时间:2019-02-19 作者:英语课 分类:阅读空间


英语课

 Read This Now!


OK, I’m done with procrastinating 1. I’m done with the guilt 2, anxiety, stress — and, of course, the not getting stuff done. I’m tired of answering “what’d you do today” with “nothing…”. Of course, it’s a lie — I did do something, just not anything important. Not anything that made me feel happier, more complete, or more relaxed. What I did today was spend 8 hours kicking myself, putting myself down, and telling myself “I’ve really got to do…”


Why procrastination 3 is always easy to do right now
Psychologists tell me that the reason I procrastinate 4 is because it feels so darn good. Can you believe that? All that guilt, stress, and bad self-image feels good?
It does though, doesn’t it? Not the self-recriminations, but the excuse-making and the excuse-fulfilling. Here’s why:
When we procrastinate, we tend to do stuff that we know how to do — there’s no risk. And avoiding risk feels good — our brain loves it when we don’t do stuff that puts us out in the open, stuff that makes us vulnerable. 
Most of the kinds of things we do while we procrastinate are fun, offering an immediate 5 payoff — instead of the deferred 6 payoff of the routine, boring, or lengthy 7 projects we’re putting off. A little thrill now makes us feel better than a bigger thrill at some point in the distant future. 
Procrastination helps to prevent success, and we fear success. Success at anything important means change, it means becoming someone different, it means growing as a person — and all that stuff is really, really hard. Futzing around, on the other hand, rarely accomplishes anything important, so I can stay comfortably me.
I can’t tell you how much I hate knowing all that about myself! I bet you’re not all that thrilled about it yourself. And I didn’t even mention the part about how we hate our parents and would hate even more for them to see us succeed, since that would validate 8 their years of torturing us into passable adults.
So what’s a poor, lazy sod to do?
I can’t tell you how to deal with your obvious childhood resentments 9, but maybe there is a way to get around procrastination without expensive and time-consuming therapy? Therapy that you’ll probably just use as another excuse not to do whatever it is you’re procrastinating in the first place? (”I can’t write my novel until my analyst 10 says I’m ready…”)
Sure there is. When it comes down to it, all we have to do is a) minimize the rewards of procrastination, and b) maximize the rewards of non-procrastination. How hard could that be?
OK, maybe a little bit hard. So how do we do it? What’s the program? Let’s see if we can’t figure this out.
1. Make lists.
You knew I was going to say that, didn’t you? You know I love the lists. Lists are good — they’re fun to make, and even funner to throw out when you’re done. And they help us deal with at least two of the three factors that cause procrastination risk-aversion and rewards. Here’s how:
Making a list feels like you’re doing something. Bing! You’ve got your reward.
Crossing something done off your list feels ood. Bing! Another reward.
Making a list reduces the risk that you’ll forget to do something — and therefore that you’ll screw up and fail. Bing! Your brain likes that, a lot.
You can’t make just any list, though. As I never tire of saying , lists should be concrete, granular, doable — the first item on your list should be something you can glance at and immediately do. Don’t know how? Then it shouldn’t be the first thing on your list; figuring out how to do it should be the first thing on your list. Or, rather, “Use Google to find out how to do x” or “Go to library to get books on x” or “Take class on x” should be first on your list.
Then the next thing on your list should be something you can glance at and immediately do, and the third thing, and the fourth. If you can’t start doing something within two minutes of reading it on your list, it’s not concrete enough. Call it “The Other Two Minutes Rule”.
2. Get motivated.
There’s lots of advice on how to get motivated ; whatever it takes you to be motivated, do that thing. Here’s one idea: play the best-case/worst-case game. What’s the best possible outcome of whatever it is you’re (not) working on? Visualize 11 it. Daydream 12 about it. Ok, put that aside for a minute. Now, what’s the worst possible outcome? Don’t be afraid — spill it. You finish your project and… what? Now ask yourself — how likely is that? Really? Be honest here — chances are you haven’t undertaken something that you’re wholly unsuited for. OK, that’s better. Now, ask yourself if the best-case scenario 13 makes the worst-case worth the risk? I’ll bet it does (note: if there’ a chance that successfully completing your project might well kill you, please, try un-motivating yourself. I kinda like having you around!)
Another way of getting motivated is to relive past successes. How did you feel he last time you finished a project? What did you have to do to get that one done? How closely did the outcome match your fears? Yeah, not too closely, right?
Moving on.
3. Reward yourself.
There are those who say that rewards aren’t good motivation. Don’t you believe it. Those people are probably criminals.
OK, maybe not — but they’re only right about external rewards, a.k.a. “bribes”. As it happens, offering rewards to employees often doesn’t increase motivation. But offering rewards to yourself — well, that’s just good common sense. You need that Bing! moment — you are, after all, simply a giant hairless ape with a yen 14 for gourmet 15 coffee and a laptop.
Researchers places monkeys in a cage, with a button that, when pressed, dispensed 16 a piece of food. “Yum!” said the monkey when he pushed the button. So he pushed it again. And again. Monkeys are, of course, just small hairy people without coffee or laptops, so they learn pretty fast.
Then the researchers added a twist: every third time the monkey pushed the button, he’d get an electric shock! “Ouch!” said the monkey — then he ate his treat. “Ouch ouch!” he said, the next time — then he ate his treat.
The moral of this story is that we’ll put up with quite a bit of crap, as long as we get our treat. Your challenge, then, is to find a treat good enough to hit the button for, even though you know it’s going to hurt like heck.
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4. Be accountable.
Shame, guilt, humiliation 17 — they can be effective motivational tools. The problem is, when they’re directed at ourselves, they’re corrosive 18, undoing 19 motivation as fast as they create it. It’s hard to convince yourself you’re not going to fail when you’ve also convinced yourself you’re a no-good lazy stupid son-of-a-… badger 20.
My advice: outsource your guilt and humiliation to someone you love and respect. The world is flat, after all. It’s what Tim Ferriss would do.
What do I mean, exactly? Simple: tell someone — tell lots of someones — what you’re doing, when you’re going to be done, how excited you are about it, how important it is to you, and so on.
Now you’ve got risk. You fail, and everyone is going to know. Put that fear of failure to good use! Now what’s going to prevent the negative payoff of everyone knowing what you want to get done: a couple solid hours of work, however boring, or “just one more” round of Desktop 21 Tower Defense 22?
5. Do it for three minutes.
Aside from, say, breathing poison gas or watching reality television, you can do anything for just three minutes, right? Get a kitchen timer (I don’t actually advocate stealing from your grandmother , but you do what it takes), set it for three minutes, and work. Since you aren’t likely to be procrastinating something you could do in less than three minutes, you have no reason to fear the successful completion of your project. And you can promise yourself whatever you want when the timer goes off — a cup of coffee, a game of Minesweep, a half hour of porn surfing, whatever. BIng! You get your reward — and guess what? Having gotten three minutes of work done will feel pretty good, too. Bing bing!
Next time, shoot for five. Then ten. Eventually, dare I say it, you might be able to put in as much as 25 minutes of solid work without dying — all in a row!
There’s something else, though: sometimes, once we start working, it feels so good to be working towards our goal, we don’t stop when the timer goes off. We start making excuses — “just one more sentence, I promise, then I’ll play Minesweep” — in effect, procrastinating our procrastination. Bing bing bing bing bing!
6. Learn to embrace change.
Last but not least, you need to get past the whole fear of success thing. Jonathan Fields, a guest contributor here at Lifehack, offers some tips in his article How to Sell Yourself on Lifestyle Change , and he should know — he’s had quite a few successes in his life, and all of them have drastically changed his life. For the better. It can be hard to imagine coming to terms with what success will mean for you, but here’s my promise: you’ll know how to deal with success when you get there, even if you can’t imagine it now.
It is traditional, of course, to end a post on procrastination with a sly joke about how you should start putting these tips into action, first thing tomorrow. But you know what? Procrastination can be serious stuff, so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to tell you to turn off your monitor for a minute, get out a piece of paper, and write a list of what you should be working on next. And then start doing it. Because, believe me, you’ll be a better person afterwards. And that’ll feel great.

