Want to add some hours to your day? Ok,you probably can't change the fabric of time. But a new study suggests that theway you feel about your goal can change your concept of time and that somesimple strategies could make you feel less rushed.

In a series of experiments, JordanEtkin, a professor of marketing at Duke, and her co-authors, LoannisEvangelidis and Jennifer Aaker, looked at what happens when people see theirgoals as conflicting with one another. In one, they asked some participants tolist two of their goals that they felt were in conflict, and others simply tolist two of their goals. Those who were forced to think about conflicting aimsfelt more time pressure than those who weren't. In another experiment, the researchersgave participants a similar prompt regarding goal conflict, but this timemeasured their anxiety levels as well as their attitudes toward time. Theyfound that participants who thought about conflicting goals had more anxietythan those who didn't, and that this, in turn, led to feelings of being shorton time.

"Stress and anxiety and timepressure are closely linked concepts," D. Etkin explained. "When wefeel more stress and anxiety in relation to our personal goals, that manifestsas a sense of having less time."

Technological advances that allow peopleto do lots of things at once may increase the fe'eling of goal conflict, shesaid."I think the easier it is for us to try to deal with a lot of thesethings at the same time," She said"the more opportunity there is for us to feel this conflictbetween our goals."She isn't the first to suggest that actual busynessisn't the only thing that can make us feel busy At the Atlantic, Derek Thompson wrote that "as a country, we'reworking less than we did in the 1960s and 1980s." He offered a number ofpossible reasons some Americans still feel so overworked, including "thefluidness ffl±) of work and leisure." As he put it:"The idea thatwork begins and ends at the office is wrong. On the one hand, flexibility isnice, On the other, mixing work and leisure together creates an always-onexpectation that makes it hard for white-collar workers to escape the shadow ofwork responsibilities."

And Brigid Schulte writes in her 2014book Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time thatsome researchers believe "time has no sharp edges. What often matters morethan the activity we're doing at a moment in time, they have found, is how wefeel about it.Our concept of time is indeed,our reality.”

Fortunately, Dr. Etkin and her team didfind ways of making us feel better about time—or, at least, of reducing thenegative influence of goal conflict. When participants performed a breathingexercise that reduced their anxiety, the impact of such conflict on theirperception of time was less pronounced. Reframing anxiety as excitement (byreading the phrase "I am excited!" aloud several times) had a similareffect.

Breathing and reframing may not solveeveryone's time problems—Ms. Schulte writes that some Americans are indeedworking more than they used to. She cites the work of the sociologists MichaelHout and Caroline Hanley, who have "found that working parents combinedput in 13 more hours a week on the job in 2000 than they did in 1970. That's676 hours of additionally paid work a year for a family. And that's on top ofall the unpaid hours spent caring for children and keeping the housetogether." Sometimes, we may feel short on time because we actually are.However, Dr. Etkin believes her findings suggest we may "have the abilityto influence our experience of time more than we think we do."

"We're all going to have times inour lives when our goals seem to be in more conflict than others," shesaid. But with techniques like the ones her team tested, "we really canhelp ourselves feel like we have more time."

    Have you ever had the following experience? You have been given the task of organizing a conference, which includes a must-do list about a mile long. There is the conference site, the guest list, the materials, the technology and even the food and drink to think about and plan. If you are beginning to feel the stress, slow down and take a breath. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Write down your goals. You will need to clearly define what you hope to accomplish with this conference because this will shape the rest of your decisions.  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    Develop your budget.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Then break that budget into different parts such as conference site, materials and speakers' fees. Stick to your budget, and make sure your assistants are keeping their monetary limits as well.

     {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. When searching for locations, keep in mind the number of participants, the convenience of the location, parking and closeness to public transportation, airports and hotels. Your goal in finding a place to hold the conference should be making it as easy as possible for participants to attend.

    Seek help from the staff of the conference site. If you have chosen a site that is known for holding conferences, you can seek help from the staff there as organizing meeting is what they do every day.  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. They should be able to answer any questions or concern and provide advice when needed.

    Of course, full preparations also include a walk-through. Go to the site and meet with the staff the day before to be certain that everything is in place and to take care of any small details.

  A. Decide on a schedule for the meeting

  B. Choose your conference site

  C. Read the following skills to figure out how to organize a conference

  D. Knowing what you want to achieve eases the stress of moving forward

  E. Make full use of this important resource

  F. You can do nothing without knowing how much money you have to spend

  G. Seek help from your colleagues to support every aspect of the meeting

    People have used pigeons to carry messages to one another for hundreds of years. In fact, pigeons were a common way to send messages right up through Would War II.

