每天或在東奔西跑，或在伏案工作的你，想過一天中什么時間效率最高嗎？作為一名老板，把會議安排在這些高效時間是不是個好主意呢？下面的結果也許讓你大跌眼鏡。

Zeniths for employee hustle and productivity are Mondays before 11am in October, according to a study by California-based project management platform Redbooth published in November. The firm analysed project data from hundreds of thousands of users who used the service to plan and track their work.
根據加州項目管理平臺Redbooth去年11月發布的一項研究，員工最忙碌、工作效率最高的時間是10月份的幾個周一上午11點之前。該公司分析了來自數十萬使用這一平臺計劃并追蹤工作的用戶的項目數據。

Generally speaking, if you’re feeling lazy on a Friday in August, you’re not alone.
一般來講，如果你在八月的某個周五感覺懶散，你不是一個人。

“A lot of this aligns with what past research on energy and productivity tells us,” says John Trougakos, an associate professor of organisational behaviour at the University of Toronto in Canada.
加拿大多倫多大學組織行為副教授約翰-特勞加科斯說：“大多數調查結果和之前關于精力和工作效率的調查一致。”

“For example, based on circadian rhythms, about 75% of people tend to be most mentally alert between 9am and 11am.”
“比如，根據生物晝夜節律，75%的人在上午9點到11點頭腦最清醒。”

Circadian rhythms are our internal clocks that tell our bodies when to get up, eat and sleep throughout 24-hour cycles. Many studies have found that work which syncs with our circadian rhythms results in greater productivity and less fatigue. Even space agency Nasa has monitored circadian rhythms to improve astronauts’ productivity and health.
生物晝夜節律是人體的生物鐘，告訴我們的身體在一天中何時起床、吃飯、和睡覺。很多研究發現，工作時間與晝夜節律吻合能提高工作效率，減少疲勞。甚至美國航天局也在監控宇航員的晝夜節律，以提高工作效率，改善健康狀況。

“Once someone gets into work they likely take some time to check emails and settle in,” Trougakos says. “Then it takes time to become immersed in whatever task they are working on. So 11am as a peak productivity time for task completion makes sense.”
特勞加科斯說：“一旦人們開始工作，他們可能會抽些時間查看電郵，并開始處理工作事務。之后還需要花些時間人們才能沉浸在工作任務中。所以上午11點工作效率最高是有道理的。”

The afternoon between 2-3pm marks a low energy point. “This makes sense why many cultures take naps during the afternoon,” he says.
下午2點到3點人們最精神不振。他說：“所以在有些地方人們會睡午覺。”

When our minds are sharpest
什么時間我們的心智最敏銳？

As for the findings in regard to days, seasons and months? Those check out too, experts say.
至于按照日期、季節、和月份的統計結果呢？專家表示這些也已經得出。

The findings “are consistent with considerable research on the ebbs and flows of mental acuity,” says Don Drummond, economist and adjunct professor at Queen’s University in Toronto.
多倫多皇后大學經濟學家、兼職教授唐-杜德蒙說，這些研究結果“和對于精神敏銳度周期波動的大量研究結果一致”。

Mondays make sense, he says, because “people are fresh, mentally and physically at the beginning of the week, and fade as the week goes on.”
他說，周一最高效是有道理的，“在周一，人們精神飽滿，體力充沛。而在一周之后的幾個工作日，精力逐漸衰退。”

The different phases of the year also reflect natural volleys between high- and low-energy levels. Drummond says people return from summer holidays fresh, so they are productive in early autumn, while winter’s early plunge into darkness each night might explain lagging productivity, mental acuity and dips in mood.
一年中的不同階段也反應出精力充沛和精神萎靡的自然波動狀態。杜德蒙說，人們暑假歸來后精力充沛，所以在初秋工作高效。而冬天天黑得較早，因此工作拖沓，精神敏銳度降低、情緒不佳。

Drummond has some suggestions for capitalising on these findings: “Allow people to have the time required to flex their creativity early in the week and early in the day,” he says. “Don’t, for example, schedule a boring meeting then. Alas, that is when almost all boring meetings are scheduled.”
杜德蒙對于如何利用這些研究結果還給出了一些建議。他說：“讓人們能夠在一周前幾天的清晨充分發揮他們的創造力。比如，在那時不要安排無聊的會議。唉，但幾乎所有無聊的會議都安排在這些時候了。”

英文來源：BBC
翻譯&編審：yaning