一个简单的高效建议

若你像我一样在工作期间要喝大量水，很可能会发现自己为取水要多次从办公桌前起身。当我正处于一种高效工作状态时，就十分讨厌这种事情。自己经常在望向空水杯时变得越来越渴，似乎想见到它能神奇般地自行装满一样。

虽然有意休息一会儿完全可行，但口渴会毫无必要地打断你的工作。若你工作在繁忙的办公室里，又容易陷入闲散社交之中，那么去往饮水机的一趟短途路程，就能变成一次漫长的分心经历，尤其当它打断你此前流畅自然的工作状态后。

如果你有空间，可以在自己办公室或工位旁放个小冰箱或饮水机，也可准备一个大水壶，或者2升容量的水瓶。但我采用的简单解决方案，就是买一箱小瓶饮用水，把它们放在办公抽屉里。我的办公抽屉能放上24瓶半升容量的饮用水，伸手便可拿到。不管何时喝完一瓶水，我都可以打开抽屉再拿一瓶。我通常会将饮用水从瓶子倒进水杯或玻璃杯中，这样那些瓶子就能保持干净。当24瓶水都喝光后，我会从抽屉拿出所有空瓶，在饮水机那儿重新把它们装满。我每天会喝大概2升水（一共4瓶），所以这一箱水能让我喝上一周时间。

若你没有顺手的抽屉，可以把水瓶摆在书架、桌面，甚至堆放在角落里，只要你能轻松拿到它们。当然你还可以用此建议存放自己喜欢的任何饮料。

也许我用此方法，每周只能省出大约20分钟，但每年加起来就是17个小时，大概是一天内自己醒着的时间。与在饮水机和办公桌间来回走动相比，几乎做任何事都比它更有用处。另外我也无需再担心因为口渴而打断个人流畅工作状态。

A Simple Productivity Tip

If you drink a lot of water during your workday like I do, you probably find yourself getting up from your desk several times during the day to get more water. I hate it when I’m working in a productive flow, getting thirstier and thirstier as I periodically glance at my empty cup to see if it’s magically refilled itself yet.

While it’s fine to take an intentional break, thirst can nag for an otherwise unneeded break. And if you work in a busy office, a short trip to the water cooler can become a long distraction if you get stuck in idle socializing, especially if it breaks your previous flow state.

You can put a small refrigerator or your own water cooler in your office or cubicle if you have room. Or you can get a really large cup or drink from a 2L bottle. But a simple solution I use is to buy a case of small water bottles and stock a file drawer with them. I can fit 24 half-liter bottles in the file drawer of my desk, which is within arms reach. Whenever I finish a bottle, I return it to the drawer and grab a new one. I usually pour the water from the bottles into a cup or glass, so the bottles stay clean and don’t accumulate mouth mud. When all 24 are empty, I pull out the whole drawer and carry it to the water cooler to refill them all. I drink about 2L of water per day (4 bottles), so the case lasts me a week.

If you don’t have a drawer handy, you could put a stash of water bottles on a shelf, on a table, or even stuffed in a corner, as long as they’re within close reach. And of course you can generalize this tip to stock whatever liquid you prefer.

Maybe my net time savings is only about 20 minutes per week, but that adds up to 17 hours per year, about one waking day. Almost anything is a better use of a day than walking back and forth from the water cooler. Plus I don’t have to worry about breaking my flow state due to thirst.

Steve Pavlina

2005.02.24

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