樂，學中文、教中文。/Enjoy learning &Teaching Chinese

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/smarter-living/work-at-home-tips-advice.html

紐約時報中文網2017年9月27日

By KENNETH R. ROSEN

2012年10月，當我還居住在紐約、打三份工的時候，颶風「桑迪」(Sandy)襲擊了東海岸。除了晚上和週末在一家餐館與新聞機構上班，工作日白天的時候我每天從布魯克林通勤至一家位於曼哈頓的媒體公司。當颶風來襲時，整個城市的公共交通系統癱瘓了數週，切斷了我與辦公室總部的聯繫。

接下來數天，該地區有超過810萬人經歷了停電。但在我位於貝德福德-斯圖文森區(Bedford-Stuyvesant)的公寓裡，我們有電、網路，上下水通暢。這一幸運還伴隨著另一個好處：我們這些人可以遠程工作。

Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast in October 2012 while I lived in New York and juggled three jobs. Along with working at a restaurant and a news agency on nights and weekends, I spent my weekdays commuting from Brooklyn to a media company in Manhattan. When the hurricane made landfall, it crippled the city’s public transportation system for weeks, leaving me all but severed from office headquarters.

More than 8.1 million people in the region were without electricity in the days that followed. Yet in my Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment we had power, internet, and plumbing. This fortune came with another price: Those of us who were able to worked remotely.

在風暴過後的平靜日子裡，我每天早上醒來，從床單裡滾出來去拿電腦，登陸各種辦公軟體開始工作。我的室友會給我弄來咖啡。直到下班前（也就是八個小時以後），我都不會離開床。下班後我才會去洗澡，然後走到附近的一個酒吧裡吃晚飯。第一週我對自己說，「我還真能習慣這個。」

In the calm days following the storm, I woke up each morning, rolled across my sheets, reached for my laptop, logged into various tools — Google Chat, Basecamp, Trello — and got to work. My roommate would bring me coffee from the bodega, and I would not leave my bed until my shift ended (eight hours later), around which time I would shower and hike to a nearby bar for dinner. As the city fought to restore power, there was a candlelight afterglow wherever I walked. That first week I told myself, “I could get used to this.”

然後情況就變得不太好了。我開始厭惡遠程上班。我覺得自己邋遢又骯髒，孤獨又與人疏離，營養失調又不健康。原來在我匆忙開始遠程辦公的時候，我掉進了最為常見的陷阱。五年多以後的今天，我成為了一個常規在家辦公的僱員——無論是從布魯克林的公寓、紐約北部的小木屋，還是我在緬因州的小家，而且我已經可以舒適、卓有成效地從幾乎任何地方為一天的工作作出貢獻。

Then things soured. I began to loathe working remotely. I felt unkempt and dirty, lonely and disconnected, malnourished and unhealthy. Turns out in my hasty jump into remote work, I had fallen for the most common pitfalls. More than five years later, I’m now a regular from-afar employee — whether it be from an apartment in Brooklyn, a cabin in upstate New York, or my tiny home in Maine — and I can comfortably and productively contribute a solid day’s work from almost anywhere.

想成為一名成功的在家辦公的員工，有很多因素。幾乎在每個行業中，都有著大批想要放棄早上通勤的員工，遠程辦公也已變得愈發簡單，對不少希望這麼做的人來說，可行性變得更高。

這裡是一份成為成功的遠程辦公員工的簡易指南，是我遠程辦公一路走來所學到的。

There are many things that contribute to becoming a successful work-from-home employee. As more companies across nearly every industry accommodate an increasing number of employees wishing to forego the morning commute and office pantry footfall, remote work has become an increasingly easy and breathlessly viable option for many who seek it.

Here is a modest guide to becoming a successful remote employee, a culmination of what I’ve learned along the way.

為這一天穿戴整齊

別一被手機吵醒就立刻開始工作。把它放在房間另一端，更好的做法是放在隔壁房間裡，每天早上強迫你自己離開床去關掉鬧鐘。然後像要去辦公室一樣做準備：洗澡，穿戴整齊。

Get Dressed for the Day

Don’t wake up to the blue hue of your smartphone and immediately start working. Place it across the room, or better yet, in an adjacent one, and force yourself up and out of bed to turn off your alarm each morning. When the alarm does go off, get up and prepare for your day as you would for an office job: take a shower, and get dressed.

別在工作的地方睡覺

無論是租的辦公室、改裝而來的家庭辦公室，還是森林裡的小屋（然而，F·司各特·菲茨傑拉德[F. Scott Fitzgerald]的大部分作品是在床上寫就的）。最不濟你也得把筆記本扔進背包裡，拿起耳機沖向當地有著無線網路的咖啡店或是當地圖書館的安靜一角，來完成工作。如果你想把公共空間當作自己的辦公室，要有禮貌——確認咖啡館對人們在那裡長時間工作沒有意見，還要確保你在那裡點單的食物和飲料的價值是和你待一整天的時間相符的。

Don’t Sleep Where You Work

Whether it’s a rented office space or a den converted into a home office or a cabin in the woods for that matter, find a space away from your bedroom to work. (Then again, F. Scott Fitzgerald did most of his work while lying in bed.) Worst case, toss your laptop in your bag, grab a pair of headphones and head to a local coffee shop that has Wi-Fi or even a quiet spot at your local library to set up shop and get things done. Just be courteous if you plan to make a public space your office — be sure that coffee shop is O.K. with people working there for long hours, and make your all-day presence at one of their tables worthwhile by buying food and drinks.

