职场妈妈的困惑：如何平衡事业与生活？

爱思英语编者按：由于巨大的生活压力，现在很多有了小孩的妈妈一休完产假马上又投入到紧张的工作中去了，但是妈妈毕竟是妈妈，就算是工作也还是会想念自己的孩子，那么职场妈妈要如何才能在工作和生活中找到平衡呢？

Achieving work life balance is the ultimate question for working moms. It's not easy, but it's worth it to try to find work life balance.

如何在工作与生活中得到平衡是每个职场妈妈要面临的根本问题。要解决它并不容易，但是这个平衡点是值得努力找出来的。

Finding work life balance begins with learning to say no. Stop doing everything. Say no to every task that is non-essential. The way you define your priorities is by saying yes to some things and no to others.

要想找到工作与生活的平衡点，首先要学会说不。不要再什么都去做。拒绝做没必要的工作。你对你的优先权的定义应该是有些事可以做，但另一些事情拒绝去做。

That means when your daughter is anxious at bedtime because of a scary movie she saw or goes through a bout of separation anxiety at daycare drop off, you take an extra 15 minutes to cuddle and reassure her before leaving the room. But when it's your busiest time at work and you're asked to chaperone a field trip, inquire if you can help at school later in the year.

这就意味着当你的女儿因看了一部恐怖电影或者在日托所经历了一场分离的焦虑而害怕得睡不着觉时，你需要在离开之前用15分钟去拥抱她，并安慰她，使她平静下来。但是当你正为工作焦头烂额，还得陪着别人去实地考察的时候，你就该问问是否可以在今年迟些时候再去学校帮忙了。

If your boss drops a mammoth, urgent project in your lap, ask which other tasks he'd like you to delay in order to get it done on time. Don't pull multiple all-nighters to finish the extra work on top of your regular job.

如果你的老板让你完成一项紧急而又艰巨的任务，问问他为了保证这件任务如期完成其他什么事情可以缓一缓，不要为了完成这项追加的工作熬很多个通宵。

And please, lower your standards so you're not killing yourself to have a perfectly clean home, lavishly planned parties, from-scratch cookies for soccer practice or whatever else is important to other people and not to you. You'll never find work life balance unless you let some things go.

还有，请降低你的标准，不要累死累活的去完成一些对其他人重要而对自己并不重要的事情，比如将家里打扫得一尘不染，准备丰盛的宴会，为了足球比赛而自己准备的蛋糕，或其他类似的事情。除非，你有选择的放弃一些事情，否则你永远无法找到工作和生活的平衡。  更多信息请访问：http://www.engbus.cn/

You simply cannot be everything to everybody. It's up to you to draw the line when you see it's hurting your children or your own peace of mind. A good test is to ask whether the question you're wrestling with will matter in 20 years. Generally speaking, the time you spend with family or on genuinely career-building projects will pass muster -- but the extra three emails you can answer at 11 p.m. will fail.

你不可能成为所有人的万能帮手。如果你发现自己伤了孩子的心或者失去了内心的平静，你就该在心里划条线了。有一个很好的衡量标准是你所做的事情是否20年后仍有意义。一般说来，你和家人在一起或者你真正给自己做职业规划的时间是合格的、有意义的，但是你在半夜11点回的三封邮件，这个时间就不那么值得了。