6.d 开源节流

Make Time Your Friend 6.d: Increase Income, Cut Spending

> By Li Xiaolai · 2008-05-19 · [Original (web archive)](https://web.archive.org/web/20111113104809/http://www.lixiaolai.com/archives/452.html) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

In the process of running and managing any for-profit organization, everyone knows the importance of "increasing income and cutting spending." In real life, interestingly, founders in the course of starting up tend to care more about "increasing income"—and often succeed in the end because of it; while the successors who maintain the business often take "cutting spending" as their main work—because "increasing income" may not be their strength. Truly successful people, while focusing on "increasing income," cut spending reasonably rather than begrudging every cent; and while focusing on "cutting spending," don't forget the importance of "increasing income."

Actually, in time management, one of the most effective methods of "increasing income" is what was mentioned earlier, "try to do two things at once"—but you must carefully choose which things can be done at the same time. And now it's necessary to talk about "cutting spending."

**First, don't blindly try to reduce your sleeping time.**

According to statistics, newborn babies sleep 20 hours a day; before the age of three, 14–15 hours a day; before six, more than 12 hours a day is needed; only after fifteen, for quite a long period, is about 8 hours of sleep basically enough; and for adults, it's generally thought that 6–7 hours a day is healthiest. Of course, some people start suffering from insomnia very early; they sleep very little, but obviously they'll be unhealthy because of it.

I've met a few people who are naturally short sleepers; they told me 4 to 5 hours of sleep a day is enough. They really are very lucky: compared with most people, they get, so it feels, several extra hours a day for nothing. An energetic colleague of mine told me he needs only 4 hours of sleep a day, while I need more than 8 hours of sleep a day in total. Calculated this way, after a year has passed, he has in effect 1,460 more hours than I do, about 70 whole days! Back then, after I secretly worked it out at home, I stared blankly at those two numbers on the calculator for a good long while. 1,460 hours—how much could be done with them!

But I quickly decided that I couldn't cut my own sleeping time because of this. Because people differ from one another, just as cars differ from one another. Some cars use a lot of fuel; some use little. To use an analogy, a person who needs 8 hours of sleep a day has more than double the "fuel consumption" of a person who needs 4 hours of sleep a day. And the problem is that what kind of car you are seems not to be something you can choose. Just like "When the girl gave birth to us back then, we didn't say we were willing!" [Translator's note: the original writes 姑娘 ("girl"), apparently playing on a popular saying of the time about not having asked to be born; translated literally.] So when I found I was a car with very high fuel consumption, I could only accept this fact.

Still, there's a way to cope. Whenever I finally find a solution to some seemingly "unsolvable" problem, I'm always very happy. I cut my night-time sleep to 4 hours. Then, around 12 noon, I find a time and some way to find a suitable place to nap for 30 minutes. And at around 6 in the afternoon, I find another time and place to nap for 30 minutes. This way, I actually cut 3 hours of sleeping time and was just as energetic.

A little trick is to drink a small cup of coffee before napping, then fall asleep quickly. That way, when you wake up 30 minutes later, the feeling of a clear head is just wonderful. Napping on time and waking on time takes practice. It took me about two months to learn this skill. And the advice about coffee doesn't apply to everyone. Because I know some people, if they drink even a little coffee, may even sleep badly for several days in a row.

**Second, try not to reduce the time you spend communicating with family members and relatives.**

Family is the most important. Because one day you'll eventually find that what still supports you even in very extreme situations is surely, and usually only, [Translator's note: the original is garbled here, 肯定是也通常只有是, literally "surely is and usually only is"; translated by the intended sense] your family—whether you yourself think your family is good or bad. Sometimes you may not much like your family members or some relative, but have you ever thought that this may be your own doing? Even if it's not your own doing, think seriously: is it that you have never actively taken action to improve things? Remember, blood ties are almost the only relationship we can't dissolve.

Progress in means of transport has, in a certain sense, left many families' members scattered. Your parents may be in Shanghai, your older sister's whole family in Guangzhou, while you live alone in Beijing. At such times, you should know that even an occasional phone call to say hello will make your family very happy—much of the time, what exactly is said may not matter at all. And the call can perfectly well be made while waiting for a bus or queuing at the bank. I said earlier that you should learn to do two things at once.