給自己設置好一切

在完全脫離辦公室之前，和你公司的IT部門及你的經理核實一下是否已安裝好了用於遠程工作的各種程序和應用。首先是安全方面的：如果你通過虛擬專用網路（virtual private network，簡稱VPN）或其他安全管道接入公司的內部系統或接收郵件，要確保你已經對其進行過測試，能從任何你想遠程工作的地方連得上。此外，當你的連接遭遇干擾的時候，要有一個後備計劃。

這一建議也同樣適用於網路連接。我確保一旦家庭辦公室的無線網路無法連接上，就能無縫轉換到手機上設置的熱點。

Set Yourself Up

Before divorcing completely from the office, check with your corporate IT department and your manager to see if you are equipped with the programs and applications necessary to work remotely. Security first: If you connect to your company’s internal systems or email through a Virtual Private Network or other secure tunnel, make sure you’ve tested it and that it functions from where you plan to work. Also, have a backup plan in the event your connection experiences disruptions.

The same advice applies to internet connectivity. I make sure that if the wireless internet in my home office fails, I can still connect seamlessly through my smartphone, set up as a Wi-Fi hot spot.

要常溝通

能夠快速有效地進行溝通，是遠程工作的員工想要成功最為無價的特質。要經常和你的經理或老闆報告你的情況。大多數公司都會使用像Slack這樣的群組聊天服務來與彼此交流，還會使用像Google Hangouts或Skype這樣的工具來進行影片會議或開會。要確保你安裝了這些軟體，以及自己知道該如何使用它們，還要確保當你在工作的時候，同事們（尤其是你的老闆）知道你的存在。

要找出哪種平台對於和你共事的人來說最方便。如果你沒在工作，出去走了走或者和人吃了個午飯，也不要忽視來自同事尋求幫助或確認事情的信息。要跟進，確保你在上班時間出去的時候，還是一樣可以被找到，就像坐在他們旁邊一樣，即使只是說一句「我現在不在電腦前，但我回來會立刻回覆你。」

Communicate Often

The ability to communicate quickly and reliably is the most priceless attribute a remote employee needs to succeed. Update your manager or boss frequently. Most offices use some group chat service, like Slack, to communicate with each other during the day, and tools like Google Hangouts or Skype for video calls and meetings. Make sure they’re installed and you know how to use them, and make your presence known to your colleagues (especially your boss) when you are available and working.

Find out which of those platforms are the most convenient for the people with whom you frequently communicate. If you’re not working and are out on a walk or a lunch date, don’t ignore that message from a co-worker seeking clarification or assistance. Follow up, and be sure that while you are on the clock, you remain as available as if you were seated right beside them, even if it’s just to say “I’m away from my desk, but I’ll let you know as soon as I’m back.”

進入狀態

要制定目標。列出一個清單，寫上需要在今天、本週和本月解決的事情。

按照這個明智的制定目標的方式來做：確保你今天的待辦事項裡的任務明確、可行、現實並且是帶有時限的。

Get Into Your Groove

Set goals. Make a list of things that need to be tackled today, this week, and this month.

Follow the S.M.A.R.T. goal approach: Make sure your to-do list for the day includes tasks that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.

做好應對干擾的計劃

摒除干擾。如果你在家辦公，要設定（並且執行）好界限，要向你的家人和孩子解釋自己的工作區域是不能碰的，他們應當避免打擾你，除非事情很重要。

Plan Against Distractions

Block out disturbances. Set (and enforce) boundaries if you’re working at home by explaining to family members or children that your work area is off limits, and they should avoid interrupting unless it’s important. 

出門

要找出時間短暫走一走，幫助激發生產力和創造力。遠程辦公的一個好處就是能過上更為積極的生活方式的機會，而不是整天被綁在辦公桌前。讓活動變成習慣很重要，不然你就會變得懶惰，整天坐在桌子前，晚上也不出門。

通過社交來打敗遠程工作本身自帶的孤獨感和疏離感很重要。我發現與我家附近店鋪老闆聊天能讓我這一天有一種輕鬆、公共的日常感，類似在一個辦公環境裡的感受。

如果你比較與世隔絕，輕快的騎車或短暫的徒步都能提升安多芬和增強注意力，迅速在你的街區裡轉一圈也是一樣。最差也要在下班後和家人或朋友一起出去轉轉。

Get out

Find time to go for short walks to help inspire productivity and creativity. One of the blessings of working remotely is the opportunity to live a more active lifestyle instead of being deskbound, but it’s important to make activity a habit. Otherwise you’ll fall into the inertia of sitting at your desk all day and never leaving the house at night.

It’s important to socialize to combat the inherent loneliness and isolation you’ll feel while out of a traditional office setting. I’ve found that chatting with the owner of my corner store or other local establishment gives my days a light, communal routine, similar to what I would get in an office environment.

If you are more secluded, brisk bike rides or short hikes elevate endorphins and sharpen focus the same as a quick tour of your neighborhood. Worst case, make plans to get out of the house with family or friends when the workday is over.

下班了，就完全把工作和生活分開

要把上班時使用的科技隔絕在結束工作後為自己充電的時間之外，這一點對遠程工作所需要的紀律來說，重要性無可估量。就像你應當在一間不帶有科技的房間裡醒來一樣，結束了一天的工作後，你也應該這麼做。當你這一天下線後，就要真的下線。關掉工作聊天軟體和郵件，就當你自己這一天是「外出」的，如今「在家」了。

When You’re Off Work, Separate Entirely

Separating your technology from the place where you come to recharge and disconnect at the end of the day is invaluable to the discipline needed for working remotely. Just as you should wake up in a room absent of technology, you should return to one once you’ve completed a day’s work. When you log off for the day, log off. Close your work chat programs and emails and consider yourself “out for the day,” and “home now.”