“Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.”——Spanish Proverb

“明天总是一周中最忙的一天。”——西班牙谚语

One of the most common problems is procrastination¹. We know what we want to do and should do. But still we end up spending hours upon hours doing “easier” work or escaping via TV, blogs or music.

拖延症是极其常见的一个毛病。我们都知道自己想做什么、该做什么，可最后还是会一而再地磨洋工，挑容易的事做，或者干脆选择看电视、读博客、听音乐来逃避。

Now, nothing wrong with a little escape from time to time. But if you procrastinate² too much you will not get the most important things done. And you will also send yourself into negative spirals where your self-esteem plummets³ and you spend your days or more in a vague negative funk.

当然，偶尔稍微逃避一下也无可厚非。只是如果拖得太久太多，你会无法完成最重要的事情。而且，你还会陷入消极循环状态，自信心跌入谷底，整天茫然无绪地消沉下去。

So what can you do? Here are 7 timeless tips to help you to stop procrastinating⁴ and start living your life more fully⁵.

那该怎么办呢？下面这7个建议持久有效，能帮你克服拖延，从而开启更充实的生活。

1. Stop thinking. Start doing.

停止东想西想，立即采取行动。

A bit of planning can certainly help you to achieve what you want to achieve. A lot of planning and thinking tends to have the opposite effect.

有点计划确实有助于实现目标，但若思虑并计划太多，则会适得其反。

You think and think and try to come up with “the perfect plan”. A plan where you don’t have to make mistakes, where you will never be rejected, where there will be no pain or difficulties. Such a thing does of course not exist. But as long as you work on that plan you can protect yourself.

你绞尽脑汁想得出一个“完美计划”——用这个计划，你就能避免犯错，永远都不会碰壁，也不会遭遇痛苦或困难。毋庸置疑，这种事压根儿就不存在。其实，只要坚持实行一个计划，你也能保护好自己免受拖延症后果之苦。

2. Don’t blow a task out of proportion.

不要过犹不及。

By over thinking and putting things off you are not only trying to protect yourself from pain. You also make mountains out of molehills. The quotes above are so true it isn’t even funny. The more hours and days you put something off the worse it grows in your mind.

思虑过头或不断拖延推迟并不能使你免受痛苦。你只是小题大做罢了。前面那句谚语确实是至理名言啊。拖延时间越久，你受到的煎熬就越大。

Because you are dwelling⁶ on it. And so it expands in your mind. And since you are putting it off you are probably thinking about it in a negative way. So plan a little and then take action.

因为你总是止不住去想，脑子里全是这事儿；而且因为这事儿被一拖再拖，你的情绪也跟着消极起来。所以还是把计划定小一些，然后采取行动吧。

3. Just take the first step.

只需迈出第一步。

When you start to look too far into the future any task or project can seem close to impossible. And so you shut down because you become overwhelmed and start surfing the internet aimlessly instead. That is one of the reasons why it is good to plan for the future but then to shift your focus back to today and the present moment.

如果你目光太远，那么任何任务或项目看上去几乎都无法达成了。接着你会望而却步，因为你觉得不堪重负，倒不如漫无目的地上网呢！所以，计划将来虽好，但紧接着必须把精力投入到此时此刻。

Then you just focus on taking the first step today. That is all you need to focus on, nothing else. By taking the first step you change you mental state from resistant⁷ to “hey, I’m doing this, cool”.

然后，你只需全心全意做好第一步就行。没错，别管其他的，只看第一步。开始了第一步后，你的心理会从抵触变成“嗨，我已经开始啦，还不错嘛！”

4. Start with the hardest task of your day.

从最棘手的任务着手。

Maybe you have an important call to make that you also fear might be uncomfortable. Maybe you know you have gotten behind on answering your emails and have big pile to dig into. Maybe you have the last five pages of your paper to finish.

或许你得打一个重要电话，但你心里有些抗拒；或许你意识到邮件已经积了一大堆，必须得去处理了；又或许你的论文还有最后五页需要赶一赶。

Whatever it may be, get it out of your way the first thing you do.

不管是什么任务，都请立马动手处理吧。

If you start your day this way you will feel relieved. You feel relaxed and good about yourself. And the rest of the day – and your to-do list – tends to feel a lot lighter⁸ and easier to move through. It’s amazing what difference this one action makes.

如果每天先处理棘手任务，你将大大松一口气、放松且自我感觉良好。接下来你的任务清单也更容易搞定。只需采取小小行动，你将发现效果大有不同！

5. Just make a decision. Any decision.

只需下定决心，任何决定都行。

We feel bad when we sit on our hands and don’t take action because it’s unnatural⁹. The natural thing is to be a decisive human and take action.

当我们干坐着什么也不做时，情绪会变得很坏，因为这是有违天性的。我们的天性就是不断作出决定、采取行动。

When you procrastinate you want to do something but you don’t take the action that is in alignment¹⁰ with that thought. You become conflicted within.

你明明想做某件事，但却一拖再拖、不采取行动来配合那个想法，那么你的内在就变成了一个矛盾体。

What you do always sends signals back to you about who you are. Sure, doing affirmations where you say to yourself that you are confident can help you. But taking the confident actions you want to take over and over again is what really builds your self confidence and a self-image of you being a confident person.

你所做的事能反映出你是个怎样的人。自然，当你暗示自己自信时，也确实能产生积极效果。只有反复不断地采取自信行动，才能真正塑造你的自信心，让你成为一个自信的人。

6. Face your fear.

直面内心恐惧。

I think this is true. It’s easier to live on that “someday…” thought. It’s harder to just take action. To risk looking like a fool. To make mistakes, stumble and not avoid that pain. To take responsibility for your own life.

我觉得这一点很正确：人们很容易陷入“将来某一天……”的思维模式，却很难拿出行动来。请像傻瓜一样去冒险吧，请去犯错误、去碰壁、去经历痛苦吧。你要为你自己的人生负责。

The easier choice can come with a sense of comfort, with a certain level of success, pangs¹¹ of regret for all the things you never dared to do and a vague sense of being unfulfilled. You wonder about what would have happened if you had taken more action and more chances.

容易的选择能带来舒心和某种程度的成功，但你也将会为所有不敢尝试的事情而感到后悔，你将会感到空虚，你会特别想知道：如果抓住更多机遇、采取更多行动，事情将会怎么样呢？

7. Finish it.

坚持完成。

Not taking the first step to start accomplishing something can make you feel bad. But not finishing what you have started can also leave you in a sort of negative funk. You feel fatigued¹² or stressed and sometimes you don’t even know why. It’s like someone zapped your inner power.

没有迈开第一步去完成某事会让你感到糟糕，但没有完成已经开始的事情也会让你变得情绪低落。你会感到疲倦或压力重重，有时你甚至也搞不懂到底怎么了。就好像有什么东西掏空了你内心的力量一样。

If that is the case, go over tasks and projects what you are currently involved in. Is there something there you know you want to finish but haven’t yet? Try to get that finished as soon as you can you will start to feel a whole lot better.

如果你遇到了这种情况，那就去回顾一下自己已经着手的任务或项目吧。你是不是有什么想完成的事情、但一直还没去做？试着尽快去搞定它吧，搞定后你肯定会感到大为畅快的！