2018/6/6 17:11:00
翻譯公司教你如何擺脫拖延癥
翻譯公司教你如何擺脫拖延癥
How do I get over my bad habit of procrastinating?
QUESTION:How do I get over my bad habit of procrastinating?
ANSWER:I'll answer your question, but first I need to explain all of human civilisation in 2 minutes with the aid of a cartoon snake.
Humans like to think we're a clever lot. Yet those magnificent, mighty brains that allow us to split the atom and touch the moon are the same stupid brains that can't start an assignment until the day before it's due.
We evolved from primitive creatures, but we never quite shed ourselves of their legacy. You know the clever, rational part of your brain you think of as your human consciousness? Let's call him Albert. He lives in your brain alongside an impulsive baby reptile called Rex:
You know how you can't help but notice if a stranger is tongue-wettingly gorgeous? That's Rex, and no matter how hard you try, you can never turn him off. He's your instinct, your impulse, your love and your fear.
We like to think of Albert as "our true self" - the conscious part of our brain. He's the talking, reasoning part. When we decide to go to the gym or write that term paper, Albert made that decision. But Albert is old, easily exhausted, and switches off all the time.
Your brain is locked in a battle of wills between a sleepy professor and an impulsive reptile with unlimited energy. You may as well hand Rex the steering wheel.
Rex does listen to Albert. Like a child, he will do a lot of what he's told, as long as he doesn't disagree too much. But if Rex desperately yearns to crash on the sofa to watch Survivor and eat Cheetos, that's what you're going to do.
The incredible ascension of mankind that surrounds us is largely possible because we've developed systems to nurture the Rex's in our brains, to subdue, soothe and subvert them.
Much of this system we call "civilisation". Widely available food and shelter take care of a lot. So does a system of law, and justice. Mandatory education. Entertainment. Monogamy. All of it calms Rex down for long enough for Albert to do something useful - like discover penicillin, or invent Cheetos.
Now let's look at your procrastination.
You're making a decision with your conscious mind and wondering why you're not carrying it out. The truth is your daily decision maker - Rex - is not nearly so mature.
Imagine you had to constantly convince a young child to do what you wanted. For simple actions, asserting your authority might be enough. "It's time for dinner". But if that child doesn't want to do something, it won't listen. You need to cajole it:
Forget logic. Once you've decided to do something, logic and rationale won't help you. Your inner reptile can be placated, scared and excited. But it doesn't speak with language and cannot be reasoned with.
Comfort matters. If you're hungry, tired or depressed your baby reptile will rebel. Fail to take care of yourself, and he'll wail and scream and refuse to do a damn thing you say. _That's what he's for. _Eat, sleep and make time for fun.
Nurture discipline. Build a routine of positive and negative reinforcement. If you want a child to eat their vegetables, don't give them dessert first. Reward yourself for successes, and set up assured punishments for your failure. Classic examples include committing to a public goal, or working in a team - social pressure can influence Rex.
Incite emotion. Your reptile brain responds to emotion. That is its language. So get yourself pumped, or terrified. Motivational talks, movies and articles can work, for a while. I use dramatic music (one of my favourite playlists is called Music to conquer worlds by). Picture the bliss associated with getting something done, or the horrors of failing. Make your imagination vivid enough that it shakes you. We use similar tricks on children for a reason: "brush your teeth or they'll fall out".
**Force a start. **The most important thing you can do is start. Much of Rex's instincts are to avoid change, and once you begin something those instincts start to tip into your favour. With enough time, you can even convince Rex to_ love_ doing the things he hated. There's a reason we force kids to go to school or to try piano lessons.
Bias your environment. Rex is short sighted and not terribly bright. If he sees a Facebook icon, he'll want it. It's like showing a child the start of a cool TV program immediately before bedtime. Design your environment to be free from such distractions: sign out of instant messenger, turn off notifications, turn off email. Have separate places for work and fun, and ideally separate computers (or at least accounts).
Once you know what to look for, you'll start to recognise the patterns and control them.
There's an impulsive baby reptile in your brain, and unfortunately he has the steering wheel. If you can be a good parent to him he'll mostly do what you say, and serve you well. Just remember who's in charge.