    In 1815, English troops were fighting Napoleon's forces in France, and the English were believed to be losing. A financial panic swept over London. Government bonds（债券）were offered at low prices. Few people noticed that Nathan Rothschild, an English banker, was snapping up these bonds when everyone else was trying to sell them. A few days later, London learned the truth: the Duke of Wellington had defeated Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo. The value of the bonds soared（暴涨）, and Rothschild became wealthy…all because his pigeons had brought him news of the victory before anyone else knew of it.

    Carrier pigeons were used by countries in both World War I and World War II. Not only were the birds often the fastest, most reliable way to send messages, they could also be used to reach soldiers far behind enemy lines, where radios and field telephone lines were useless. Since they could easily be released from airplanes or ships, every branch of the armed services used the birds.

    Carrying messages could be a dangerous job. Some pigeons performed with such bravery that they became famous and were even awarded medals. The most famous pigeon of all may have been Cher Ami. Stationed in France during World War I, he carried twelve important messages for American forces. On his last mission, though wounded, he carried a message that saved the lives of 194 American soldiers. For his amazing service, he was awarded the French “Croix de Guerre.”

    Today, modern communication methods can carry information from one place to another hundreds of times faster than a pigeon could do it. However, few people would argue with the fact that carrier pigeons — especially those that served in the military — have earned their place in history.

    You may know about “junk food” like French fries. But do you know about “junk sleep”?

    Recently, a British survey found that electronic(电子的) products in teenagers bedrooms are affecting(影响)their sleep.

    The survey was done among 1,000 British kids from 12 to 16. It found that 30 percent of them got just 4 to 7 hours sleep every day. But doctors say they need 8 to 9 hours.

    Almost a quarter of the kids said they fell asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music or using other electronic products.

    “This is very worrying.” said Dr Chris Idzikowski, a British expert, “We call it 'junk sleep', it means you don't get enough sleep and the quality of the sleep is bad, too. If you don't get good rest, you don't perform well in school the next day.”

    The survey found that 40 percent of the kids felt tired each day, with girls between 13 and 16 feeling the worst. Nearly all the teenagers have a phone, Mp4 or TV in their bedroom. And many of them have all three.

    It is good to get in touch with your inner child from time to time, and obviously some people are willing to pay big money for the chance to do so in a proper environment. A Brooklyn-based adult preschool is charging customers between $333 and $999 for the chance to act like a kid again.

    At Preschool Mastermind in New York adults get to participate in show—and—tell, arts—and—crafts such as finger paint, games like musical chairs and even take naps. The month-long course also has class picture day where the adults are expected to have a field trip and a parent day.

    30-year-old Michelle Joni Lapidos, the brain behind the adult preschool, studied childhood education and has always wanted to be a preschool teacher. She's always on the lookout for new ways to get people in touch with the freedom of childhood. A friend encouraged her to start the mastermind course instead.

    According to Candice, her blogger friend, Preschool Mastermind gives adults a chance to relearn and master the things that they failed to understand as children. "I realized all the significances of what we learn in preschool," said founder Michelle Joni, "People come here and get in touch with their inner child. It's magical. We are bringing ourselves back to another place, another time with ourselves when we are more believing in ourselves, more confident and ready to take on the world."

    "One person's here because they want to learn not to be so serious." Michelle said. "Another's here to learn to be more confident." She explained that most of the classes were planned. However, Joni added that while the planned activities were fun, it was often the spontaneous(自发的)moments that attracted students. "It's the things you don't plan for, the sharing between friends and learning from each other."

    In Western society, especially in the English-speaking world, the chance for young people to see the other countries and experience life is considered important. Many young people, when they finish school at the age of 18, take a gap year before they go to university.

    Parents often want their children to grow up a little and see what the real world is like when they finish school. Although they are worried about their safety, many think that the advantages of independence and experience are worth the worries. Children are encouraged to be brave, independent and to explore the world on their own or with friends.

    Young people also want to experience freedom and see what life is like on the other side. This other side could be the other side of the world or just the other side of life. For example, if they have a rich life, they may want to see how people in poor areas live.

    A gap year after school is also an important chance for young people to spend time thinking about what they want to do with their lives. A little bit of growing up and experience will help them make their important career decisions, especially when they are unsure about what they want to study.

    Another reason for going straight after school is to get a break from studying before they start the next few years of university. So anywhere you travel in the world, you will meet young European people exploring the world.

    So much of the world has been travelled and explored. The young people are now looking for more worthy experiences. Some of them work as volunteers to do something for the country they are visiting. Many gap year volunteers are now spending a few months teaching English in Thailand, helping feed giant pandas in China or building a well(井) in a village in Africa.

    These young people's wish to explore the world is an expression of the values of the societies that they are part of. Both discovering the world and making a positive difference in it are important parts of the Western mind.