七種改變拖延習慣的方法7 ways to move beyond procrastination

Almost everyone is held down by what some call “the silent killer”. Procrastination strikes everywhere. We all want to avoid the pain or discomfort of doing something we feel is boring, stupid, pointless, hard, complicated, risky, possibly really emotionally painful and so on.

幾乎所有人都被所謂的“沉默殺手”壓制着，拖延隨處可見，我們都希望能夠避免痛苦或那些讓我們感覺到麻煩、愚蠢、無意義、困難，複雜、危險、情緒上飽受痛苦的事。

But even though we know that we will have to do it eventually and that we’re just deluding ourselves we still put it of. Often with reasons we know deep down are weak and we really just made up. We get stuck in a vicious circle of doing too little of both what we want and what we don’t want. We get stuck. Here are 7 ways to squash procrastination and move forward.

 然而，即使知道始終逃避不了必須要做的事，我們還是不斷安慰自己說只是拖延一下下而已。有理由相信內心是脆弱的，而我們真的只是盡力在做，深陷在要和不要的惡性循環中，難以自拔。有七種方法可用以擺脫掉拖延的毛病。

1. Recognize that there is more pain in procrastinating than not

1． 要了解拖延只會增加痛苦的事實

If you have procrastinated a lot (like me) you might have discovered that:

如果你跟我一樣有愛拖延的毛病，你可能已經發現：

You procrastinate to avoid doing something that is boring, hard or something like that. You want to avoid that pain.

你喜歡拖延時間是爲了想要避免麻煩或困難，你的目的是想要避免痛苦。

But after having some experience with procrastination you’ll probably realise that procrastination itself causes your more pain than actually just doing what you were supposed to. Realising the true amount of pain in the two choices will make it easier to get things done.

當你有了一些拖延時間的經驗後，你可能會發現比起正常的事態發展，拖延時間只會增加痛苦。衡量這兩者間的厲害關係，你就知道到底怎樣做更簡便些。

2. Force yourself to do it before you really absolutely have do it…

2．強迫自己在最後期限前解決問題。

…and your self-esteem will go up. And the next time you feel like procrastinating remember that you forced yourself, but that you felt better when it was done. There was a nice reward when you were done. Whenever you feel like procrastinating remember this to get you to start moving forward.

你的自尊心會因此而增長。下次在你又想要拖延的時候，記得要強迫自己，當你順利完成某件事時，感覺會很好，這麼做也是種獎勵。不論什麼時候你想要拖延時間，就記住這點，它讓你更進一步。

3. Create a flow

3．制定流程計劃

Instead of doing nothing, begin with doing something. Clean your desk, take out the garbage, wash the dishes. Just stack a couple of simple actions to create a flow, a momentum. When you’re in the flow, in that forward motion, getting started with what you have to do will be much easier. Also, cleaning up can get you too feel more motivated. A messy work-environment seems to often reinforce procrastination.

開始動手做總比什麼都不做要好。清理你的桌子，扔掉垃圾，洗洗碗盤，累積一些簡單的工作任務來制定流程，創造動力。有了計劃流程之後，從必須做的模塊入手會顯得簡單得多。同樣，妨礙物的清理會讓你感覺更有動力，糟糕的工作環境只會爲你的拖延毛病創造條件。

4. Get some leverage

4．藉助外界的槓桿力量

Sometimes we procrastinate on things that aren’t just dull tasks in the office or school. Maybe you are stuck, not able to take the next step fearing some deep personal pain. If you are thinking about changing jobs or career or taking a next step in a relationship you are probably focusing on what could go wrong. Instead, get some leverage to both push and pull yourself forward.

有時，我們不僅僅只是因爲工作或學校上枯燥的事而拖延時間，你可能深陷某種痛苦而無法繼續前進，假如你一心想着換工作或如何讓某種關係更進一步，那麼你可能就會將注意力集中在會導致你犯錯的因素上。如此，就適當藉助外界力量幫助你進步吧。

How to: Take a pen and a piece of paper. Write down as many things as you can come up with that you will miss out on, not just now but the next few years if you don’t take this step now. Really dig down into yourself and feel that pain that you will feel not just tomorrow but in a year and the next five or ten years.

