All right Procrastination. Let's talk about it. It's a big topic. And by the way we all face it.
拖延症是本次节目的话题是个很大的话题 而且我们每个人都会有这个毛病
It is a ever present evergreen issue for a reason and even the people you see on magazine covers,
它能够成为常谈常新的话题不是没有原因的 甚至你在杂志封面上看到的人物都会有这个问题
most of them, there are a few mutants, but they all have things they put off.
他们大多数都会将一些事情推迟去做 不过也存在几个特例 他们可能从不拖延
And there are a few different tactics, approaches that I found very helpful
这里有几个很有用的方法和策略
that I've borrowed from, whether it's guests on the Tim FerrissShow or people I interviewed for Tools of Titans my newest book, here we go. So down the list.
我从Tim Ferriss的节目嘉宾那里以及我为新书《巨人的工具》所采访的人那里学到的下面开讲方法清单
So one is break it down into the smallest action conceivable.
第一就是化整为零
And there are a few different types here.
可细分为若干种情况
So if you have a macro goal, which is double the number of podcast downloads per episode. All right.
所以如果你有个宏伟的目标是想让你播客的下载量增加一倍 好
I'm just giving that as an example.
我只是举个例子而已
Well, we need to modify that to make it really actionable.
那么我们需要调整它 使它更真正切实可行
The first is making it hyper, hyper specific so we need a timeline at the very least.
首先要使它变得超级具体 因而我们至少需要一条时间线
So let's say within six months doubling, and this is a real example for me, doubling the number of podcast downloads.
比如 在六个月内翻番 让播客的下载翻番 对我来说这是个真实的例子

Well, downloads are ongoing so by what point in time?
下载是永不停止的 在那个时间点计算下载量呢
All right, I want to double the number of podcast downloads per episode by week six after publication and I want to accomplish that within six months. All right.
好的 我想要视频上线后 到第六周每集博客下载量的数字翻倍 我想要在6个月内达成这个目标 很好
And then we can borrow from David Allen and just ask what are some of the prerequisites, the component pieces of doing that?
于是乎我们可以借鉴David Allen 达成这个目标 需要什么先决条件？
Let's break it out into say content and organic.
先让我们来说一下内容以及结构
You could have it paid acquisition, you make a long list of these potential buckets of activities.
你能办到 通过将一系列可能要进行的活动列一个长长列表
From there you would look at next physical actions, and this is directly from getting things done.
当你做完这些事情后 你可以很直接的知道你下一步 具体要做什么
And you could apply that to any number of these, let's just say it's ten buckets
你可以把这个方法运用到你任务清单中的任意数字 我们假设有十件事
but you would ask yourself, this is a question I ask myself very often
你可以问自己一个问题 这个问题在我因为
when I'm procrastinating because there is indecision, and this is a particular breed of procrastination.
犹豫不决而拖延的时候会经常问到我自己 当然犹豫不决也是拖延的一种
In other words if I have ten things on my to do list or ten potential products I could pursue what to do in that situation?
这个问题就是 如果我的代办清单上有十件事情 或者有十件我可以买的东西 那么我该做什么？
And what I ask myself is which one of these if done will make the rest the relevant or easier?
我会问我自己这些事情中哪些事情完成之后会使得其他的事情变得相关联或者做起来更加简单
This is a key question I ask all the time, which one of these will make all the rest easier to do if done first,
这个问题很重要 我一直在这样问自己 先做哪件事情会使得其他的事情变得更简单
or all the rest irrelevant, don't even need to do them.
或者是让剩下的事情变得不相关 从而不用去做
That is how I will hone in on one piece of the puzzle.
这就是我面对这个难题时不断细化深入的方法
And this can be applied all over the place.
这个方法可以运用到所有的领域
But let's just say it's the doubling podcast, it could be losing weight, you can see that's very, very amorphous.
我们刚刚说的是播客下载量翻倍 我们也可以讨论减肥这个是非常非常灵活的
We need timelines. We need an amount to lose. And then you want to make it as small as possible.
我们需要时间线 需要减掉的确切重量 然后尽可能地把它细化
So I'll give you a different example.
