成功人士戰勝拖延的八個方法
Everyone procrastinates. Even the most Successful people struggle with it every day. But successful people do something that most of us don't -- they push past it. They don’t make excuses or allow it to affect their output. They come up with smart, actionable strategies to break past mental barriers and stay productive.
每個人都會拖延，即使是最成功的人每天也要跟拖延鬥爭。但這些成功人士做了一些我們大多數人都沒有做的事——克服它。他們不爲此找藉口，或是任由拖延影響自己的工作。他們想出聰明的、可行性高的策略去打破過去的心理障礙，從而保持高效。
Here are eight ways successful people defeat procrastination.
下面就是成功人士戰勝拖延的八個方法。
1. They keep themselves accountable.
1. 他們對自己負責
Show yourself commitment to getting things done. Making a commitment to yourself helps keep you accountable. You can do this by writing your goals down, keeping a to-do list with you, and creating reminders in your phone and on your calendar.
給自己許下把事情做完的承諾。對自己許諾能夠幫助你保持責任感。你可以通過把目標寫下來、隨身攜帶待辦事項以及在手機上或日曆上設置提醒的方法來實現。
There are other more creative things you can do to keep yourself accountable Change the wallpaper on your phone or computer to something that says “get work done”. Write your tasks and goals on a whiteboard or large sticky you keep on your monitor. Set the new tab screen of your browser to something that reminds you of the day’s priorities using Momentum or Limitless.
你還可以做一些其他更有創造性的事情來讓自己保持責任感：把你的手機或電腦屏幕壁紙設置成“做完工作”這樣的話，把任務和目標寫在白板或是顯示屏的便籤上。用Momentum或是Limitless在瀏覽器上建立新標籤頁，提醒你每天優先做的事。
2. They make themselves accountable to others.
2. 他們對別人負責
If you can’t stay accountable to yourself, you might have more success staying accountable to other people.
如果你不能保持對自己負責，那你可能更容易做到對別人負責。
Tell everyone what you plan to do and talk about your goals. Tell friends, employees and employers your intentions and you won’t want to let them down. For example, if you want to go to the gym every day, ask a friend to text you every evening asking “did you go to the gym today?”
告訴大家你的計劃並且談論你的目標。告訴朋友、員工、僱主你的打算，你並不想讓他們失望。比如說，如果你想每天都去健身房，叫一個朋友每天晚上發信息問你：“你今天去健身房了嗎？”
Another suggestion is to start documenting and sharing your journey. A blog or vlog where you share the projects you’re working on and your progress will encourage you to get things done. Allowing yourself to be under public scrutiny can help light a fire under you.
還有一個建議是開始記錄並且分享你的進程。在微博或視頻播客上曬出正在進行的項目以及獲得的進步將會督促你把事情做完。把自己置於公衆的審查之下可以點燃你體內的熱情。
3. They tie themselves to the mast.
3. 他們把自己綁在桅杆上
In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus has his ship’s crew tie him to the mast so that he could hear the Sirens’ song without being drawn in and tempted to jump into the sea. If you’re a chronic procrastinator and simply can’t resist the temptations of things like Facebook and Youtube, it might be time to tie yourself to the mast.
在《荷馬的奧德賽》一書中，奧德修斯讓他的船員們把他綁在桅杆上，這樣他就能聽到塞壬的歌聲而不被引誘並試圖跳進海中。如果你是一個慢性拖延症患者，對Facebook和Youtube這類誘惑物沒有抵抗力的話，是時候把自己綁在桅杆上了。（塞壬：古希臘傳說中半人半鳥的女海妖，慣以美妙的歌聲引誘水手，使他們的船隻或觸礁或駛入危險水域）
There are tools such as Rescue Time, SelfControl and Focus that will temporarily block access to distracting websites like Facebook so you can work on the things that matter. It’s an extreme measure but also very effective.
一些類似於Rescue Time、SelfControl、Focus的工具可以暫時阻止你進入Facebook這類讓人分心的網站，這樣你就能專心做重要的事情。方法比較極端，但確實非常有效。
There are less aggressive tools such as Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator and Distraction Free Youtube. These will allow you to have access to Facebook and Youtube but block the distracting parts of these websites (such as the newsfeed) so you can still use them for business purposes, like managing ads.
還有一些不那麼極端的工具，像是Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator和Distraction Free Youtube，這些工具能讓你接觸Facebook和Youtube，但是會禁用一些讓人分心的模塊（如新聞供應）。這樣一來你仍然可以用它們進行工作，比如管理廣告。
4. They have self awareness.
4. 他們有自我意識
Self-awareness is a common trait many successful people have. Having self-awareness allows you to properly understand why you’re even procrastinating in the first place.
自我意識是很多成功人士都有的一個共同特徵。擁有自我意識會讓你正確地認識到從一開始爲什麼會拖延。
Once you understand why you’re procrastinating, it will be easier for you to form a plan to beat it. This will allow you to see the root cause of your procrastination, which you can then either solve the problem or formulate a strategy to overcome it.
一旦你明白了自己爲什麼拖延，制定計劃去戰勝它就變得比較容易了。這會讓你看到拖延的根本原因，之後你可以解決問題或是制定戰略克服它。
Becoming aware of why you procrastinate means taking a step back and looking at some of the possible reasons such as boredom, lack of confidence in the project, lack of self-confidence, and feeling overwhelmed. Once you know the reason, it’s a matter of finding things to remedy it and cut your procrastination off at the source.
