Do you have an elephant? You know, that big task that you have not gotten around to?

你有一头大象吗？也就是你没有抽出时间来做的重要任务？

The one that you are dreading…

你害怕的任务……

The one that has been hanging around…

停滞不前的任务……

The one that is too obvious…

太过容易的任务……

It’s in the middle of the room and no one wants to talk about it.

这只大象就站在屋子中央，可是没有人想要谈论它。

What is your elephant? And how are you going to deal with it?

你的大象是什么？你打算如何去处理它？

Just A Little Bite

就那么一小口

I had an elephant recently. It was to clean up the garage. (Sound familiar?)

我最近有了一头大象。那就是清理车库。（听起来很熟悉？）

It had become piled up with stuff after the holidays. From boxes to recyclables to just… well, stuff!

假期之后车库里就堆满了东西。从箱子到可回收物到……哦，反正就是各种东西！

I was not looking forward to cleaning it up. I kept telling myself that I would get to it. That I would spend an entire Saturday and do it all at once.

我并不期盼去清理它。我不停地对自己说我会着手去做。我会花掉整个星期六的时间，一次性搞定。

Well, several weekends came and went. It got put off each time. After all, taking a whole day out of your weekend is difficult.

好吧，好几个周末来了又走。每一次这件事都被推迟了。毕竟从周末中抽出一整天是很困难的。

So, one morning when I was up early, I decided I was going to eat the elephant. But, just one bite.

因此，某天早上我早起的时候，我决定要去吃掉这头大象。但是，就吃一口。

I went out in the garage and cleaned for 10 minutes. I threw some things out. I re-shelved a few other things.

我来到车库，清理了有10分钟。我把一些东西扔了出去，把几样东西重新放到了架子上。

And then I stopped. Then the next day, I did it again… for 10 more minutes. By the third day, I was setting a timer. (Really!) And for exactly 10 minutes, I cleaned again.

然后我停了下来。第二天，我又去清理车库了……花了十多分钟。到第三天，我放了一个计时器。（这是真的！）我又清理了一遍，精确地用了10分钟。

I was eating this elephant 10 minutes at a time!

我每次花10分钟吃这头大象！

By the end of the week, 80% of my elephant was gone! All with only a few minutes of effort a day! Taking care of the rest was going to be a cinch. And I had momentum on my side.

到本周末，大象的80%被我吃掉了！每天只花了几分钟的工夫就把这全搞定了！处理好剩余的事情成了小菜一碟。而且我自己也有了动力。

Eat Your Elephant

吃掉你的大象

What is your elephant? What big project have you been avoiding?

你的大象是什么？你在逃避什么重大计划？

You know you need to do it. But, it seems too big to start.

你知道你需要去做这件事。但是，这件事似乎太大了，不知道该从何入手。

It could be a creative project. It could be a report. It could be a book. A skill you need to learn. Or it could even be routine stuff like cleaning the car or house.

它可能是一件创造性的工程，可能是一份报告，可能是一本书，是你需要去学习的技巧。或者它甚至可能是日常工作，例如洗车或者打扫房屋。

All of these are good projects for 10 minute attacks. Start by breaking it down. Take just a small bite.

所有这些事情都是花10分钟就能开始的项目。先把它分解开来。只吃一小口。

Here are some tips to help you…

以下的一些小贴士会对你有所帮助……

Just a Few Minutes — Go into the task with the expectation that you will stop after 10 minutes. Several hours of work can seem overwhelming, but only 10 minutes is much more doable.

只用几分钟——开始这项工作时，预期你会在10分钟内停下来。几个小时的工作似乎会压得人喘不过气，但是只用10分钟就可行得多。

Set a Timer — The timer can be both a boundary and a motivator. You may find that you increase your productivity while racing the clock. You will find some days you spend more than 10 minutes. That is OK!

放一个计时器——计时器既可以限制你也可以激励你。你可能会发现，在你与时钟赛跑时你也提高了自己的工作效率。你会发现有几天你花的时间超过了10分钟。这挺好的！

Stop in the Middle — The goal here is little bites. Do not hesitate to stop in the middle of something when the time is up. You can come back to it next time.

做到中间时停下来——在这里，我们的目标是一小口。如果时间到了，你才做到一半就要停下来，不要犹豫。你可以下次再回来。

Break Off a Piece — For really large projects, it can help to attack a smaller subset of the work. For example, for a report, maybe just gather the necessary research materials. The next time you return, it will not seem as daunting to start.

把一件事情分开来做——对于真正巨大的项目，把工作分成小部分开始做是有帮助的。例如，对于一份报告来说，可能只是收集必要的调查材料。下次你再来做的时候，要开始似乎也不是那么让人怯步了。

Laser Focus — It is easy to focus for 10 minutes. In short bursts, your productivity can be extremely high. For long tasks you will find yourself getting distracted by other things. Like when you are writing that document and suddenly find yourself surfing Wikipedia. Stay dedicated to your elephant for the full 10 minutes.

像激光一样聚焦——集中10分钟是很简单的。在短时间内，你的工作效率可以是极其高的。对于耗时长的任务，你会发现自己被其他的事情所分心。就像你正在写那份文件，突然发现自己在看维基百科。把整整10分钟完全奉献给你的大象。

Not So Big After All

终究没有这么庞大

When faced with a large task that seems overwhelming, sometimes it is best to start small.

当面对一个庞大的任务似乎那么势不可挡的时候，有时从小处开始最好。

Don't think you have to do it all in one sitting. Take a big task and attack it for 10 minutes a day.

不要认为你必须一气儿把它全部完成。接受一个庞大的任务，每天花10分钟全力解决。

You may think that 10 minutes is not enough time to "get in the zone" for large endeavors. However, you will be amazed how much you can actually get done in that short timeframe.

你可能认为10分钟的时间不足以集中精力做很大努力。然而，在这么短的时间里你真正能做多少事情将会让你非常吃惊。

After all, doing something for 4 hours is not fun, but 10 minutes is not so bad.

毕竟，花四个小时做某件事并不好玩，但是10分钟却没有那么糟。

Take smaller pieces… bit by bit… bite by bite.

把事情分成小份……一点一点......一小口一小口地来。

Soon, your elephant won't seem so big after all.

用不了多久，你的大象就没有这么大了。

What is your elephant? How do you deal with it?

你的大象是什么？你会怎么处理它？