现在我举一个不同的例子
If you want to start flossing your teeth, who likes flossing their teeth? Pretty much nobody.
如果你想开始洁牙 谁会喜欢洁牙 几乎没人喜欢吧
So how do you start flossing your teeth?
那么你要怎么开始洁牙呢？
Well, you want to make it as easy as possible to develop as part of your routine,
首先你要尽可能地让它成为日常生活中的一部分
to make it as automatic as anything else that you do consistently.
成为你的生活习惯
And you could borrow from the say BJ Fogg who's done a lot of research at Stanford
你可以引用曾经在斯坦福大学和其他地方做过大量研究的BJ Fogg的一句话
and elsewhere, make it as small as possible, meaning in the beginning do less than you're capable of doing.
”让它尽可能的小” 意思是刚开始你要做的比你能做的事情要少
So this is another key when you think something is too big or onerous, so it's too intimidating or it's too much of a pain in the ass. All right.
这就是关键 尤其当你认为一些任务太大或太艰巨所以太吓人或太痛苦的时候
So for flossing you might say I'm only going to floss my front two teeth. That's three gaps.
所以对于洁牙，你可能会说我打算清洁我的两颗门牙 这里有三条缝
That's all you're going to do. And you want to make it, again, as easy as possible.
那是你需要去做的东西 你需要让它尽可能的简单
So you might use a WaterPik or you might use those disposable flossing gadgets
所以你可能需要用到洁碧或者一次性的洁牙小器具
so you don't have to do tourniquets on your fingers, which is also one of the side effects of flossing that deters people.
这样你就不用拿着止血带 当然要用止血带也是阻止我们洁牙的一个副作用
Make it as easy as possible. Now this applies to a lot more than flossing.
尽可能地让它简单 这个可以运用到比洁牙更多的领域
So I've talked to many of the people for say Tools of Titans,
因此为了《巨人的工具》我跟很多人聊过
people who are eight time New York Times best-selling authors or prolific musicians, prolific music producers
这些人都是 纽约时报的畅销作家 或是着名音乐家 歌曲创作者
like Rick Rubin who is legendary, and it all comes down to tiny homework assignments.
比如传奇制作人里克鲁宾 所有这些都是千里之行始于足下
So Rick if he has a stuck artist, for instance, he will say can you get me one word or one line
像如果里克鲁宾有一个艺术家突然没灵感时 他会说你明天工作的时候能给我你正在创作的这首歌
that you might like for this song that you're working on by tomorrow, is that possible?
你可能喜欢的一个词或是一段谱子吗 这可能吗？
Many, many homework assignments.
划分成很多的任务才是关键
So with the creative project in the beginning that's one
所以在一开始就制定合适的计划是
It's related to a piece of advice that I got from Neil Strauss, eight times New York times
我从尼尔·斯特劳斯那里得到的建议之一 尼尔·斯特劳斯是
best selling author, he has written for The New York Times, he's written for Rolling Stone
纽约时报畅销作者 他曾为纽约时报和滚石杂志撰稿
Magazine, and that is lower your standards.
他给出的建议是 降低你的标准
So he doesn't believe in writer's block.
所以他从不相信作家说的日更万字之类的誓言
He says your standards are just too high.
他说你的标准太高了
You're creating performance anxiety for yourself.
你为你自己带来了行动上的焦虑
So the advice that I got from another writer, which matches with that, is two crappy pages per day.
所以我从另一个作家那里得到的和他匹配的建议是 每天坚持写 两页书
So a lot of people are like I'm going to kill it. I need an ambitious goal.
所以大部分人都是 我一定完成它 我需要一个雄心勃勃的目标
Let me do 1500 words, 2000 words per day for this book I'm working on.
我要为我的书每天写1500字 2000字
Well, there is a very high probability that you're going to fall short of that
好吧 这样很大的可能你会只进行了一小半你就感到泄气
and then you will get demoralized, then you will get intimidated by the task and then you'll start procrastinating.
然后你会对任务感到害怕 随后 你会开始拖延
So make the hurdle, make the success threshold really, really low.
所以 将障碍和成功的门槛设置的低一些 再低一些
That's what I've done for my last three books is two crappy pages per day. That's all I need.
