I can think of a thousand things I’d rather do than sit in front of a spreadsheet (scrubbing bathtub tile grout with an elderly toothbrush instantly comes to mind).
我可以想到一千件要做的事，除了坐在电子表格前面（脑海中立刻浮现用旧牙刷刷洗浴缸瓷砖缝的画面）。
And I’m not alone—whether it’s a lunch with a particularly prickly client or counseling a well-liked colleague about poor performance, most of us are guilty of back-burnering our tedious or stressful on-the-job duties at some point.
不止我一个——不管是和特别龟毛的客户吃午饭，还是质询万人迷同事的糟糕表现，大多数人在某些时刻，会一边心怀愧疚，一边把乏味或是有压力的工作暂时放到一边。
While you may argue vigorously that an extra hour of Instagram doesn’t hurt a single soul, experts in the fields of productivity and procrastination beg to differ.
你或许会激动地争辩说额外一个小时的Instagram（一个图片分享应用——译者注）无伤大雅，但是生产力和拖延症（productivity and procrastination——译者注）领域的专家对此无法苟同。
“Procrastination takes up real estate in the mind. Even if you’re not working on a project, you’re still energetically thinking about it. Your mind becomes cluttered and there is no room for the things that make you successful in business—like innovation, creativity, and intuition, ” says Christine Hassler, life coach, entrepreneur, and author of 20 Something Manifesto.
生活导师、企业家及《20 Something Manifesto》一书的作者Christine Hassle认为："拖延症会在脑海中自我构建。即使你没在做事，你也在积极地思考它。你的大脑里一团乱麻，无法容纳能让你事业成功的东西——比如创新，创造和直觉。"
Whether you predictably put off the monthly expense report or fall into a chronic category where just about everything can be done mañana, don’t worry—there’s hope. We have a few tried and true solutions to help when your motivation is playing a mean game of hide and seek.
无论你是不出意外地推迟月度支出报告，还是沦为做每件事都要明日复明日的慢性子组，别担心——你还有希望。我们有几个实验证实、真实有效的解决方案，当你的动力跟你玩可恶的躲猫猫游戏时，可以用上。
Make Repetition a Daily Ritual
每日重复以形成习惯
“Journalists don’t ever phone me and say, ‘You know, we’re writing an article to help people really commit to tooth brushing, ’” says Hassler, “because this is a habit we’ve all had since we were little kids. Every morning we wake up and brush our teeth. We don’t procrastinate.”
Hassle说到：“媒体人从来没有打电话给我说：‘你知道吗，我们在写一篇文章帮助人们坚持刷牙’，因为这是我们从小养成的习惯。每天早上我们起来就去刷牙了，从不拖延。”
With that in mind, Hassler suggests scheduling your procrastination-prone tasks at the same time daily, which will create habit-forming behavior.
基于这个想法，Hassle建议把你爱拖延的事情列入每日日程的固定时间，这是一种习惯养成法。
“Set aside an hour a day for tasks you’ve been putting off. A productive time is between 10 and 11 AM—you’re awake, your breakfast has kicked in, and you’re not hungry for lunch. If you can commit to this for 40 days in a row—hopefully it will become [routine], like brushing your teeth.”
“每天留出一小时，专门处理你一直拖延的事。早上10点到11点效率比较高——你完全醒了，你的早餐正在发挥作用，而且你也没有饿得想吃午餐。如果你能连续40天坚持这样做——它就很有希望成为一项‘例行公事’了，就像刷牙一样。”
Look Past the Quick Fix of Instant Gratification
不要过去那种小快感，要大大的满足感
Let’s face it: When mundane or tension-causing to-dos are spilling out of your inbox, procrastination can provide an illusion of control (and an instant shot of happy when you can’t find it elsewhere in your workday).
让我们承认吧：在你把单调乏味或令人倍感压力的事情扔到待办事项盒里，直至漫出来的同时，拖延也使你产生一种控制的错觉（以及一种在工作中其他地方无法找到的及时短暂的快感）。
“There is a sense of freedom and rebellion in procrastination, ” says Hassler. “We shop online and talk with friends—we do something that makes us feel better in the moment.”
Hassle说：“拖延症里隐藏了一种自由和解放的感觉。拖延行为类似于我们在网上购物或者和朋友聊天——我们做一些能让我们当时感觉好一些的事情。”
Instead, Hassler suggests a long-term solution—trade surreptitious tweets and texts to outside acquaintances for work-related activities that put a measure of (guilt-free) joy back in your day.
Hassle提出了一种取而代之的长期的解决方案——和公司外部的熟人通过秘密推特和短信吐槽与工作相关的活动，当天就能反馈给你一定程度的（无愧疚感的）快乐。
“Maybe you start a company newsletter or a recycling campaign, ” she suggests. “Whatever it is, if you’re doing something gratifying on some level, doing the things that are not gratifying don’t feel as draining.”
她提议说：“或许你开始写公司简报，或者你开始返工，不管是什么，如果你在做一些不爽的事情，但是又在某些方面爽了，那这事儿就不那么恶心了。”
Ask Yourself a Few Hard Questions
拷问自己几个很难的问题
When Hassler sees a life-coaching client, she asks three questions: Where are you now? Where do you need to go? and What is in the way? She says this question set can also be applied to procrastination-prone tasks—but cautions against skipping ahead too quickly. “A lot of people jump right into ‘Where do you need to go?’ versus really looking at the obstacles and dealing with them directly.”
