Welcome to the Project List Mindsweep, a step-by-step exercise to help you properly identify every project in your work and life.
欢迎来到 "项目清单大扫除"，这是一个循序渐进的练习，帮助你正确识别工作和生活中的每一个项目。
Your Project List is a list of the outcomes or goals you are currently committed to, all in one place. It serves as a dashboard of your current workload, helping you grasp the current progress of your projects with just a glance.
你的项目清单是一个列表，将你当前为之努力的结果或目标集中在一起。它作为你当前工作量的仪表盘，帮助你一目了然地掌握当前项目的进展情况。
Most people couldn’t give you a full inventory of their projects if their life depended on it. Yet they also tell you that they have too much on their plate. Creating an accurate Project List gives you the confidence to say yes OR no to new commitments. Once you know how much capacity you actually have, the decision of what to fill it with can be intentional and strategic, instead of reactive.
大多数人无法拿出一个完整的自己赖以生存的项目们的清单。但是他们却会告诉你，有太多的事情要做。创建一个清晰的项目清单，让你有信心对新的事情是否要着手去做做出决断。一旦你知道了你的能力范围，你对自己的能力资源的分配决策就会更有目的性和策略性，而不是被动应对。
There is often a resistance to writing down all our projects, because we fear that seeing them all in one place will be overwhelming. But non-judgmentally collecting the full inventory is the first step to gaining control. You committed to these projects – we’re just creating a tool to support you in managing them.
我们经常会有一种抵触情绪，因为我们担心看到所有的项目都在一个地方，会让人不知所措。但是，不假思索地将所有事情收录进清单是获得控制权的第一步。你本来就要做这些项目 —— 我们只是创造了一个工具来支持你管理这些项目。
Follow the instructions below to create your Project List. Click here for an Evernote template to help you follow along.
按照下面的说明创建你的项目列表。点击这里查看Evernote模板，帮助你跟上后续的练习。
The key distinction to understand as you begin this process is that we aren’t using the word “project” in the usual vague sense. That word is used to refer to everything from a bathroom remodel to a multi-billion dollar construction project.
当你开始这个过程的时候，需要了解的关键区别是，我们并不是在模糊意义上使用 "项目 "这个词。这个词是用来指从浴室改造到数十亿美元的建筑项目的一切事情。
We are using the following definition of a project: “Any outcome you’re committed to that requires more than one work session to complete.”
我们对项目的定义如下： "需要不止一步的工作步骤才能完成的、任何你要达成的结果。"
This definition forces us to acknowledge the reality that even the simplest outcomes — like “buy headphones” or “prepare an agenda” — usually require numerous steps. Instead of tracking all these steps in our heads, we want to track them in an external tool. Your Project List remembers all these steps for you, so you can focus only on the next action.
这个定义迫使我们不得不承认一个现实，那就是即使是最简单的结果 —— 比如 "买耳机 "或 "准备议程" —— 通常也需要无数个步骤。我们想要通过一个外部工具来追踪这些步骤，而不是凭借人脑来记忆。你的项目清单会帮你记住所有这些步骤，所以你可以全神贯注于接下来的行动。
Most people find that sticking to this definition produces a list of around 20–40 projects. This is why we want to use an external tool — not our brains!