我最后的三本书就是通过每天写两页来完成的 这就是我需要做的一切
If I don't end up using them that's fine I just need to get out two crappy pages. What ends up happening?
如果我没有做到 那也没关系 我只需要放弃这两页 只是两页没写结果能有什么变化？
With the flossing, with the writing, with say exercise,
洁牙 写作 锻炼等都很适用
if you're going to exercise you're making a New Year's Resolution, don't make it an hour a day four times a week, no,
如果你新年的决心是准备开始锻炼 这时不要制定一天一小时啊一周四次啊的强度
no, no, and if you don't have an exercise habit five to ten minutes at the gym three times a week, plenty.
且如果你没有锻炼的习惯 那每周去三次体育馆 每次坚持5到10分钟就足够了
And in all those cases you will feel successful because you've checked your box for success
在这些例子里你会感到非常成功因为你每次都成功的做到了预定的事情
and then very often you will exceed that for extra credit.
且经常会因为额外的信心而超额完成
You'll be like oh I'm already at the gym I'll go for an extra ten minutes.
你可能会想我已经在体育馆了 我要再跑十分钟
Well, I'm already flossing my teeth I'll do an extra four.
好吧 我已经清理了我的牙齿 我想再清理几颗
Well, I've already hit my two pages but I'm feeling great and I'm in the flow, maybe I'll do ten, maybe I'll do 20.
我已经完成两页书了 但是我感觉很棒 并且灵感也来了 可能我还能再完成十页 甚至二十页
But it prevents you from feeling like a failure. This is very, very important.
它不会让你感觉自己很失败 这非常 非常重要
That is what derails a lot of people and it also makes the task list intimidating.
就是因为这 才让许多人半途而废并且让任务清单困难的吓人
So those are a few recommendations for avoiding procrastination. Some of them are time related.
以上是抵制拖延的一些建议 有一些是与时间有关
So if you are looking at a task, and we've already talked about chunking it down,
所以当你面对任务时 我们已经讨论过如何拆分它
if it looks gigantic an onerous and you calculate in your mind
如果这个任务巨大而又繁重
well that's probably going to take me a hundred hours or three weeks, however you look at it, you don't take the first step
甚至可能会消耗你几百个小时或者是三周时间 这时候你面对任务时 你不会想迈出第一步
because it's like taking a bite out of a whale or something like that.
因为那任务难的就像从鲸鱼身上咬下来一块肉 或者类似的事
So you can use the technique, for instance, like the pomodoro technique.
举个例子 你可以用这个方法 番茄工作法
And people have interpreted this in different ways but it effectively means sprints of say 20 to 25.
人们对这种方法有不同的解释 但是意思都是专注做一件事情做二十分钟或者二十五分钟
Some people do 23 minutes where you're like all right I know I'm not going to get this
时间可以随你喜好比如23分钟 哦我知道我不会做完这个任务
but I'm going to sprint for 20 minutes, 25 minutes and then take a five-minute break.
但是我可以专心致志的先做20分钟25分钟 然后休息5分钟
And then I will sprint again for 20 to 25 minutes.
然后我会继续专心20或25分钟
And the magic of those time constraints, I've talked about this a lot has Parkinson's Law,
像这种时间约束的魔力 我在帕金森定律中已经谈过许多
but the complexity of a task swelling to fill the time that it's allotted.
但是一个任务复杂的地方就是它会膨胀以至于沾满你的时间
Once you have these positive constraints, which by the way for a creative person, very important to have positive constraints.
一旦你有了这些积极的时间约束 顺便说一句对于有创造力的人来说有积极的时间约束非常重要
Being able to do anything you want all the time is a recipe for disaster and paralysis and procrastination.
总是随心所欲 是拖延症患者的典型特征
And I'll talk about one or more constraint that you can apply.
接下来我会告诉你们更多的约束方法
So you have something like the pomodoro technique.
所以你会有更多的类似于番茄工作法的方法
If it's email related you can actually use a tool called Email Game.
如果是和邮件相关 你可以用一个叫电子邮件游戏的工具
I won't go into a long description but emailga.me is the URL. You can check that out.
