I used to think time was the most limited resource. It’s so limited that you can’t even save it for later. Every day you spend more time, and tomorrow you have less than you had yesterday. You can’t make more, and you can’t really buy more, so it’s limited and fleeting and those are the rules.

我曾经认为时间是最珍稀的资源。你无法存储它以备日后再用，每过一天，你所拥有的时间就比昨天少。无法制造也无法购买，它是有限的，并且稍纵即逝，这就是时间。

But there’s something even more limited than time. It’s your attention. Attention is a subset of time, therefore it’s more limited. How you spend your attention is more important than how you spend your time.

但是现在我发觉，有东西比时间还要珍稀，那就是你的注意力。注意力是时间的子集，所以它更加珍稀。也正因此，如何消费注意力比如何消费时间更重要。

Attention is about focus and careful, thoughtful consideration. Unlike time – which can be broken into convenient chunks of 15 minutes – attention doesn’t divide quite so neatly or easily.

注意力是一种专注、细致、思考的状态。它不像时间那样可以很方便地划分成每个15分钟 —— 注意力不是那么容易整齐简单地划分。

You hear a lot about “quality time” being valuable, but I think quality attention is invaluable. Giving someone your attention is giving more than just giving your time.

「有品质的时间」是宝贵的，但是我认为「有品质的注意力」是无价的。给予一个人你的注意力比给予一个人你的时间付出更多。

The greatest things you make and do are the ones that get your full attention. It’s helpful to take an inventory of what you’re doing and then ask yourself where you’re spending your best attention. You can fill your time, but you have to spend your attention. How you spend it is probably a better measure of priority than anything else.

伟大的事情都是你投入了百分百注意力的。给你正在做的事情列一个清单吧，问问你自己你把最佳的注意力都花在了什么事情上面。你可以消磨时间，但是你必须好好消费你的注意力，如何消费你的注意力或许是最重要的事情了。

Next time you say yes to something, ask yourself if yes means “yes, I can do that” or “yes, I can spend my attention on that.” If you’re not willing to spend your attention on it, is it worth doing? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s a good thing to think about the next time you take something on.

当你要「做」一件事情的时候，不妨问一下你自己这个「做」的意思，是「我可以做」还是「我会专注做它」。如果你并不希望花费你的注意力在这件事情上面，那么它还值得你去做么？也许值得，也许不值得，但是想一想这个问题总是好的。