The end of the holiday means that life returns to normal – or worse than normal – if you are a rocrastinator like Shen Li and have been putting work off to the last minute.
假期结束意味着生活要重回正轨，但假如你像沈丽（音译）一样做事拖沓，什么事都要等到最后一分钟才肯做，生活就会比步入正轨来得更痛苦。

Shen, 27, is a website editor in Beijing. Before the holiday, her boss told her to plan a special spring edition.
27岁的沈丽在北京的一家网站做编辑。放假前，老板交代她策划一份春季特辑。

She had a whole week to do it. Plenty of time for online shopping and reading first. On the eve of the deadline, she hadn’t worked out a single word.
她本可以有一个礼拜的时间来完成这项工作。可是她先把大把时间花在网上购物和浏览网页上，截止到交稿期限的前一晚，她一个字都还没写出来。

“I don’t have other tasks to finish first,” Shen admitted. “I just have no appetite for work until it becomes urgent.”
沈丽承认：“我并没有其他工作要先做。除非火烧眉毛了，否则我就是不想工作。”

Procrastination is common, both in the workplace and on campus. Shen has found that many peers’ habits of putting off work are formed at school.
拖沓症在职场和校园都很常见。沈丽发现同龄人做事拖沓的习惯有不少是在上学期间养成的。

College students will be familiar with Wei Xiao’s experience. The 22-year-old postgraduate in journalism from Peking University decided to write an essay one month before it was due.
大学生们一定对魏笑（音译）的经历不陌生。22岁的魏笑是北京大学新闻系研究生。她原本打算在上交日期前1个月开始写一篇论文。

However, she started to write her essay only one day before the deadline. Wei then spent the whole day on Renren.com and micro blogs to “take a break”. She ended up writing all night and barely met the deadline.
然而，她临到截止日期的前一天才开始动笔。那时候魏笑整天在人人网和微博上“休息一会儿”。她开了一整晚夜车，才勉强在截止日期前写完了文章。

According to Lu Xuebin, a career expert from Datihu.com, the problem of procrastination reflects young people’s failure to change their mindset formed during high school days.
陆学斌（音译）是大醍醐网的一名就业指导专家。他说，做事拖拉的毛病反映出年轻人无法改变他们在中学时期形成的行为习惯。

“There’s nothing to be proud of if a college student bones up for exams and gets good marks,” said Lu. “College years are the transition period leading to the workplace, where procrastination is definitely a big no-no.”
陆学斌说：“一个大学生如果是因考前临时抱佛脚而取得好成绩，这没什么可骄傲的。大学阶段是走入工作岗位的过渡期，在工作岗位上，做事拖沓无疑是个大禁忌。”

Interestingly, Shen said she saw that point when she graduated and started working. However, when she finished tasks ahead of the deadline, the boss showed suspicion rather than satisfaction. The boss might hint, “Have you done all the work you can?” Instead, colleagues who put off work and looked busy at the last minute were regarded as “diligent”.
有趣的是，沈丽说毕业后刚开始工作时她就意识到了这一点。可是，如果她在截止日期前提前完成任务，老板就会对她的工作表示怀疑而不是满意。老板也许在暗示：“你把你能做的工作都做完了吗？”相反，那些工作拖拖拉拉，到最后几分钟都显得很忙的同事们，总被老板当做“勤奋”的员工。

Fang Chao, 25, has worked at an accounting firm in Beijing for three years. He also talked about colleagues’ influence on his putting off dealing with tasks.
25岁的方超（音译）在北京一家会计事务所工作已有三年。他也谈到了自己受同事的影响而拖延完成工作。

Fang said: “Colleagues might think you are seeking the boss’s attention if you hand in assignments faster than anyone else.”
方超说：“如果你比别人提前完成任务，同事们可能会认为你想引起老板的注意。”

Faced with such a dilemma, smart employees should adopt a balanced schedule, instead of procrastinating, said Lu.
陆学斌说，面对这种困境，聪明的员工应该采取一种平衡的方法，而不是拖延工作。

Take an assignment due in three days for example. You can use Day One to work out the first draft, Day Two to ask colleagues for advice and Day Three to improve your final version.
以一项需要三天完成的工作为例，你可以第一天完成初稿，第二天征求同事意见，第三天修改终稿。

If slacking off is an accepted and unwritten practice among colleagues, young professionals should think of changing –not themselves–but jobs.
如果说，松懈是同事们的一种公认的不成文的惯例，那么年轻的白领们应考虑换个工作而不是改变自己。

“You may need to change your job if you cannot accept such a corporate culture,” said Lu. “If you choose to stay, you can still work fast and use the remaining time to develop your interest in reading or writing to keep improving yourself.” 陆学斌说：“如果你不能接受这种企业文化，也许你得换个工作。如果你选择留下来，那么你仍应迅速完成工作，然后用余下的时间去培养自己对阅读写作的兴趣，从而不断提升自己的水平。”

Shen Li, Wei Xiao and Fang Chao are not the real names of the interviewees.
本文中采访的沈丽、魏笑和方超均为化名。