Multitasking is probably the single most overrated skill in modern life. Only 3% of the population are “supertaskers,” according to a study from Ohio University. The rest of us just pretend to be.

　　多任务处理能力也许是现代生活中被过高评估的一项能力。俄亥俄州立大学的一项研究显示，只有3%的人是“超级工作者”，而其他人只是自称有多任务处理能力罢了。

　　A number of systems have been developed to save us from our endless to-do lists. One such system is “Personal Kanban,” a just-in-time manufacturing process developed at Toyota in the late 1940s.

　　为了使我们免于无止境的代办事项，人们发展了许多方法体系。其中一种体系就是“个人看板”，这是20世纪40年代晚期日本丰田汽车公司推出的一种准时化生产工序(又称无库存生产方式)。

　　James Benson, a former urban planner based in Seattle who authored Personal Kanban: Mapping Work — Navigating Life, says that industrial Kanban was a way for Toyota to avoid overproducing. He has adapted the system to help us reduce the “too many tasks on my mind” feeling.

　　西雅图前城市规划师詹姆斯·本森撰写了《个人看板：制定工作计划——为人生导航》这本书，他表示工业看板是丰田避免过度生产的一种方法。他改写了这一体系，来帮助我们减轻“脑海中有太多任务”的感觉。

　　Personal Kanban works on two principles: Visualize your work, and limit your total number of “works in progress.” Setting up a system is simple:

　　个人看板致力于两项原则：使你的工作形象化，限定“进行中的工作”总数。创建一个体系很简单：

　　• Find a board with which you can use post-it notes or thumbtacks. On it, create three columns: Options, Doing, and Done.

　　找一块可以使用便利贴或图钉的白板，并在板子上创建“事项、进行中、完成”这三个纵列。

　　• Write your individual tasks down on separate cards. You might customize these tickets by urgency or type (perhaps personal or business) with colors or symbols. Post all of these cards in the “Options” column.

　　把你的个人任务分别写在不同的卡片上。你可以用颜色或符号来标明紧急或类型(也许是个人或商务)来定制这些标签。然后把所有的卡片贴到“事项”一栏中。

　　• From that column, choose no more than three to move into the middle “Doing” column. These are the works in progress you’re focused on in a timeframe of your choosing.

　　从“事项”一栏中，选择不超过三张卡片移到中间“进行中”这一栏里。这些是你在选定的时间段里要集中处理的工作。

　　• When a task is complete, move it into the “Done” column, and choose a new option to pull into “Doing.”

　　一项任务完成时，就把那张卡片移到“完成”一栏中，然后选择一项新的任务并把它拉入“进行中”一栏里。

　　Gaining some self-awareness is the promise of sticking to this plan.

　　有点自觉性是坚持这一计划的保证。

　　In theory or practice, the best time-management systems aren’t about increasing churn; they’re about making room to be human.

　　不论是理论上还是实践中，最佳时间管理方法都不是使人更加不安，而是为人们留出空间。

（编辑：何莹莹）