Practice 4

We say we would love to live to 100% of our true potential but the truth is, reaching our full potential frightens most of us.

According to the American Psychological Association, 20% of people are classified as chronic procrastinators.

If you’re human, you’ve procrastinated and found yourself kicking into gear when the stakes felt high.

//一共十句，现在是10:48，开始干活，至于为什么这么晚… 我也不知道其实。

//在解决拖延症的文章上犯拖延症，我也是个人才

//开始干活了，不能再拖了，我装个茶去

//晚上11:00，正式开始干活，目标，30分钟内写完，隔天早上6:30起来干活！！！

//觉得我做得到的扣1

What about those tasks and goals that have minimal consequences if you don’t do them? You know, the tasks that are a passion project or a personal goal that you set for yourself? If you do it, you get to face the reality of your goals. If you don’t do it, your life stays the same and you get to kick the can down the road until tomorrow.

• Not anything Nothing is important, something have nothing nothing can to impact people if people they don’t do them, such as interesting or personal goals that interests people have planed it just for themselves. If you do it, you have to face the difficulties in your plan, but if you just put it off, you can enjoy your peaceful and quiet life as same as the before.

//半小时怎么可能能写完我在想什么

//11:12

Building a new habit is hard because it’s not our default setting. That is because our default setting is to create the least amount of friction as possible. This is why building a some habits are easier than others.

• Human’s Humans’ default setting is to reduce hinder hinderance as possible much as your their brains can do it. That the reason why it is hard That’s why it’s harder to build some habits and while others are easier.

//11:15，我太厉害了

It could take three days to build a habit of getting home from work, binge watching a show and eating junk food. While building a habit of meal prepping and going to the gym could take months.

• For example, if your new habits are eating junk food and watching a show when you back to home, it may spend you 3 days. Another one example is if you want to keep ‘meal prepping’ and go to the gym, if it may spend you 1 month.

//11:18, 有点困，要不每天早上再说吧，20个单词+8句话，感觉还行

The dopamine hit from creating little friction is smooth and seamless. Going against the friction is rough and messy. You may know deep down that you’re taking the path of least resistance but you still may find it hard to stop. There’s a reason why.

• You may find that it is hard to stop that choice choosing the easiest way even if you understand. The reason is that it is feels rough and messy when you decide to against little resist small friction from easy way path feels you are choice chosen, because the dopamine hit form from that is smooth and seamless.

//其实感触很深来着，我备考雅思的阶段就是一直在循环这个过程。

//想想其实有点心痛，以我的能力，其实努力个把月就能靠自己考上悉尼大学来着。

//我很清楚我学习不好本质上是思想上的混乱…

//踏马的烦死了

//写完下一个就去睡觉

//踏马的

Procrastination Is Emotional

Our emotions regulate our actions to a degree that we do not understand. According to Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow, 95% of our decisions fall into a category he calls System 1. System 1 doesn’t rely on reasoning; it’s fast, instinctive, and emotional.

• Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow, shows a theory that 95% of our decision is from System 1 which is fast, instinctive and emotional. In everyday language is that we do not understand that our emotions sometime impact our actions.

System 2, on the other hand, is slower, more deliberate, and a logical way of thinking.

//11:30，下面这一段其实在正式开始写作业之前写好了…

//到这里就写完一半了

//好累，拖延症不是什么好东西

//而且我拖延症也太严重了吧

//明天还得去撸猫猫，今天一定得干完活

//明天早上起来背单词，还好就20个，要是40个我得死在那

//定个目标，早上6:45，开始干活，目标是30分钟内写完，7:00开始背单词，7:30吃早饭，7:45出发！！！

We think our decisions each day are deliberate and within reason but the truth is, most of them are not. This is part of the reason why you shouldn’t go to the grocery store when you’re hungry because you may over buy or buy something that is outside of your health goals.

• Our decisions are not deliberate and within reasons even if your we think there they are. That is a part of reasons why people shouldn’t go to the grocery store when people they feel hungry. One is you They may buy something over and another is you may but buy somethings out of your their plan.
• 人称统一

//算了，今天写完吧

//踏马的，无知是福啊

I think all of us can think of a time in our life, either in high school or college, when we had to write a paper. At the time, writing a paper on a topic that you didn’t know well seemed overwhelming.

• I think everyone have a has an experience about writing a hard essay with didn’t know without well topic whenever in high school or college.

The procrastinator way of thinking is:

“I have a month to write this paper, I can’t do this all right now, I’ll start it tomorrow.”

“I have to write, gather research, cite sources, organize my outline, write the first draft, revise, and write it again. I don’t know where to begin, I’ll start later when my head is clear.”

“I don’t want to do this right now. I’ll do it when I have more motivation to do it. I have a month, so inspiration should strike one of these days.”

The due date gets closer, some level of panic creeps in and you have to get the work done. Working all hours around the clock is the only option and you finish the task right before the deadline. However, it wasn’t your best work, and you know it wasn’t your best work. The ego will protect you and say, “well if you didn’t procrastinate, you would have done better so this grade doesn’t reflect who you are.”

