Most of us will have days or weeks when we can’t make as much stuff as we’d like. Things get busy, we have jobs, families and lives which means occasionally you’ll be out of time to sit down and make art. There are some simple tips you can try to maximize the thinking, mulling, and considering time that can help fuel your creative work. I think time allotted for musing and pondering is highly underrated, and the tips below go some of the way in allowing for more time these moments.
总有那么些日子我们无法完成预期的任务。事情越来越多，工作越来越累，里里外外忙忙碌碌，艺术创作也越发变得艰难。我来给你支几招，教你如何优化时间管理，进行思索、斟酌与考虑，从而强化创新思维。我们用于揣摩与深思的时间严重匮乏，希望下列小贴士对你进行时间规划有所帮助。
1. Read before you fall asleep
1. 睡前阅读
This is a classic subconscious-employing trick, used a lot for when you really need to study and remember material. If you want to think more about your artwork (or anything), read about it just before you fall asleep. Studies show that your brain remembers more and thinks subconsciously about the information you process just before going into REM sleep. You might even dream about what you read, were thinking about or were doing just before sleep. If you’re reading a book on creativity you really want to digest, this is a great strategy to help recall and your own creative process.
这一调动潜意识的传统方法多用于资料的学习与记忆。若要深入思考艺术创作（或者任何事情），那么就在睡前进行阅读吧。研究表明，人类大脑在进入快速眼球运动睡眠(Rapid Eye Movement)之前，对所要处理的信息消化吸收得最快。你在睡前所读、所想、所做的事情甚至可能出现在梦境中。假如你希望通透理解书本内容，那么睡前阅读便是温故知新的好方法。
2. Take notes whenever ideas come
2、记录闪现的灵光
Take notes. Lots of notes. No matter what time of day (or night). Give keeping a notepad and pen beside your bed, and always carry one in your handbag or pocket. Don’t be afraid to take notes in public, in elevators, or anywhere the inspiration strikes. Some strategies you could try are making lists of future or potential artwork or doing lose free-form sketches of half-baked ideas for new works. Taking notes can be valuable in their offhanded, indiscriminate format — sometimes they’re not important or playful, and sometimes they can be tiny seeds of gold.
一旦灵光闪现，无论白天黑夜，赶紧记录下来。床边常备纸与笔，拎包与口袋里也务必备有本子。别羞于在大庭广众下做记录，无论是在电梯里还是任何灵感出现的地方。可供尝试的方法包括将计划或可能进行的创作以及新作品的大概轮廓或大致思路列成清单。即便是当下随意记录的内容，其价值也不容忽视——有时看来用处不大的内容，在另一些时刻则大有燎原之势。
3. Make conversations about your artwork a priority
3、三句话不离本行
Ditch the guilt around talking about yourself too much, and think about how much time you spend talking out loud about your artwork. It can really help to regularly make the effort to speak about what you’ve been working on. There’s a learning curve that comes out of forcing yourself to name things. Set up catch-ups or phone calls with others artists to check in with each other regarding your work. Hopefully these conversations can happen with family and friends or co-workers, and can be used as an artistic compass to check you are on course, on the whole, with making work.
不要愧于过多谈论自己，想想你该花多少时间来“高谈阔论”吧。如此一来有助于重复提起创作进展。当我们迫使自己说出某些事情时，便产生一条学习曲线。就工作进度与同行艺术家保持联系或通话。与家人，朋友及同事之间的对话有望成为艺术指南，从整体上为你的创作进行导航。
If you can name the thing you’re doing, and explain why and describe it well to others, it’s a good sign you’re focused and really engaged with what you’re doing.
假如你说得出手头上的工作，并能够将其清楚地解释给别人听，那么恭喜你，你已经足够专注于你的创作了。
4. Use commute time
4.争分夺秒勤思考
Use the time you’re driving, on the train, or commuting to and from work to your advantage. Read, listen, think, make lists, or mentally check off your progress. I know artists who use commute time to meditate and reflect on themselves, which is another interesting strategy to try. Using commute time means that when you do sit down to create work, you’ve often done the heavy thinking and are ready to dive into the practical, hands-on work. It is an obvious one, but it’s been tried and tested.
充分利用开车，乘车与通勤时间。阅读，聆听，思考，记录与自省。就我所知，一些艺术家往往利用通勤时间进行反思与自省，你不妨也试试看。这样做就意味着当正式工作开始的时候，经过深思熟虑的你能够立马进入状态，投入实际工作。这种方法显而易见，但还是经过了反复多次试验。
5. Don’t underestimate thinking time
5、思考创造价值
When you’re not making artwork, make time to simply think. It seems like many artworks are made after months (or even years) of living inside your own head. Whether you’re at work, walking pets, or doing the dishes, using this time to think hard about your artwork can pay off greatly. You can often surprise yourself with how much you can progress you can make if you clock the thinking hours. Realizing that this was a “thing” was one of the most helpful and insightful lessons I learned as an artist. Thinking time is time well spent.
不创作的时候就思考吧。艺术作品往往要历经数月乃至数年的潜心钻研。利用工作，遛狗，洗碗的时间认真思考艺术创作，你将大有收获。记录下思考时间，再细数取得的进步，恐怕连自己都会震惊。要知道思考对于艺术家而言是受益无穷的必修课。把时间用于思考绝对亏不了。
Try some of these ideas out and see what works (or doesn’t work) for you.
以上小贴士是否对你有效，试试就知道。（via：Chinadaily）
词汇学习：
* stuff [st?f] n. 东西；材料；填充物；素材资料vt. 塞满；填塞；让吃饱vi. 吃得过多
* maximize ['m?ksimaiz] vt. 取…最大值；对…极为重视vi. 尽可能广义地解释；达到最大值
* mull [m?l] vt. 研磨；思索或思考某事物；使醉n. 混乱；软薄布vi. 深思熟虑
* allot [?'l?t] vt. 分配；拨给；分派
* muse [mju:z] n. 沉思；冥想vt. 沉思；沉思地说vi. 沉思；凝望
* ponder ['p?nd?] vt. 仔细考虑；衡量vi. 考虑；沉思
* format ['f?:m?t] n. 格式；版式；开本vt. 使格式化；规定…的格式vi. 设计版式