拖延,耽搁( procrastinate的现在分词 ); 拖拉
  • Begin while others are procrastinating. Save while others are wasting. 当别人拖延时你开始。当别人浪费时你节约。
  • Before adjourning, councillors must stop procrastinating and revisit this controversial issue. 在休会之前,参议员必须停止拖延,重新讨论这个引起争议的问题。
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责
  • She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
  • Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。
n.拖延,耽搁
  • Procrastination is the father of failure. 因循是失败的根源。
  • Procrastination is the thief of time. 拖延就是浪费时间。
v.耽搁,拖延
  • Most often we procrastinate when faced with something we do not want to do.面对不想做的事情,我们经常拖延。
  • It's easy to procrastinate when the deadline seems infinitely far away.当最终期限总是遥遥无期时是很容易延期的。
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
adj.延期的,缓召的v.拖延,延缓,推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 );服从某人的意愿,遵从
  • The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
  • a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划
adj.漫长的,冗长的
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
  • The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。
vt.(法律)使有效,使生效
  • You need an official signature to validate the order.你要有正式的签字,这张汇票才能生效。
  • In order to validate the agreement,both parties sign it.为使协议有效,双方在上面签了字。
(因受虐待而)愤恨,不满,怨恨( resentment的名词复数 )
  • He could never transcend his resentments and his complexes. 他从来不能把他的怨恨和感情上的症结置之度外。
  • These local resentments burst into open revolt. 地方性反感变成公开暴动。
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家
  • What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务?
  • The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。
vt.使看得见,使具体化,想象,设想
  • I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人,但他的样子我想不起来了。
  • She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。
v.做白日梦,幻想
  • Boys and girls daydream about what they want to be.孩子们遐想着他们将来要干什么。
  • He drifted off into another daydream.他飘飘然又做了一个白日梦。
n.剧本,脚本;概要
  • But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
  • This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。
n. 日元;热望
  • He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
  • He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。
n.食物品尝家;adj.出于美食家之手的
  • What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么?
  • A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。
v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 );施与;配(药)
  • Not a single one of these conditions can be dispensed with. 这些条件缺一不可。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage. 他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
n.羞辱
  • He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
  • He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。
adj.腐蚀性的;有害的;恶毒的
  • Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。
  • Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。
n.毁灭的原因,祸根;破坏,毁灭
  • That one mistake was his undoing. 他一失足即成千古恨。
  • This hard attitude may have led to his undoing. 可能就是这种强硬的态度导致了他的垮台。
v.一再烦扰,一再要求,纠缠
  • Now that our debts are squared.Don't badger me with them any more.我们的债务两清了。从此以后不要再纠缠我了。
  • If you badger him long enough,I'm sure he'll agree.只要你天天纠缠他,我相信他会同意。
n.桌面管理系统程序;台式
  • My computer is a desktop computer of excellent quality.我的计算机是品质卓越的台式计算机。
  • Do you know which one is better,a laptop or a desktop?你知道哪一种更好,笔记本还是台式机?
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
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