意識到自己爲什麼拖延意味着後退一步看看可能出現的原因，比如厭煩、對項目缺乏信心、缺乏自信，或是感覺受打擊。一旦你知道了原因，這就是想辦法補救的事情了，並且要從源頭切斷拖延。
5. They plan ahead.
5. 他們提前做計劃
How often do you, at the start of your work day, sit at your desk and begin looking for things to work on, only to wind up on Reddit or checking email?
在一天工作的開始，有多少次你坐在桌子旁，看着你需要做的工作，最後只是在看看Reddit網站或是查收郵件中結束？
If you get to your work desk and have no idea where to start, it can lead you to work on low-impact tasks (such as checking email) or other worse forms of procrastinating.
如果你到了辦公室卻不知道怎麼開始，那你只能完成低強度的任務（如查收郵件）或是其他更糟糕的工作。
Those without a map, wander. Put together a plan or to-do list before starting work or any project.
那些沒有地圖的人一直在徘徊。在工作或任何項目開始之前，整合一個計劃或任務清單。
The night before is a good time to do this. It allows you to reflect on what you’ve accomplished during the day and then come up with what needs to get done tomorrow. Now, when you start your work day, you know exactly what you need to work on and what’s the highest priority.
前一天晚上非常適合做這項工作。它能讓你仔細思考過去的這一天完成了什麼工作，明天還有什麼需要完成。此時，當你開始工作時，你清楚地知道自己該做什麼並且什麼是最該優先做的。
6. They commit to at least showing up.
6. 他們承諾至少會出現
After starting a task, you’ll likely stick with it a lot longer than you initially committed to.
在開始一項任務後，你可能比一開始承諾的能堅持更久。
It’s like working out. Half the battle is just showing up to the gym.
就像是鍛鍊，出現在健身房就成功了一半。
Commit to just showing up and you’ll find yourself completing a lot more tasks. The next time you don’t feel like tackling a task, commit to only working on it for one minute. Set a timer for 60 seconds, then sit down and get to work. More often than not, you’ll find yourself wanting to go beyond the 60 seconds and continue.
只是承諾出現，你會發現自己完成了更多的任務。下一次你不想解決任務時，承諾只工作一分鐘。設置60秒的定時，然後坐下來開始工作。通常情況下，你會發現自己想超過這60秒繼續工作。
I constantly use this technique to trick myself into working on tedious tasks.
我經常用這種方法欺騙自己去做乏味的任務。
7. They break up large tasks into smaller tasks.
7. 他們把大任務拆分成小任務
The classic but seldom-followed productivity advice to conquering large or overwhelming tasks is to break them up into smaller chunks. Successful people understand that tasks need to be broken down into much more specific and measurable sub-tasks.
當克服很大的或是壓倒性的任務時，一個很經典但是卻很少被使用的提高效率的建議是，把他們拆分成小塊。成功人士知道任務需要被拆分成具體可行的子任務。
For example, an overwhelming to-do list item might be “write book.” Does that item in my to-do list mean I need to write the entire book today, or does only writing one sentence count towards the completion of the task?
例如，一個難辦的待辦事項條目可能是“寫書”。在待辦事項中的這個條目是說我今天就要寫完一整本書呢？還是隻寫一句話就算完成？
A better approach would be to set a goal of writing a specific number or words each day, or spend a certain amount of time researching.
一個更好的方法是設置一個目標，明確規定每天要寫多少數量或多少字，或是花固定的時間研究。
“Write 1000 words” or “spend 30 minutes researching examples of productive CEOs for book” are much more specific tasks, and therefore easier to tackle. This often encourages me to get more done and feel accomplished and motivated by scratching to-do items off of my list.
“寫100個字”或是“花30分鐘研究高效的CEO寫書的例子”是更爲具體的任務，也因此更容易處理。這經常能鼓勵我完成更多工作，把工作從待辦事項的清單中劃掉是非常有成就感也是非常鼓舞人的。
8. They give up.
8. 他們會放棄
Just because you already poured hours into a project, doesn’t mean you need to finish it. This is known as the “sunk cost fallacy.” The “sunk cost fallacy” affects gamblers, investors, and even procrastinators. Sometimes, a project just isn’t worth burning more hours over, and you ultimately need to figure out if it’s time to quit.
只是因爲你早已在一個項目上花費了好幾個小時，並不意味着你必須要完成它。這就是所謂的“沉沒成本誤區”。“沉沒成本誤區”對賭徒、投資者、甚至是拖延者都造成了影響。有時候，一項任務不值得花費更多的時間，最終你需要意識到是否到了該放棄的時候。
Take a step back and figure out the reason you’re procrastinating on the project or task. Is it because it’s actually not that important, or doesn’t move you closer to your big picture goal?
後退一步看看你在項目或任務上爲什麼會拖延。是因爲它真的不重要嗎？或者是沒能讓你更接近你的目標藍圖？
Subtraction, instead of addition, is efficient and productive. Maybe you need to focus on doing fewer things. Maybe this project you’re procrastinating on is actually making you much less productive and needs to be dropped.
減法比加法更有效。可能你需要把精力集中在少數的事情上，可能你拖延的這個項目讓你變得低效，那麼你確實需要放棄它。
Your turn.
輪到你了。
Procrastination can be beat, it just takes some self-awareness and effort. Applying even just a few of any of the above methods can put you on the path to being a much more productive individual.
拖延能被打敗，只是需要一些自我意識和努力。應用上面的方法（哪怕只有其中的幾個）能幫助你走上更高效的道路。
