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”壓制著，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，復(fù)雜、危險(xiǎn)、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(nèi)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(huán)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(huì)增加痛苦的事實(shí)

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(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)：

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(shí)間是為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(dāng)你有了一些拖延時(shí)間的經(jīng)驗(yàn)后，你可能會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)比起正常的事態(tài)發(fā)展，拖延時(shí)間只會(huì)增加痛苦。衡量這兩者間的厲害關(guān)系，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(qiáng)迫自己在最后期限前解決問題。

…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(huì)因此而增長。下次在你又想要拖延的時(shí)候，記得要強(qiáng)迫自己，當(dāng)你順利完成某件事時(shí)，感覺會(huì)很好，這么做也是種獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)。不論什么時(shí)候你想要拖延時(shí)間，就記住這點(diǎn)，它讓你更進(jìn)一步。

3. Create a flow

3．制定流程計(jì)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(dòng)手做總比什么都不做要好。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(wù)來制定流程，創(chuàng)造動(dòng)力。有了計(jì)劃流程之后，從必須做的模塊入手會(huì)顯得簡單得多。同樣，妨礙物的清理會(huì)讓你感覺更有動(dòng)力，糟糕的工作環(huán)境只會(huì)為你的拖延毛病創(chuàng)造條件。

4. Get some leverage

4．借助外界的杠桿力量

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(shí)，我們不僅僅只是因?yàn)楣ぷ骰驅(qū)W校上枯燥的事而拖延時(shí)間，你可能深陷某種痛苦而無法繼續(xù)前進(jìn)，假如你一心想著換工作或如何讓某種關(guān)系更進(jìn)一步，那么你可能就會(huì)將注意力集中在會(huì)導(dǎo)致你犯錯(cuò)的因素上。如此，就適當(dāng)借助外界力量幫助你進(jìn)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(zhǔn)備好紙筆。如果你還未正式開始這個(gè)計(jì)劃，那么就寫下盡可能多你所想到的在未來幾年內(nèi)可能被遺漏的事，挖掘內(nèi)心的思想，感受那種不僅僅只發(fā)生在明天，而可能發(fā)生在未來一年、五年或十年內(nèi)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.

然后，如果你決定去想去的地方，那么就寫下所有你將要經(jīng)歷的積極美好的事。深思后寫下近一年、兩年、五年或十年內(nèi)你將經(jīng)歷的那些事情和感情。要懂得軟硬兼施的運(yùn)用。等你真正有了解決的辦法后再一擊擊中。

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

5．你會(huì)如何吃掉一只象？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.

不要總著眼于你必須做的事。造成拖延毛病的其中一個(gè)原因是由于壓力過大。你可以將它們分解成一個(gè)個(gè)小部分，列成一張清單。將注意力放在其中一個(gè)小任務(wù)或某個(gè)大任務(wù)的其中一小部分上，然后再繼續(xù)下一步，一次只完成一個(gè)步驟，別總是三心二意。等你真正了解到這點(diǎn)的時(shí)候，其實(shí)相當(dāng)于完成任務(wù)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(xiàn)實(shí)的看法，那么反復(fù)將你推入拖延狀態(tài)的問題可能會(huì)消失。試驗(yàn)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(gè)世界充滿信心。過去的已經(jīng)過去了，不代表未來，你完全沒必要把自己放在過去的模子里而無法自拔，你已經(jīng)從過去走到現(xiàn)在，你可以選擇更可以改變你的任何習(xí)慣。

7. Make a small deal with yourself

7．跟自己打個(gè)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(gè)方法很有效，是我從教育學(xué)者布利斯那里第一次聽說的。（事實(shí)上后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(diǎn)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.

如何著手：下定決心只花五分鐘在某件事上，五分鐘之后做些你想做的事，當(dāng)你打算繼續(xù)工作五分鐘時(shí)，就在你的時(shí)間表上做個(gè)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(jiān)持五分鐘。

我發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)方法對于分解長期的工作很有成效。在完成了開始的五分鐘后，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)接下來的五分鐘工作會(huì)感覺比較容易些，在這之后你又會(huì)感覺更容易些，或者你可以將時(shí)間提升到10分鐘一次。在這短短的五分鐘內(nèi)做些真正有用的事，那樣也就給了自己充實(shí)的感覺。來玩?zhèn)€游戲，測試五分鐘內(nèi)你能完成多少工作量，可能你能完成的很少，但這個(gè)游戲充滿挑戰(zhàn)的樂趣。