如何甩掉拖延癥

在快節奏、高壓力的現代社會中，誰沒有一點拖延癥？想起來，小編在讀書的時候就患上了拖延癥：一個月前布置的論文擺在那，心里想著明天吧，明天就開工。然后明天又想著明天，結果當然就是等到火燒眉毛的時候才如夢初醒，熬夜趕工。

2012年那首紅遍網絡的《拖延癥之歌》真是說出了廣大患者的心聲——“我先看集美劇”、“刷刷微博就睡”、“稍微等會就開始”……無數人躺著中槍。

同學，拖延是病，得治。

In 2009， Fred Stutzman was a 1）graduate student at the University of North Carolina and he was trying to complete some important work on his 2）thesis.

But there was a problem.

His favorite coffee shop， which had 3）previously been a quiet place where he could escape 4）distraction and get work done， had just added a new and very dangerous feature.

5）Wireless internet.

Now Stutzman found himself 6）constantly distracted by the endless supply of entertainment and social media on the web—even if he really wanted to get something done. He tried 7）disconnecting from the Internet， but it wasn’t that simple. He was always clicking it back on to “take a break.” He was constantly fighting the 8）urge to check his messages and updates.

Thankfully， Stutzman happened to be a 9）programmer studying Information Science. When he went home that night， he decided to create a software program that would solve his problem.

The program was simple. You turned the 10）application on， told it how long you wanted to 11）focus， and it prevented your computer from going online for that 12）amount of time. If you wanted to get back on before your time was up， you had to turn your computer completely off and reboot.

The program was called Freedom and not long after Stutzman created it， the application was everywhere. It was 13）mentioned by NPR注， The Economist， The New York Times， Oprah Magazine， Time， and nearly every major 14）news outlet you can imagine. More than 500，000 people downloaded it.

It seems that many people were struggling with online procrastination.

Why did Freedom work so well？ And what can it teach us about sticking to better habits and mastering our 15）willpower？

The Power of Decision 16）Elimination

Making decisions over and over again will 17）drain your willpower. This is true even if it’s the same， tiny decision—like constantly 18）resisting the urge to check your email. （Another example： continually trying to follow a new， strict diet.）

You might be able to resist for five minutes or an hour or maybe even a week， but 19）eventually， your willpower will begin to fade and you’ll give in. This is known as decision 20）fatigue.

The Freedom app that Stutzman designed is effective not only because it prevents you from reaching the web， but also because it reduces decision fatigue. It eliminates your 21）options and， as a result， doing the right thing becomes much easier. In other words， the application places a 22）constraint on your behavior.

This brings us to an important point： constraints can make it easier to stick to good habits by eliminating the number of decisions you need to make to move forward.

Constraints Are a Good Thing

People often say that they want options. When it comes to getting things done， however， options aren’t always a good thing. When everything is a possibility， it actually becomes harder to make the right choice （or any choice at all）. This is the paradox of choice.

Meanwhile， when we place a constraint on ourselves， it can become much easier to get something done. This is especially true if it is a constraint that forces us to start small.

you want to start exercising， set a rule for yourself where you are not allowed to exercise for more than five minutes. You have to stop exercising after five minutes. I talked with a reader named Mitch who used this 23）strategy to make his first six weeks of exercise very easy and then 24）gradually built up to doing more. He ended up losing over 100 pounds！

you want to become more creative， you can use constraints to drive your creativity. For example， you could write a book by only using 50 different words. This is the strategy Dr. Seuss used to write Green Eggs and Ham.

you want to eat more vegetables， you could limit yourself to only one type of vegetable this week. By limiting the number of choices you have to make， it’s more likely that you’ll actually eat something healthy rather than get 25）overwhelmed trying to figure out all the details of the perfect diet.

We often think that we want an open road and the ability to choose any direction for ourselves. But sometimes， what we need is a tunnel that can reduce our choices and send us in a focused direction.

2009年的時候，弗雷德·斯圖茲曼是（美國）北卡羅來納大學的一名研究生，正在為完成自己的論文處理一些重要的工作。

但是問題來了。

他最喜歡的咖啡店以前一直是一個很安靜的地方。那里可以讓他逃離干擾，完成工作上的事。但這家咖啡店不久前增加了一個非常危險的新服務。

無線網絡。

現在，斯圖茲曼發現，即使他真的想做一些事，但網上源源不斷的娛樂節目和社交媒體總是令他無法專心。他試過斷網，但事情遠沒有這么簡單。他總是點擊回去“休息一下”；他要不斷克制住想查看消息和更新的念頭。

幸運的是，斯圖茲曼恰好是一名研究信息科學的程序員。那天晚上回到家，他決定編寫一個可以解決這個問題的軟件程序。

程序很簡單：打開應用程序，告訴它你需要集中精神的時間有多長，它就會在這段時間里阻止你的電腦上網。如果你想在到點之前上網，就必須完全關機，重啟。

這個程序叫做“自由”。斯圖茲曼編完沒多久，該應用就廣為流傳。美國國家公共電臺（NPR）、《經濟學人》、《紐約時報》、《奧普拉雜志》、《時代周刊》等幾乎所有你能想到的主流媒體均對此進行了報道，下載人數超過50萬。