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。

同學，拖延是病，得治。

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

But there was a problem.

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

Wireless internet.

Now Stutzman found himself 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 disconnecting from the Internet， but it wasnt that simple. He was always clicking it back on to “take a break.” He was constantly fighting the urge to check his messages and updates.

Thankfully， Stutzman happened to be a 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 application on， told it how long you wanted to focus， and it prevented your computer from going online for that 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 mentioned by NPR， The Economist， The New York Times， Oprah Magazine， Time， and nearly every major 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 willpower？

The Power of Decision Elimination

Making decisions over and over again will drain your willpower. This is true even if its the same， tiny decision—like constantly 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 eventually， your willpower will begin to fade and youll give in. This is known as decision 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 options and， as a result， doing the right thing becomes much easier. In other words， the application places a 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 arent 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 strategy to make his first six weeks of exercise very easy and then 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， its more likely that youll actually eat something healthy rather than get 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。

似乎很多人都在為網絡造成的拖延癥而煩惱不已。

為什么“自由”如此有效？在堅持好習慣和掌控意志力方面，它能帶給我們什么啟發？

少做決定更有益

不斷做決定會榨干你的意志力。即使你只是做同一個小決定，比如說不停地抑制查看郵件的念頭（另一個例子：頻繁地實施嚴格的新節食方案），也不可幸免。

也許這種狀態你可以堅持五分鐘、一個小時，甚至一個星期，但到了最后，你的意志力將會慢慢減弱，最終只能放棄。這被稱為“決策疲勞”。

斯圖茲曼設計的“自由”應用程序之所以有效，不僅因為它可以防止你聯網，還因為它可以減少決策疲勞。它消除了你的選擇，于是，做正事變得容易多了。換句話說，這個應用對你的行為做出了約束。

這引出了很重要的一點：在前進的路上，通過減少決定的數量，“約束”能讓你更容易堅持好習慣。

約束不是壞事

人們常說他們想要各種選擇。然而，到了做事的時候，選擇多不一定是好事。當一切皆有可能，我們實際上就越難做出正確的選擇（或者連做選擇也不會）。這就是選擇的矛盾之處。

與此同時，當我們對自己做出約束和限制，要完成一件事情可能就簡單多了。如果這種約束迫使我們從小事開始，效果則更為明顯。

如果你希望鍛煉身體，就給自己定一個原則，規定自己鍛煉時間不得超過5分鐘，5分鐘后必須停止。我和一個名叫米奇的讀者聊過。利用這個策略，他前六周的鍛煉變得十分輕松。隨后，他逐步增加訓練量，最終減掉了一百多磅（45.4公斤）！

如果你希望變得更有創意，你可以通過約束自己來提高創造力，比如只用50個單詞寫一本書。蘇斯博士寫《綠雞蛋和火腿》的時候用的就是這個策略。

如果你想多吃一點蔬菜，你可以給自己定下限制，這個星期只吃一種蔬菜。通過限制你的選擇，你更有可能真正吃上健康食物，而不是在試圖選出完美餐單而糾結于各種細節的時候把自己搞暈。

我們經常有這種想法：我們希望一條四通八達的路，以及為自己選擇各種方向的力量。然而有時候，我們需要的，只不過是一條能夠減少選擇、把我們集中到一個方向的隧道。