Is there something else you're supposed to be doing right now?

你現在是不是有什麼事該做呀？

Do you have a paper due in 10 hours?

你是不是得在十小時內交出報告？

Is there a stinky pile of laundry slowly inching its way across your bedroom floor?

髒臭衣物是否快占領你的房間地板？

You should be doing those things but instead, you're here listening to me lecture you on YouTube.

你現在就得去做這些事，但是你卻還在看 YouTube 聽我說教。

Wait wait wait wait wait, don't go away just yet.

等等！等等！別掉頭就走。

The next five minutes will be the most productive bit of procrastination you have done all day.

接下來的五分鐘會是你這拖拖拉拉的一天中最大的收穫。

And you're not the only one procrastinating.

而且，患有拖延症人，不是只有你而已。

Thanks to a suggestion by one of our viewers, today's episode of WellCast is going to bring you a three step program to wrangle your monster of procrastination into submission.

感謝某位觀眾建議這個主題，今天的節目要告訴你三個步驟，讓拖拖拉拉大怪獸俯首投降。

About 20 percent of the population identifies themselves as chronic procrastinators.

有 20% 的人自認是慣性拖延症患者。

People who constantly put off the things that they really need to do.

他們總是將該做的事一拖再拖。

And that is because procrastination is about lying to yourself.

拖延，就是對自己說謊。

You know, telling yourself, "Uhh! I will have plenty of time to finish that paper tomorrow," when you know you are way behind.

你告訴自己：「還有很多時間，可以明天再完成報告。」，但其實你知道進度落後了許多。

In a recent study, two groups of university students were signed to write three papers in three weeks.

在最近一個實驗中，兩組大學生得在三週內交三篇論文。

Group A was given the opportunity to turn in all papers in at any point during those three weeks.

A 組在三週內交出三篇即可。

Group B, on the other hand, had strict weekly deadlines for each paper.

而 B 組需要每週交出一篇論文。

Ultimately, the ones who did the best on the papers were the ones given the strict deadlines.

最後，時間限制嚴格的 B 組成績最好。

Group A, the students who had to pick their own deadlines, they did pretty poorly.

A 組能自由決定繳交時間，但成績卻慘不忍睹。

Clearly, humans are not the best at regulating themselves.

人類顯然不擅長自我管理。

So when it comes to procrastination, you have to trick yourself in getting the job done.

因此當拖延症發作時，你得哄騙自己去完成工作。

And this brings us to our WellCast three step method for stopping procrastination.

接下來我們要告訴你對抗拖延症的三步驟。

Please pause and print out your worksheet at watchwellcast.com.

請先按暫停，並去 watchwellcast.com 列印講義。

Okay, are you ready?

準備好了嗎?

Step one: eat an elephant.

1. 吃掉大象。

Hey, how do you eat an elephant?

嘿！誰吃得了一整隻大象？

One bite at a time?

一次吃一口？

Look, what I'm saying is, you need time to digest or you are gonna make yourself sick.

我的意思是你需要時間消化，否則你會讓自己撐壞肚子。

Reward yourself for getting through parts of the project rather than waiting to reward yourself after the whole thing's over.

在各個工作階段間需要時間休息，不要一口氣把工作做完。

Okay procrastinator, think about that one project that you really need to get done, but calm down.

各位拖延症患者，冷靜下來想想有什麼需要完成的任務。

Instead of letting it overwhelm you, organize that project into small bite-size manageable segments.

別讓它嚇倒你，將任務分割成各個執行階段。

Think about what needs to get done and write down what you're going to be doing to tackle this project hour by hour, and make it specific.

想想哪些事需要完成，寫下為了解決這項任務，你每小時該做的事，並列出具體的時程表。

By breaking down this giant project into smaller tasks, this elephant will become a lot less daunting.

將整個大任務分成各個小任務，大象看起來就不那麼嚇人了。

Step two: pick off the itsy-bitsy Goblins instead of going for the whole dragon.

2. 先攻擊小怪，別直接挑戰巨龍。

The hardest part about starting any project is always starting a project.

萬事起頭難，最困難的就是開始做一件事。

A good way to get around this is to start a project off with the task you like the best.

避免起頭難的好方法就是，從你最喜歡的部分著手做起。

Listen, when you do something that you like, your brain releases dopamines which makes you happy.

當你在做自己喜歡的事時，大腦會分泌快樂激素——多巴胺。

Maybe it's decorating a cover of a report, writing a snappy intro into an otherwise incredibly boring paper.

也許你可以先設計報告封面或是寫篇生動簡短的緒論，讓論文不會如此無趣。

Step three: ignore the iren's songs.

3. 別去聽海妖的歌聲。

Seriously.

我是說真的。

This step is straight out of Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey.

這個步驟源自於荷馬史詩《奧德賽》。

In The Odyssey, our protagonist Ulysses is trying to get home.

《奧德賽》中，主角尤里西斯想要返鄉。

Unfortunately, this requires maneuvering through a strait of water where sailors are often lured under the rocks by creatures called "sirens."

不幸的是，他得航經一處海峽，那裡有海妖，會以歌聲誘惑水手使其觸礁。

Instead of giving up, Ulysses instructs his crew to tie him to the mast of the ship and for all of them to plug their ears.

他不願放棄，命令船員將他綁在桅杆上，讓全部船員塞住耳朵。

No matter how much he yells and screams to head towards the beautiful sirens, the sailors must keep on track.

不管他呼喊多少次要船駛向海妖，水手都不能改變航向。

We're not saying that you need to actually tie yourself up to anything,

我不是要你真的把自己綁起來。

But you should plan to clear any distractions that will hamper your ability to procrastinate later.

但是，你得清除一切會使你拖延的阻礙。

For example, if you're a sucker for Facebook or online video games, have your parents or your roommates change the internet password to keep you on track for studying.

假如你沉迷於臉書或線上遊戲，叫你父母或室友改掉上網密碼，讓你能專心讀書。

The less temptations you give in to or have the ability to give in to, the better you'll be at acing that exam.

杜絕越多引誘、向越少誘惑屈服，考試就能考得越好。

Okay kiddos, let's recap.

孩子們，我們從頭複習一次。

The best way to get around procrastination is to trick yourself into doing the work.

打敗拖延症最好的方法，是哄自己去完成工作。

Haha, it's true though.

這是真的。

We recommend that you do this in one of three ways.

建議你可以採取以下三種方法。

Number one: breaking your tasks into segments, in other words, you got had to eat that elephant.

1. 將工作分成幾個小部分，換句話說，你得設法吃下一頭大象。

Number two: start with the most enjoyable part of the project.

2. 從最有趣的部分做起。

Go for those itsy-bitsy goblins.

先去打小怪吧！

And number three: avoid that siren song.

3. 拒絕海妖誘惑。

Clear out those distractions and see you can get the job done.

杜絕一切誘惑，你也能完成任務。

Are these tips of help?

以上技巧對你有幫助嗎？

Leave us a message below or email us at watchwWellCast.com.

在下方留言，或去官網寄信給我們。

Tweet us at watchWellCast.

加入我們的推特 watchWellCast。

Email us at watchWellCast@gmail.com

或寄信到 [email protected]。

Or leave a comment down below.

也可以在下方留言。

We'll see you next time.

我們下次見。