Q：怎樣才能擺脫我的拖延癥這個壞習慣呢？
A：我會回答你的問題，但是我想先花2分鐘通過一條卡通小蛇來談談整個人類的文明開化。
人類一向認為自己非常聰明。的確，我們宏偉又強大的大腦讓我們分裂了原子，還登上了月球。然而，我們的大腦又是愚拙的，它使得我們在截止日前才開始一項任務。
我們從原始生物進化而來，但我們從未能完全摒除原始遺性。你知道你的大腦中有聰明且理性的一部分，對吧？你稱之為人類意識，我們就將這部分叫做愛因斯坦。愛因斯坦就住在你的大腦里，于此同時，你的大腦里還住著一只蛇寶寶名叫雷克斯。
雷克斯進化了幾百萬年，毋庸置疑，它足配以在大腦中占有一席之地，他的本能直覺指引你，刺激你，一直到今天。恐懼。愛。性。雷克斯的思想是原始的，沒有言語的。
我們通常將愛因斯坦稱之為“真我”——大腦中有意識的部分。他是會發(fā)言的，理性的一部分。當我們決定去體育館或是寫一篇期末論文時，是愛因斯坦做的決定。雷克斯是會聽從愛因斯坦的，就像個孩子，只要它愿意，要它做什么，它就會做什么。但是如果雷克斯情愿躺在沙發(fā)上看《幸存者》吃奇多，那這就是你將要干的事。
我們?nèi)祟惈@得驚人的進化是極有可能的，因為我們有成熟的體制，可以滋養(yǎng)雷克斯大腦，進而抑制、安撫，甚至顛覆這部分。
宏觀來說，這種體制我們稱之為文明開化。充足的食物和住所至關重要。司法制度也重要。義務教育。娛樂。一夫一妻制。所有這些可以讓雷克斯安分很長一段時間，而這段時間足夠愛因斯坦去做一些有用的事——發(fā)現(xiàn)青霉素，發(fā)明奇多。
現(xiàn)在我們來看下你的拖延癥。
你有意識地做出一個決定，但你疑惑于為什么不能夠執(zhí)行。
真相就是你真正的決策者——雷克斯——還不夠成熟。
想象一下，你在不斷說服一個小孩去做你想做的事。對于一些簡單的行動，不斷強調(diào)你的權(quán)威可能是足夠了，比如：該吃飯了！但如果這孩子不想干，他不會聽話的。你需要去哄騙他：
拋開邏輯
一旦你決定做什么，邏輯和基本原理幫不了你。住在你體內(nèi)的蛇寶寶會和解，會害怕，會興奮，但它不會說話，也不會講道理。
舒適很重要
如果你餓了，累了，沮喪了，你的蛇寶寶就會反對你。沒有照顧好你自己，它就會慟哭，尖叫，甚至拒絕按你說的行事。它就是為此而存在的。所以，要吃飽，睡好，抽時享樂。
培養(yǎng)紀律機制
建立一套獎懲執(zhí)行常規(guī)，如果你想要一個小孩吃蔬菜，就不要先給他甜點。成功就獎勵自己，失敗則適用既定的類別懲罰。比如為共同的目標奮斗，在團隊里工作——社會壓力可以影響雷克斯。
煽動情感
雷克斯會響應情感。這就是它的“語言”。所以，讓自己興奮吧，讓自己恐懼吧。激勵的演講、電影和文章都是可以起到一會兒的效果。我采用的是戲劇音樂（我最喜歡的播放列表之一就叫做“征服世界的音樂”）。想象完成某件事的喜悅，或者失敗帶來的恐懼。讓你的想象足夠生動，生動到足以撼動你。其實，我們常因為同樣的原理用類似的招數(shù)騙過小孩子：“要刷牙，不然牙齒掉光光！”。
驅(qū)動開始
你能做的最重要的事就是開始。雷克斯的本能大多是拒絕改變的。但一旦你開始某件事，這種本能就會開始支持你?；ㄙM足夠的時間，你甚至可以說服雷克斯愛上做他“討厭”的事。我們驅(qū)使孩子去上學或?qū)W鋼琴也是同樣的。
挑剔環(huán)境
雷克斯目光短淺，而且不聰明。如果它看到了Facebook的圖標，它就會想玩。這就像在就寢時間讓孩子看到了一個很棒的電視節(jié)目開始了。設計你的環(huán)境，一個免于分散注意力的環(huán)境：退出即時通訊，關閉提醒功能，關掉郵箱。擁有獨立的工作區(qū)和享樂區(qū)，更理想的就是擁有獨立的電腦（或至少獨立的賬戶）。
一旦你知道根源在哪，你就會開始發(fā)現(xiàn)這些模式進而控制它們。
有一條任性的蛇寶寶住在你的大腦里，很不幸，它擁有方向盤。如果你能做一個好父親或是好母親，他就會幾乎全按照你說的去做，讓你舒舒服服的。你只要記住誰才是真正的主宰者。