Two Minutes to Properly Start and End a Working Day
— Musings of Dr. Jamie Hsu, 10.31.2016
Would you spend 2 minutes a day to properly start and end your working day?
How is that possible? Let me describe two simple routines I have learned and used over the last 40 years. It has helped me tremendously, and I hope you’ll find it useful.
Every morning, when I went to my closet to dress for the working day, I would imagine that there was a rack of face masks. There was a happy face, a tired face, a sad face, an angry face, a scared face, a curious face, a sarcastic face, and a sympathetic face. It was totally up to me which facial expression(s) I was going to have for the day. With the right face and the proper clothing, I would check into the mirror — ready to face the world.
After a long and exhausting day filled with meetings, discussions, testing, experiments, debates, arguments, and nerve-racking decisions, I would try hard not to bring those into my precious family time at home. I imagined that there was a “trouble tree” right at the front door of our home. Before I entered into the welcoming arms of my daughters and wife, I would hang all my troubles of the day on this tiny tree, and tell myself, “I’ll pick them up in the morning on my way to work.” During the evening, I knew no one would steal from my trouble tree, and I could whole-heartedly enjoy the laughter, chatting, and intimacy of my sweet home.
These two simple gestures and routines may sound gimmicky to some people, but they have served me well to adjust my mindset and attitude in my work and family lives.
Wishing you productive days and warm family times…
兩分鐘的上裝與卸裝
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
你是否想每天花兩分鐘時間，來開始與結束一整天忙碌的工作？
該如何實現？讓我來介紹這兩個我已經學會、並且用了40年的”招數”給大家。這對我有很大的幫助，也希望你會覺得有用。
每天早上，當我開啟衣櫃準備換裝上班時，我就會想像裡面有一整套的面具在那；有快樂的、疲憊的、悲傷的、憤怒的、驚嚇的、好奇的、譏諷的、同情的等等各種不同表情。要用哪一張臉面，完全取決於我自己要如何“面对”即將展開的這一天。我會檢查鏡子中的自己，是否有了合適的”表情”以及服裝，準備好迎接這個世界。
經過了漫長的一整天，充斥著開會、討論、測試、實驗、辯論、爭執，以及令人傷腦筋的決定；對於這些讓人煩心傷神的事情，我會盡最大的努力不把它們帶回家裡─因為那是我與我最寶貝的家人們在一起的地方。為此，我會想像我家門口旁種著一棵“麻煩樹“。
在我迎接來自女兒們及太太親切問候的擁抱前，我會作勢先把今天所有的“煩惱“全都掛在這個小樹上，然後告訴自己說：明天上班時，我再來帶走它們。我知道它們會好好待在那裏，即使到了夜晚也不會有人來偷走；我可以安心地、全心全意地享受與家人們的歡笑與快樂。
也許對某些人的說，這樣兩個簡單的準備只是個花招，但卻讓我在面對繁重的工作與享受家庭生活上受益匪淺。
願你有個高效率的工作天、並同時享受與家人們的天倫之樂！