步驟：準備好紙筆。如果你還未正式開始這個計劃，那麼就寫下儘可能多你所想到的在未來幾年內可能被遺漏的事，挖掘內心的思想，感受那種不僅僅只發生在明天，而可能發生在未來一年、五年或十年內的痛苦。

Then write down all positive and wonderful things you will experience if you take this decision and move forward to where you want to go. Think about them and write down all those things you will experience and feel, not just in the next few days but in one year, in two, in five years or ten. Get the stick and the carrot to work for you. And put the problem in a longer time perspective to really give it an emotional punch.

然後，如果你決定去想去的地方，那麼就寫下所有你將要經歷的積極美好的事。深思後寫下近一年、兩年、五年或十年內你將經歷的那些事情和感情。要懂得軟硬兼施的運用。等你真正有了解決的辦法後再一擊擊中。

5. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time…

5．你會如何吃掉一隻象？一口吃掉。

Don’t look at everything you have to do. One of the common sources of procrastination is feeling overwhelmed. Break it down into smaller tasks. Write them down as a list on a piece of paper. Focus on just getting that one small task or part of the big thing done. Then move on to the next. Take it one step at a time and don’t think about the rest. Before you know it you’ll be half way there.

不要總着眼於你必須做的事。造成拖延毛病的其中一個原因是由於壓力過大。你可以將它們分解成一個個小部分，列成一張清單。將注意力放在其中一個小任務或某個大任務的其中一小部分上，然後再繼續下一步，一次只完成一個步驟，別總是三心二意。等你真正瞭解到這點的時候，其實相當於完成任務的一半了。

6. Change your beliefs

6．改變自信

The problems that repeatedly put you into a procrastinating state might disappear if you change your view on reality. Examine your beliefs. Ask yourself if you could see things in a more beneficial and effective way for yourself.

如果你改變自己對現實的看法，那麼反覆將你推入拖延狀態的問題可能會消失。試驗下你的自信心，問問自己是否可以看到對自己有益或有效的出路。

Realise you can choose you beliefs about yourself and the world. The past is not the future. You don’t have to hang to limiting beliefs based on past experiences if you don’t want to. You are here right now and you choose and can change your habits.

你要知道你可以對自己和這個世界充滿信心。過去的已經過去了，不代表未來，你完全沒必要把自己放在過去的模子裏而無法自拔，你已經從過去走到現在，你可以選擇更可以改變你的任何習慣。

7. Make a small deal with yourself

7．跟自己打個小賭

Here is an effective one I first heard from Ed Bliss (well, actually now that I think about it I probably first heard it from a teacher back in school about ten years ago. It kinda rings a bell).

這個方法很有效，是我從教育學者布利斯那裏第一次聽說的。（事實上後來我想到那可能是十年前從老師那第一次聽說的，這多少給了點提示）。

Here’s how you go about it: Promise yourself that you’ll work on something for just 5 minutes. After those 5 minutes you can do something else if you want to. But make a note on your schedule when you will come back to the task and work another 5 minutes with it. As Bliss notes, not matter how unpleasant a task may be, you can often talk yourself into working 5 minutes on it. I’ve found this one to be effective to make a dent in those tasks you have put of for a longer while. After you’re done with those first 5 minutes the next 5 minutes will feel a little easier. And after that the next 5 minutes will feel even easier. Or maybe you raise the bar to 10 minutes of work. Getting some actual work done on that task, if only for 5 minutes, gives you a rush of exhilaration. Making a game out of how much work you can get done in those 5 minutes can also be a small but in its own way fun challenge.

如何着手：下定決心只花五分鐘在某件事上，五分鐘之後做些你想做的事，當你打算繼續工作五分鐘時，就在你的時間表上做個記號。布利斯的筆記上說，不管工作多讓你厭煩，你都要讓自己堅持五分鐘。

我發現這個方法對於分解長期的工作很有成效。在完成了開始的五分鐘後，你會發現接下來的五分鐘工作會感覺比較容易些，在這之後你又會感覺更容易些，或者你可以將時間提升到10分鐘一次。在這短短的五分鐘內做些真正有用的事，那樣也就給了自己充實的感覺。來玩個遊戲，測試五分鐘內你能完成多少工作量，可能你能完成的很少，但這個遊戲充滿挑戰的樂趣。