当Hassler会见一个来寻求生活指导的客户时，她会问三个问题：你现在在哪里？你需要去哪里？什么在阻挡你？她说这个问题同样适用于有拖延症倾向的案例——但是注意不要太快跳到前面。很多人直接跳到“你需要去哪里”这个问题，而不是直面问题，直接处理。
To start at the beginning, Hassler suggests a three-step approach:
让我们从头开始，学习Hassler建议的三步法：
Step 1: Identify what is in the way. In other words, face the obstacle, i.e., “Expense reports are boring and I’d rather talk to my cubicle mate about ordering pizza or Pad Thai.”
第一步：确定什么在阻挡你。换句话说，直面困难，比如，“支出报告很无聊，我宁愿和隔壁同事讨论是订披萨还是泰式炒面”。
Step 2: Identify what support is needed to remove the obstacle. If clicking away on an expense report is not your cup of tea—what can you do to add interest? Hassler says to shoot for simple fixes like color coding the spreadsheet, giving yourself a nice reward after finishing, or downloading the latest Bieber track and tackling the task with headphones on. (I won’t tell anyone, I promise).
第二步：确定要排除困难需要什么帮助。如果你不喜欢做支出报告——那么能做点什么来增加趣味呢？Hassler说，只需一些简单的改变，效果立竿见影。比如用颜色标记表格，做完之后给自己一个贴心的奖励，或者下载贾斯汀比伯的最新专辑，然后带着耳机边听歌边做事。（我不会告诉任何人，我保证。）
Step 3: Choose one obstacle-removing action for starters. Some roadblocks can be removed with one sweeping gesture, while others require a little elbow grease. The goal of setting out with a just-one-step-at-a-time mantra is to feel you’re being gently pulled toward a not-so-fun task (instead of being forcefully pushed).
第三步：从小事开始做起。要扫清路上的障碍，其实只需要一个简单的扫地动作就可以了——最多加点胳膊肘的力量。从默念咒语“一步一个脚印”开始，能让你感到，你是轻松自在做一件不那么好玩的事（而不是强硬地被逼迫）。
Employ the Buddy System
启动好友系统
Christine Li, PhD, a clinical psychologist who specializes in procrastination, warns that delaying deadlines can affect more than just your work—it can also undermine your self-esteem.
拖延症的临床心理专家及哲学博士Christine Li警告说，拖延不只是影响你的工作——它同样可能磨灭你的自信。
“When we create a distance between ourselves and what has to be completed, we open up a space for anxious questions like, ‘What if it’s my best work and they don’t like it?’ and ‘What if I don’t really understand what I’m supposed to be doing?’ or ‘What if the client calls me back and yells at me?’”
“当我们离我们需要完成的事情越远，就会离一些令人焦急的问题越近，比如：‘如果我已经做到最好了但他们还是不满意怎么办？’，以及‘如果我真的不懂我该做的事情怎么办？’，或者‘如果客户打电话叫我回去然后训我一顿怎么办？’”
Li says spending time in this “what-if” space is dangerous, as it can move us out of the present and even further away getting the deed done. Although, she does emphasize that the escape route might not be that difficult—you could start by airing out your dirty to-do list with a co-worker or friend.
Li说把时间花在“如果……怎样”上是很危险的，因为它让我们偏离了现在，也让我们离把事情做完越来越远。但是她也强调，逃离惯性也许没那么难——首先，你可以向同事或朋友吐露你正在拖延的事情。
“Clients tell me all the time—they will hear right away that [their co-worker or friend] is going through the exact same thing and that immediately unlocks a part of the stress. You realize you’re in a community, and that can be very helpful.”
“一直都有客户告诉我——当他们听说同事或朋友也在经历了一模一样的事，他们心中的某根弦立刻松了。意识到你是属于一个群体的对你大有裨益。”
While Li reports telephone calls and difficult client interactions as procrastination “Top 10s”—she also adds tasks that require new skills or duties that you feel insecure about.
知道什么时候进行否定的自我否定
“It’s the idea of, ‘Can I really pull this off?’—there is a feeling that it’s not within them despite having a wide range of skills, talents, and potential, ” Li explains. “I wish I didn’t have to say this about women in their 20s and 30s—but I do see them having a bit of difficulty with identifying themselves as being capable, confident and talented in the context of other people.”
Li的报告显示，打电话、与棘手的客户沟通是拖延症的“10大祸首”——同时上榜的还有：由于新任务需要新技术或者承担新的责任，所以不确定自己能否胜任。
If this sounds like your reason for procrastination, Li says that there’s no shame in getting a bit of professional help.
Li解释说：“它是这种想法，‘我能不能推掉？’——尽管他们有足够的能力、才智和潜力，但他们就是有一种他们做不来的感觉。我希望我不用对二三十岁的女人说这些——但是我确实看到她们难以突破其他人的设定，自我定位为一个有能力、有自信、有天赋的人。”
“Therapy is a great resource—it might just be a couple of visits. Sometimes a private meeting is required to really unload and unpack the real nature of your internal dialogue, ” Li suggests. “We say things to ourselves without realizing the severity of the tone—and sometimes it’s really helpful to get another person’s opinion. I encourage anyone struggling with procrastination to develop a sense of kindness toward themselves.”
Li建议：“去治疗是一个很好的方法——它只是一些访谈。有时候一场私人的对话只需要你真正地卸下心防，直面最真实的自己。我们自说自话的时候，意识不到我们的论调的严重性——有时候，聆听他人的意见真的会收获良多。我鼓励任何和拖延症抗争的人学会善待自己。”
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