英語學習:Delay、prioritizing與procrastination

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“Tomorrow is another day!”(明天是新的一天!)這是Margaret Mitchells名著Gone With the Wind結尾,主角Scarlett O’Hara說的一句話,原句是︰”I’ll go home, and I’ ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.”

故事以美國Civil War為背景,Scarlett O’Hara樣貌嬌美但性格硬朗,戰亂期間失去富裕的生活但撐起一家渡過難關,丈夫Rhett Butler對她呵護備至,但她對舊情人念念不忘,令Rhett一怒離去,但Scarlett卻不灰心,認為有明天就有希望可令Rhett回心轉意。 “Tomorrow is another day”,表現了她積極的心態。

“Tomorrow is another day”,就像政府宣傳正面人生態度的短片中,少年鼓勵失意的朋友「希望在明天」。

“Tomorrow”代表希望,放眼將來可令我們不會因一時的挫折而失去鬥志,不過,”tomorrow”亦可以是躲懶的借口、失敗的原因。錢鶴灘的〈明日歌〉︰「明日復明日,明日何其多。我生待明日,萬事成蹉跎。」說的就是個道理。

愈拖愈易失敗

「蹉跎」是to idle away、to waste time、to let every opportunity slip away。把今天要做的事推到明天,通常明天又繼續拖到明天的明天,但這「通常」不是因為想頹廢、蹉跎,而是procrastination。

Procrastinate是動詞,解拖延;procrastination是名詞,也解拖延。 Procrastination很普遍,有誰可說從沒試過procrastinate?論文遲遲不動筆,工作報告等到不能再等才開工做,小事如付帳單,執拾傢具,都可以是procrastinate的對象,一拖再拖,告訴自己或別人,今天不做,明天就會做。

Procrastination的惡果大家都知。 “Procrastination is common – but in extreme(極端的) cases it can be bad for your health, putting you under extra stress as the missed deadlines whizz by(颼颼飛過).”對付這個惱人的習慣,專家說靠” willpower(意志力)”並不足夠。

Procrastination的原因不一定是懶惰,可能是怕失敗,不過愈拖,失敗的機會就愈大。

因利成便方法

To deal with these emotions, it helps to look for the positives(好處) in the task. Ideally these are not the rewards(回報、報酬、報償) it might bring in the future, but something good about the process itself. Perhaps you ‘ll learn something or perhaps you feel more absorbed than you expect once you get into it.

另一個方法是”reduce the effort involved”,這可稱為「因利成便」法:

You need to make it as easy as possible to get started. If you’re hoping to go running mid-morning, get dressed in your running clothes. Or lay out your work on your desk the night before so that the first thing you see if that task you need to get on with. Remove any distractions(分心的事物).

要避免犯”planning fallacy”的錯誤,實際地看明天,不要以為明天你會變得更有條理,更自律,今天的問題明天可更有效率地解決,因為這是錯誤的想法。

Oxford English Dictionary初版最初宣布1862年完成,結果到1879年才寫到”ant”字;到1928年才完成,出版時很多內容已不合時,須立刻着手寫修訂版。

Timothy Pychyl在他的Solving the Procrastination Puzzle中解釋,不是所有delay(延後)都是procrastination,有些delay只是prioritizing(分先後次序、按優先順序處理)。他提供辦法,破解真正的procrastination。