Alright. Procrastination. Let's talk about it. It's a big topic.

好 拖延症 咱们来聊聊 这是个大话题

And by the way we all face it.

而且每个人都面临这个问题

It is an ever-present, evergreen issue for a reason and even the people you see on magazine covers, most of them –

不知道为什么 拖延症是个经久不衰的问题 而且那些出现在杂志封面上的人物 他们多数人——

there are a few mutants, but they all have things they put off and there are a few different tactics, approaches

也有少数例外 但他们多数都有会推迟的事情 有几个小技巧 小方法

that I found very helpful that I borrowed from whether it's guests on the Tim Ferriss Show or people I interviewed for "Tools of Titans," my newest book.

我觉得非常有用 它们来自“蒂姆·费里斯秀”的嘉宾或者是我为自己的新书《泰坦的工具》采访的人

Here we go, so down the list.

好 一起来看一下

So the first I think mistake is that we pursue momentary happiness rather than longer term happiness.

我觉得第一个问题就是 我们追求短暂的快乐 而不是长期的快乐

We do the things that will make us laugh out loud today kind of, not always laugh out loud but kind of like that.

我们会做当下能让我们开怀大笑的事 而不是能让我们笑容永驻的事

And we don't do the things that are difficult and complex and challenging but give us a very different sense of happiness.

我们不会做那些困难、复杂又具有挑战性 但却能让我们有不同的幸福感的事情

Think about something like running a marathon.

比如 想想马拉松

You don't see anybody happy.

你看不到一个快乐的人

If you came as an alien and you imaged people's brains and you looked at their facial expressions as they're running a marathon you would say somebody's punishing them.

如果你是外星人 而且去想象人类的大脑 如果你看到他们跑马拉松时的面部表情 你会觉得是有人在惩罚他们

They are paying for something terrible they've done and this is how they're paying their debt to society.

他们在为自己做过的错事付出代价 这就是他们向社会还债的方式

It is kind of miserable, but it's also meaningful and creates a sense of achievement and so on.

马拉松确实让人痛苦 但它也很有意义 并且能让人有成就感等等

So we're pursuing momentary pleasure rather than truly understanding the depth of what happiness is or what meaning is.

所以我们追求的是短暂的快乐 而不是真正了解快乐或意义的深意

Prolific music producers like Rick Rubin who's legendary and it all comes down to tiny homework assignments.

多产的音乐制作人 比如传奇人物里克·鲁宾 都归功于一些非常小的任务

So Rick, if he has a stuck artist for instance he will say can you get me one word or one line that you might like for this song that you're working on by tomorrow.

如果里克遇到一个才思枯竭的艺术家 他会说 你能否在明天之前 告诉我你想在这首歌里加入的一个词或者一句话

Is that possible. Mini, mini homework assignments.

可以吗？很小 很小的任务

So with a creative project in the beginning that's one.

所以对一项创造性的工作而言 那是一点

It's related to a piece of advice that I got from Neil Strauss and that is lower your standards.

这与Neil Strauss给我的建议有关 那就是降低自己的标准

So he doesn't believe in writer's block. He says your standards are just too high.

所以他不相信写作障碍这一说 他说是因为你把标准定的太高

You're creating performance anxiety for yourself.

你给自己制造了表现焦虑

So the advice that I got from another writer which matches with that is two crappy pages per day.

我从另一位与之匹配的作家那里得到的建议是每天随便写两页

So a lot of people are like I'm going to kill it. I need an ambitious goal.

很多人都会说 我要做的超级棒 我要设定一个很高的目标

Let me do 1,500 words, 2,000 words per day for this book I'm working on.

我每天要写1500字 2000字

Well, there's a very high probability that you're going to fall short of that and then you will get demoralized.

但你极有可能达不到这个目标 然后你就会有挫败感

Then you'll get intimidated by the task and then you will start procrastinating.

于是你就开始害怕这项任务 由此便开始了拖延症

So make the hurdle. Make the success threshold really, really low.

所以把那个障碍 把成功的门槛设置的非常非常低

That's what I've done for my last three books is two crappy pages per day.

我曾经写过的三本书都是这么做的 每天随便写两页

That's all I need. If I don't end up using them that's fine.

那就够了 即便我最后没用上那些内容也没关系

I just need to get out two crappy pages.

我只需要写出两页来就行了

If you're going to exercise and you're making a New Year's resolution, don't make it an hour a day, four times a week.

如果你想锻炼 想制定新年决心 不要设置成每周四次 每天一小时

No, no, no, no, no. Five to ten minutes at the gym three times a week, plenty.

不 不 不要 不要 每周三次 每次在健身房锻炼5到10分钟 足够了

And in all those cases you will feel successful because you've checked your box for success.

在这种情况下 你会感觉到成功 因为你做到了自己设定的目标

And then very often you'll exceed that for extra credit.

而且你通常会超过目标 获得额外的赞誉

You'll be well, I'm already at the gym. I'll go for an extra ten minutes.

你会想 既然我已经来健身房了 那就多待十分钟吧

Well, I'm already flossing my teeth. We'll do an extra four.

既然我已经在用牙线清洁牙齿了 那就再多刷四个吧

Well, I've already hit my two pages but I'm feeling great and I'm in the flow.

我已经写够两页了 但我现在才思泉涌

Maybe I'll do ten. Maybe I'll do 20.

那就写上十页吧 或许写个二十页也行

But it prevents you from feeling like a failure.

它不会让你有失败感

This is very, very important. That is what derails a lot of people.

这非常重要 很多人就是被失败感打败的