在此不展开介绍 只要知道emailga.me是一个网址 你可以试用一下
It avoids the inbox view and forces you to answer sequentially.
它会让你看不到你的收件箱 然后再让你一封接一封的回复邮件
So I'll let people check that out.
所以我希望人们都能试用一下
That will probably cut down your email clearing time by 40 percent or so.
它会大幅度的缩减你回复邮件的时间 甚至能减少40%左右
The next way that you can apply positive constraint is by building in incentives and consequences.
下一个比较好的约束方法是设立奖惩机制
All this means is make yourself socially accountable.
这主要是让你自己有更好的社会责任感
And you can use a site like Stickk.com, you can use Coach.me,
你可以用这些网站如 Stickk.com Coach.me
having someone else to hold your feet to the fire and keep you accountable for whatever goal you've set for yourself.
这样可以有其他人监督你防止你懒散堕落 并且能激励你重拾梦想完成目标
That could be a check in via phone, it could be a bet, so a financial component, which is very effect.
比如通过打卡记录 或是和别人的赌约这种涉及到金钱的方法非常有效
I've seen high ranking folks at Google lose a hundred plus pounds
我曾经在谷歌排行榜上看到一个人因为和别人的打赌然后失去了一百多英镑
because they had a bet with a friend, this is what got them started, their gym bodies if someone didn't show up
他和朋友打赌如果谁没有晒出健身房的身材照
they had to pay the other person a dollar.
谁就给其他人每人一美元
So it's incredible what a small amount of money can do.
这真难以相信是从这么小的数字开始的
You could also put together a betting pool say five people each put in $100 and the person
你也可以定个规则说 五个人每人出100美元
who loses the most of body fat or improves their body fat percentage using say DEXA Scan by the end of the first-quarter gets the $500.
然后在第一个季度末 谁的体重掉的最多或是体脂率最健康谁就可以得到这500美元
That is hugely, hugely effective.
这会有很大很大的效果
And I think in part not because the money you will win but the money you will lose.
而且我觉得你可能不怎么关心你能得到多少 但你肯定很关心你会失去多少钱
People will work a lot harder to counteract loss eversion it turns out.
人们为了减少损失会更努力的去工作 有时候还能因此得到意外惊喜
So those are a few things that you could utilize.
以上就是我们能用到的一些方法
And I'll give you one kind of wacky one that is from Mike Birbiglia who's one of the most successful comedians on the planet,
下面我再给你们介绍一个来自迈克·比尔比利亚 听起来有点古怪的方法 他是世界着名喜剧演员
has done tons of TV, tons of movies and is fantastic at standup, lot with This American Life.
他已经拍了很多电视剧和电影 在脱口秀上也颇有成就 而且多次参加《美国人生》
And when he was procrastinating working on his screenplay, his latest screenplay,
当他编他最新剧本的时候他也会犯拖延症
we noticed that when he was accountable to someone else he had a meeting he was never late, he was always early.
我们能发现当他要和别人开会的时候他从来不会迟到
But when he had a commitment to himself to write he might put it off for hours.
但是当他着手写自己的剧本的时候可能会拖延几个小时
So he took a Post-it and he put it next to his bed, and this sounds ludicrous,
这时候他会在他的床边上贴个便利贴 这听起来很滑稽
but it said, Mike, and I think it was three exclamation points,
但上面写着 迈克 三个感叹号
you have a meeting with yourself at 7:00 a.m. at café whatever it was where he intended to work and that actually for whatever weird quirk of human psychology got him to stay on track for his meeting with himself to write his screenplay.
无论这看起来 多么滑稽多么怪癖 但的确能把他带回正轨奋力写剧本的正轨
So that's another Jedi mind trick that you might try on yourself.
这是另一个你可以试试的小把戏
There are many tools in the toolkit but keep it small, keep it defined, rig it
这里提供了很多方法 化整为零 定义明确 制定能够顺利完成的任务
so you can win and when in doubt figure out a way to create a loss or shame
还有当你想拖延时想出一个奖惩机制 让你能够为了减少损失而更努力的去工作
if you don't actually tackle your task and achieve some type of measurable goal by a specific point in time.
以及通过特定的奇怪的方法来达成你的目标等等