It’s important to be on the lookout of1 ways to save time. Here are some tips:
★There is no sense in wasting time being open-minded about everything. Don’t waste time listening to agreement in favor of something you thought through years ago and decided against.
★Dressing in the morning make sure you have both shoes and two socks together in front of the chair so you only have to bend over once to put on all four of them.
★If the printer on your computer is slow and you’re thirsty, press PRINT and then go get a drink. By the time you get back, the printing will be finished and you’ll no longer be thirsty.
★When opening mail, slit2 open all the envelopes before reading anything. It takes longer to slit, read, slit, read, slit, read so it’s quickest to slit, slit, slit, slit, read, read, read. Save time by not reading anything in an envelope that says IMPORTANT3!
★Read the newspaper during the commercials4 on television news.
★Never start a crossword puzzle. If you have that much time to waste, take a nap.
★When boiling water, put the water in two pans or one kettle and one pan. Use the first to boil to start the coffee.
★When driving on a road with no traffic, stay on the inside of every curve5, thus straightening out the road thus saving both distance and time.
★While brushing your teeth, turn on the shower so you don’t have to wait for hot water when you’re ready to get in.
★If you work on an upper floor in an office building, wait until you have pressed the elevator6 button before starting to put on your coat. If it takes 15seconds to button your coat and two minutes for the elevator to come, you’re only losing a minute and 45 seconds.
★In the supermarket, don’t pick the shortest line. Choose the line in which people have least in their shopping carts.
★This is personal but when I’m writing I save time by not putting apostrophes7 in words like “isnt,” “dont,” “arent” and“wouldnt.” I estimate that in a 400-word letter, I save as much as five seconds by not putting in about 30 apostrophes.
★Don’t put everything back where it belongs every time you use it. Wait until you have a lot of stuff out of place and put it all back where it belongs at one time.
在生活中，随时注意节约时间是十分重要的。下面就是一些省时妙方：
★没有必要把时间浪费在尝试接受人们的各种观点上。如果几年前你就已经思考过而且反对某个观点，那你就不用浪费时间再去听赞同的意见了。
★ 早上穿衣服的时候，一定要把一双鞋和两只袜子一起放在椅子前面。这样一来，你只用弯一次腰就穿上所有这些了。
★如果你的打印机速度很慢，而正好你又渴了，你就应该按下“打印”键，再去拿水喝。这样当你回来的时候，不但东西打好了，你也已经喝过水了。
★拆信的时候，应该在读信前拆开所有信件。要知道，比起拆——读——拆——读——拆——读这个过程，拆——拆——拆——读——读——读会快得多。此外，千万别浪费时间去读信封上印着“重要信件”的信。
★利用穿插在电视新闻节目中的广告时间读报。
★千万别做字谜游戏。如果你真有这么多时间可以挥霍，还不如去打个盹。
★烧水的时候，应该把水放在两个平底锅中，或分放在一把水壶和一个平底锅中。然后用先烧开的锅里的水冲咖啡。
★当周围没有车辆时，在每个道路转弯处都应该在最里面的车道上开车。这样就可以既保证路程最短，又节省时间。
★应该趁刷牙的时候就先把洗澡水打开。这样等你刷完牙要洗澡的时候，水管里流出来的就是热水了。
★如果你在一幢办公楼的高层上班，你就应该等按下下楼电梯的按钮后，再穿上外套。很明显，如果穿衣服需要15秒，而等电梯需要2分钟，你就只浪费了1分45秒。
★在超市付款，不要选择最短的队伍的。你应该先估计下各队中人们购物车里的物件，排在东西最少的那队人后面。
★这一条是我的小秘密：我打字的时候从不在 “isnt”“dont”“arent”和“wouldnt” 这些词中间加撇，以节省时间。我估计在一封有400个词的信中，我可以通过省略30个单引号来节省5秒钟的时间。
★不要每次都把用过的东西放回原处。应该等到东西已经扔得到处都是，再一次性把它们都放回去。
1. be on the lookout of sth. 留意；察看
2. slit [slit] v. 切开
3. 在美国，做商品广告的垃圾邮件一般都印有“重要信件”的字样。
4. commercial n. 广告
5. curve n. 拐弯
6. elevator n. 电梯
7. apostrophe n. 省略符号