My suggestion is that you should carry a notebook with you, and in this notebook record the time of each call you make to them—especially to those family members or relatives you don't contact particularly often. If you talk on the phone with your father or mother every day, there's no need to record it. But if one day you suddenly find you haven't called your mother for a long time, you should at least write down the current date and then find a way to deal with it. When you find you have nothing to do—for example on a train, you've finished the novel you brought and find there are still 30 minutes of the journey left—you should take out this notebook and see whether you ought to call someone to say hello.

If you happen to have a holiday to go back to your hometown and spend some time with your parents, just adjusting your behavior pattern a little may bring effects that astonish you. For example, you must turn off your mobile phone when eating with your parents, but you can sit on the sofa, appearing to watch TV with them, while writing your BLOG on your laptop. Another example: you can party with friends outside until very late before coming home, or even simply stay out overnight, but be sure to tell them before dark that you may be back late—although you've long been an adult, it's precisely because you're an adult that you know to do everything possible not to make your family worry about you.

**Finally, better not give up your social time.**

In this society there really are some people who can be complete loners, not depending on anyone else at all, and be very happy. One example I can think of directly is the famous American writer Stephen King (斯蒂芬•金) (Steven King) [Translator's note: the original spells the English name "Steven King"; kept as written]. But there's a precondition for his doing this: he is a genius, and a hardworking genius at that, so his royalties have brought him more income than he can spend, and his eccentricities mean that when [Translator's note: the original writes 是 ("is"); 时 ("when") is meant; translated by the intended sense] interacting with others he can't feel any pleasure. So he simply bought himself a castle and shut himself up in it.

I believe most people in this world are very ordinary, like me. Ordinary people will one day need others' help; even if they don't need help, they occasionally need comfort; even if they don't need comfort, they may occasionally need company. Whether others are keeping you company, comforting you or helping you, they are spending their own time; you can never demand it, unless they're willing. But why would people be willing to spend time on you?

You must learn to keep helping the people around you. There are many ways to help the people around you, and among them you'll find that often the most valuable and most valued is not financial help. When you decide whether to offer someone financial help, you should understand these few things. First, you yourself may not really be able to offer financial help; second, people who need financial help may often not realize that what they need most may not be money; third, your financial help may have negative effects—because it may never come back; finally, someone who resents you for not offering financial help will not necessarily truly be grateful to you even if you did help in the end.

You should do everything possible to use your own resources to help people worth helping. You must try to make time to answer in detail a classmate who comes to ask you how to solve a hard problem—as long as you really know the correct solution yourself, because knowledge, in the course of being passed on, often lets both sides of the exchange discover new meaning. If a friend in another city calls and asks you to go to a bookstore, buy a book and mail it to him, then be sure to do it as soon as possible; of course, you must also tell him there may be some delay. When people around you ask you for help, what you should do is try to find ways to help them; if you really can't help, tell him decisively that you really can't do it.

If you help others on your own initiative, they'll often be doubly grateful to you. The most basic form of helping on your own initiative is sharing. If you find that Dell monitors are on a great deal, you might as well call a few people around you whom you know might like this product and tell them the news. If, like me, you find or feel that the American series *Rome* is really superbly made, then, like me, burn a few copies while you're at it and keep them in your bag; then someday, when you're eating with friends and bring it up, you can tell them, amid their surprise and delight, that you've got two copies here, and whoever picks up the bill today gets one! Oh right, in a country with strict copyright protection you perhaps shouldn't do this (copying), but of course you can find other things that will delight your friends and make them grateful to you.

Finally, you should understand one thing: when deciding whether to help others, you consider "Is he worth helping?" By the same reasoning, when you need others' help, they will also, consciously or not, judge in the same way. So you should now take out [Translator's note: the original writes 出 ("put out"); 拿出 ("take out") is meant; translated by the intended sense] a sheet of paper, write down all the traits of people worth your help, and see whether you yourself meet these traits. If not, shouldn't you find ways to improve? Also, don't think outstanding people don't need your help. You'll find that outstanding people often get more help. Why? Because everyone knows subconsciously that helping outstanding people may bring them more return. So, believe me, if you want to raise the quality of your social life, you'd better spend more time and energy making yourself more outstanding—even if only in one respect.

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