If you find yourself constantly struggling to meet impossible deadlines at work, it’s worth stepping back and taking a different approach to the problem. Here are six strategies that might help you cope。

  倘若工作中的你一直苦于手忙腳亂應對各種各樣不可能完成的期限，那么，是時候停下腳步去尋求解決問題的另一種方法了，這里介紹了六種可能對你會有幫助的策略。

1. Look at your colleagues。

  If you have colleagues who do similar work, do they also face similar deadlines? If so, how do they meet them? Are they starting earlier, planning differently, pulling in additional help, or using any other strategies that you can copy?

1.環顧一下你的同事。

  如果有同事和你做類似的工作，看一看他們也面臨這相似的期限嗎？如果答案是肯定的，看他們是如何處理的？是開始的早呢，還是計劃有所不同？是引進了外援，還是使用了其他你可以參考的策略？

2. Break the project down differently。

  Often much of a project—say, 85 percent—can be accomplished quickly, and it’s the remaining 15 percent that will take much longer. It’s worth asking if you can take longer with that more time-consuming 15 percent. Sometimes if you ask you’ll discover that as long as you get certain pieces of the work done by the deadline, it’s OK to take longer on other parts。

2.把整塊項目分成不同部分。

  一個項目通常有85%的工作是可以迅速完成的，而另外的15%可能會相對需要多花些時間。那么這時值得你請示上司是否可以為那15%多花些時間。通常請示后你就會發現只要在期限前完成工作的一部分，你就可以有更多時間完成其他的部分了。

3. Tell your manager what you can do。

  Your manager doesn’t want to just be told that you can’t meet a deadline without getting some indication of what you could do. Instead of just saying a deadline is impossible, try saying something like, “With only 10 days, I can do X and Y, and I’ll need to modify Z in the following days. And we won’t have finished fully testing it, but that could be wrapped up two days later. Would that work?”

3.告訴你的上司哪些是你可以完成的。

  告訴你的經理你能做什么，他可不想只聽到你告訴他你沒法在截止日期前完成工作。你應該給他些提示讓他知道你能做什么。不要總是說在截止日前完成工作不可能之類的話，試試說點別的，比方說：“10天的時間，我可以完成甲和乙，接著我需要調試丙，但是10天之內不能完成對丙的測試工作，但如果再有兩天時間的話，肯定能完成。這樣你看怎么樣？”

4. If the problem is chronic, raise it as a big-picture issue。

  Aside from talking with your manager about deadlines for a specific project, make sure you address the pattern as well. For instance, you could say something like, “I’ve noticed that we sometimes have different ideas about what are realistic timeframes for many projects. I want to be able to do the job well and deliver a good product, but sometimes we’re given deadlines that aren’t possible to meet, not if the product is going to be any good. I believe in pushing myself and I think you know I work hard, but I’m concerned that we’re on a different page from Department X about how long these projects take. Can we talk about how we might be able to address this?” (Note that this language puts you and your manager on the same side, rather than attributing the problem to your manager herself。)

4.如果這種問題是長期存在的，要把它當做一個重要問題來提出。

  除了與你的上司談論關于具體項目的期限之外，也要特別注意你的講話方式，比如你可以這樣說，“我注意到在不少項目上，我們經常會對其具體時間表產生分歧。我希望把工作做好，提交出一個完美的作品，但通常時間不足，不足以將作品做到美的程度。我會一再的往前趕，我想你也知道我工作很努力，但我擔心關于甲部門這些項目的耗時問題上我們存在分歧。我們是否能討論一下彼此是怎么想的呢？”(注意這種講話把你和你的上司放在同一戰線上，而不是把問題全推給了上司)

5. If your manager pre-dates you at the company, ask if your predecessors were able to meet similar deadlines and, if so, what they might have done differently than you。

  You might find that there are shortcuts that you don’t realize your boss wouldn’t mind you taking. You might be aiming for more perfection than she is, and she might be willing to trade perfection for speed. You won’t know if you don’t ask。

5.如果你的上司把你的期限提前了，詢問一下你的前輩們是否能同樣在這一期限之前完成工作，如果答案肯定，那么尋求一下他們和你做的有何不同。

  你可能會發現一些捷徑，你不知道你的上司并不介意采取這些捷徑。你可能做的會比他更好，而他有可能愿意犧牲完美來換取速度。如果不問的話你永遠都不會知道。

6. Finally, consider with an open mind whether the deadlines might not really be so crazy。

  It’s entirely possible that yours is a company with chronically unrealistic deadlines and expectations, but it might also be a company that strives to be exceptional and thus gets things done faster than industry averages. If you’re used to a slower pace, it might take a while to get used to the warpspeed environment of your high-performing employer (and if you never do, that might point to a bad fit). It’s very hard to evaluate this objectively when you’re struggling, but try. Look around at your colleagues. Are they struggling too?

6.最后用開放的思想考量一下，這一期限或許并不是真的瘋狂到不可達到。

  當然，你所在的公司完全有可能是一家長期設定一些不切實際期限和期望的公司，但也有可能是一家努力追求卓越以期以高于行業平均水平的速度解決問題的公司。如果你以前是個慢性子，可能需要花些時間來適應這種追求高效率的老板創造的飛速工作的環境(如果不這樣做的話，可能會有損健康)。在你手忙腳亂掙扎工作的時候是很難這樣考量的，但是可以一試，環顧一下你的同事，他們也同樣地在手忙腳亂地掙扎嗎？