2022年经济学人 如何戒拖延？（2）

（单词翻译）

In practical terms, getting going can mean something as simple as opening an email.

实际上，第一项任务可以是打开一封电子邮件这样简单的事情。

Two decades ago, in “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity”, an American time-management consultant¹, David Allen, warned readers that “the in-basket is a processing station, not a storage bin”.

二十年前，美国时间管理顾问戴维·艾伦在《搞定：无压工作的艺术》中警告读者，“收件箱是处理站，而不是储物箱”。

The email inbox, whose contents do not pile up on the desk, is even easier to confuse for a garbage can than a tabletop in-tray.

由于电子邮件收件箱里的东西不会堆积在桌子上，它甚至更容易被误认为是垃圾桶，而不是桌面收文盘。

Electronic correspondence is the starting point of most work projects, ever more so in the era of hybrid² work.

电子通信是大多数工作项目的起点，在混合办公时代更是如此。

So just click it.

所以就点开吧。

And if you still find yourself avoiding things on your to-do list that make you anxious, involving others can help.

如果你仍然发现自己在逃避待办事项清单上让你焦虑的事情，和别人一起做会有所帮助。

Discussing tasks with colleagues can suppress the tendency to dodge³ the parts of your job you like the least.

与同事讨论任务可以抑制你逃避最不喜欢的那部分工作的倾向。

Once you have got moving, consider your waypoints.

一旦你开始行动，就要考虑一下任务量的规划。

That may mean breaking a job down into smaller, more readily achievable chunks⁴.

这可能意味着将一项工作分解成更小、更容易完成的多个部分。

A seminal⁵ paper from 2005 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology examined how conceptual knowledge is processed.

麻省理工学院的研究人员在2005年发表了一篇开创性的论文，研究了人们是如何处理概念性知识的。

The authors found that the brain prefers concrete and discrete⁶ tasks to broad and abstract ones.

他们发现，与宽泛而抽象的任务相比，大脑更喜欢具体和离散的任务。

Set your sights on completing a document first, rather than starting out with the goal of crafting a complete strategy.

所以，要先着眼于完成一份文件，而不是一上来就制定一个完整的策略。

Whatever you do, resist the urge of the overly concrete, like sharpening pencils.

无论你做什么，都要抵抗住想要做削铅笔这样过于具体的事情的冲动。

Procrastination⁷ lies between logic⁸ and emotion, between ambition and achievement.

拖延横亘于逻辑和情感之间，也横亘于雄心和成就之间。

Bridging that gap can be difficult, even when you know full-well that if you do, the dreaded⁹ task will no longer lurk¹⁰ at the back of your mind like an unwanted squatter¹¹.

而消除这一隔阂可能很困难，即使你很清楚，如果不拖延，可怕的任务就不会再像不受欢迎的霸占者一样潜伏在你的脑海中。

Quick progress is difficult but rewarding, offering a high that is undiscoverable to those who leave things till the very end.

快速取得进展很难，但回报很高，这样做所提供的快感是那些把事情留到最后做的人无法发现的。

Putting something off doesn’t make it go away.

拖延并不能解决问题。

That trivial truth is worth repeating.

这个浅薄的真理值得反复强调。

Just ask the central bankers who kept delaying interest-rate rises even as economists¹² warned of rising inflation.

问问央行官员就知道了，他们在经济学家警告通胀会上升的情况下仍在推迟加息。

Now they must ratchet rates up further and faster, at the risk of provoking a recession.

导致他们现在必须冒着引发经济衰退的风险，更大幅度且更快地上调利率。

Most workplace decisions are not nearly as consequential¹³ but firms can still suffer material losses if employees put off tasks and decisions.

尽管大多数工作场所的决策没有那么重要，但如果员工在完成任务和做决定上拖延，公司仍然可能遭受重大损失。

So if that email arrives first thing in the morning, read it and reply—even if that means leaving your bed unmade.

所以，如果早上第一件事就是收到邮件，那就看一下，回复了吧——即使你会因此没时间铺床。