the beginning of the day. And by the beginning of the day I mean, if possible, before even checking your email. If your entire list does not fit into your calendar, reprioritize your list. There is tremendous power in deciding when and where you are going to do something.

    In their book The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz describe a study in which a group of women agreed to do a breast self-exam during a period of 30 days. 100% of those who said where and when they were going to do it completed the exam. Only 53% of the others did.

    In another study, drug addicts in withdrawal （can you find a more stressed-out population?） agreed to write an essay before 5 p.m. on a certain day. 80% of those who said when and where they would write the essay completed it. None of the others did.

    If you want to get something done, decide when and where you're going to do it. Otherwise, take it off your list.

    STEP 2 （1 minute every hour） Refocus. Set your watch, phone, or computer to ring every hour. When it rings, take a deep breath, look at your list and ask yourself if you spent your last hour productively. Then look at your calendar and deliberately recommit to how you are going to use the next hour. Manage your day hour by hour. Don't let the hours manage you.

    STEP 3 （5 minutes） Review. Shut off your computer and review your day. What worked? Where did you focus? Where did you get distracted? What did you learn that will help you be more productive tomorrow?

    The power of rituals is their predictability. You do the same thing in the same way over and over again. And so the outcome of a ritual is predictable too. If you choose your focus deliberately and wisely and consistently remind yourself of that focus, you will stay focused. It's simple.

    This particular ritual may not help you swim the English Channel while towing a cruise ship with your hands tied together. But it may just help you leave the office feeling productive and successful.

    And, at the end of the day, isn't that a higher priority?

    昨天的開始本來是精神飽滿的。我一大早走進我的辦公室，心里大致清楚我想做什么。然后我坐下，打開電腦，查看Email.兩小時后，在應付幾個緊急事件、解決其他人的問題、以及處理所有經由電腦和電話扔給我的事情之后，我幾乎都記不起來剛開電腦時我本打算做什么了。我中了個圈套。我可不會上當。

    當我教授時間管理學時，我總是以同一個問題開場：你們之中有多少人覺得自己時間太多，事不夠做？十年中，沒有一個人舉過手。

    那就意味著，我們每天一起身就明白，我們不可能做完所有要做的事。所以怎么分配我們的時間是一個關鍵戰略決定。因此，列一個待辦事項清單和一個忽略事項清單是個好辦法。最難集中的注意力就是我們自己的注意力。

    但是即使列好了清單，一般來說，真正的挑戰還是執行它。那么多事都有讓計劃脫軌的威脅，你怎么才能堅持計劃呢？那么多事都需要你的處理，你怎么才能專注于一些重要的事情上呢？

    我們需要一點小技巧。

    健身教練Jack LaLanne, 了解很多技巧。他最出名的舉動就是，給自己戴上手銬，然后游了一公里多，還拉著滿滿一大船人。但他可不僅僅是個愛顯擺的家伙。他發明了好幾種健身器材，包括一些全世界健身俱樂部里都有的，帶滑輪和壓力探測器的器材。他主持的節目The Jack Lalanne show是播放時間最長的電視健身節目，上映了整整34年。

    但讓我印象深刻的可不是這些技巧。他有個技巧，我相信，才是他真正的秘密力量。

    儀式。

    94歲時，他還是把一天中前兩個小時用于鍛煉。90分鐘舉重，30分鐘游泳或散步。每天早上他都要這么做，為了達到一個目標：在95歲生日那天，他計劃要從加利福尼亞海岸游到圣卡達麗娜島，全程20英里。他喜歡說："我可不能死。那樣會破壞我的形象的。"

    他就這樣持續而謹慎地朝著目標努力，一天天做著同樣的事情。他很關心自己的身體，他把這種關注融入了他的日程。

    時間管理也需要成為我們的一種儀式。而不僅僅是一份清單，或對我們的重要事務的一個大致概念。那既不持續也不詳盡。它必須是我們無論如何都要遵從的一個持續不斷的過程，這樣才能使我們的注意力從頭到尾都集中在重要事務上。

    我想這個儀式可以分三步進行，在一個8小時工作日里只占不到18分鐘。

    第一步（5分鐘） 制定一天的計劃。在開電腦前，坐下來，拿一張白紙，決定今天要做什么才算是成功的一天。你能實際地做些什么事來追尋你的目標，還能使你下班時覺得自己很高產很成功呢？把那些事寫下來。

    現在，最重要的是，拿出你的日程表，把那些事安排到具體時間上。把最難和最重要的事情放在前面。我說前面的意思是，如果可以的話，甚至放在收郵件前面。如果你的整個清單不能安排到日程中去，重排清單。決定你要在什么時候什么地方做什么事，是非常有用的。

    Jim Loehr和Tony Schwartz在他們的著作《精力管理》里面描述了一個實驗，一組女性同意在30天內每天做乳房自檢。那些說了他們會在何時何地做檢查的女性，100%都完成了檢驗。只有53%的其他人做到了。

    在另一個實驗里，一群正在戒毒的毒品依賴者（你還能找到一個壓力更大的人群嗎）同意在某天下午五點前寫一篇文章。那些說了他們會在何時何地寫文章的人，80%完成了任務。其他人全都沒有完成。

    如果你想做成什么事，決定你要在何時何地去做。否則，就把這件事從你的清單上刪除吧。

    第二步（每小時一分鐘）重新集中精力。設置你的表或者電腦，每小時響一次鬧鐘。當鬧鐘響的時候，深呼吸一次，看看你的清單，問問自己上個小時有沒有過的卓有成效。然后看看你的日程，仔細地回憶一下你準備怎么過下一個小時。一小時一小時地管理你的一天。別讓小時管著你。

    第三步（5分鐘）回顧。關掉電腦，回顧你的一天。哪些成功了？哪些時候你很專注？哪些時候你走神了？你學到了哪些東西可以讓你的明天過的更卓有成效的？

    儀式的力量在于它的預見性。你用同樣的方式一遍又一遍做同樣的事情，于是結果就可以預知了。如果你仔細地明智地選擇你的焦點，不斷提醒自己專注于它們，你就會集中精力。這很簡單。

    這個特定的技巧也許沒法幫你綁著手拖著一條巡邏船游過英吉利海峽。但它也許會讓你離開辦公室時覺得很高產，很有成就感

    在一天結束的時候，這不是更重要的嗎？