• How anxiety anxious you felt is determined by how close your due date due and finish how fast you do it is how anxiety you felt. You can finish it before deadline right quickly, but it is not your best work of course. So your ego protects you by talking to you that “it is not your best work so it is not the grade you should get”.

Not only is procrastination emotional, it can be a protective mechanism that our ego weaponizes to make us feel better about ourselves.

• Procrastination also is a kind of protective mechanism but not only more than a kind of emotion. It is used to make us feel better from for our ego.

//查了一下，这里的ego其实指的是自我。就是本我、超我、自我的那个自我。

//我或许学过类似的东西但是称谓很明显是不一样的

//按照道学的说法应该叫做“人神”、“人心”、“人身”

I’ve procrastinated in the past and I’m not proud of it. It was along the lines of this thinking. I wondered how some of my fellow students who were not procrastinators were able to be so disciplined and never rush to a deadline. Looking back, I wasn’t paying attention to how they were thinking.

//最后一个了，好累，但是写完了作业真的好爽，特别是在最后一刻写完的。

//11:48

• I have procrastinated and I am not proud of it, but I find that I never take notice of the students who never are not procrastinators. I want to know that why they are disciplined and in a never rush.

//写完咯～～～

A non-procrastinator thinks this way:

“I have a month to write this paper, today, I am going to only do the outline. It should only take about 30 minutes.”

“I’ve gathered all my research; now it’s time to write for 1 hour; if it’s not perfect, that’s okay; I’ll have time to revise it.”

“I’m not motivated to do this right now, but writing 200 words will take me 20 minutes and get me closer to the goal.”

Those fellow students who were not procrastinators got their work done by taking a big goal and breaking it apart into smaller ones. It seemed to be a mindset that was embedded into them. How do you change that mindset if you do not have it?

• Those fellow students who against with procrastinators by mindset perseverance that was embedded break a big goal into apart into smaller ones. But the problem is that how to get a the mindset if someone do doesn’t not have it?

Breaking Down Large Goals

I never understood this concept until I started running ultramarathons. When I ran my first ultramarathon, it was a 50-mile race. About 15 miles into the race, I was tired, and then a thought popped up: “You have 35 miles left! How are you going to do this?!”

• You can understand this concept if you have run ultramarathons. When you finished 15 miles and left 35 miles, you may think about that “I have 35 miles left! How am can I going to do this?”

It was a scary feeling. Overwhelmed, my first reaction before quitting was to make it to the next aid station, which was about 3 miles away. I made it to the aid station, and then the goal was to make it to the next one. After running 30 miles, I reframed the remaining 20 miles to 4 sets of 5 miles. Even though it didn’t change the reality of what I was going to have to do, the reframing kept my mind from wanting to quit.

• My method is way that reframed reframing the remaining 20 miles to four sets and I did it after I finish 30 miles. It did not change anything that I have to face but it keep kept my mind from quitting. How did I find that way? I want to reach next aid station when I feel overwhelmed, it’s around 3miles, and my goal changes to next aid station.

This same concept applies to reaching many larger goals in life. In writing a book, the idea and concept of writing a book might seem simple. However, when you are faced with 70,000 words, research, making every chapter flow, rewriting, editing, book cover, publishing, and a year’s worth of work, it seems daunting.

• It is same as the other goals in your life. For example, writing a book, you have many step which is complex and hard, such as research, makting every chapter flow, rewriting, editing, book cover or publish, but it is feel like easy in concept and idea.

Pushing it off to another day is easy. Missing one day in a goal that is 365 days is only like 0.27% of the goal. Pretty soon the next excuse will be, “if I had time to write a book, I would do it.” This is another excuse for the ego to protect itself out of fear of failure.

• It is easy to push your goals to another day and you still have enough time to do it, but people usually use excuse to protect themself from fear of failure. If you goal is write a book in one year and you push it off for 1 day, it just lost 0.27% of full time.

// 5个

//11:10 晚上

For ten years, I’ve wanted to write a memoir. I never knew where to begin. It wasn’t until I broke down every chapter and every scene within that chapter that the direction of the book became obvious. Now it’s all about writing that complete first draft. Committing to sitting down to write one scene a day is easy. Committing to writing without direction is hard. I’m proud to say that I am 50% done at this point.

• I never knew how to start a memoir during a 10-year period until I broke down every chapter and scene. It is hard at complete my first draft but not keep write one scene each day. In other words, it is hard at find a way and I am proud to say that I have finish half of my memoir.

If you reach the point where you have broken down your goal into bite-sized chunks and still procrastinate, ask yourself why.

Asking Yourself Why

//他妈的拖延症

//11:20

Asking yourself why you are procrastinating is something that will take some hard self reflection. I would recommend journaling through this. You can grab pen and paper and write down all the reasons why you are procrastinating doing a task. After going through this exercise for long enough, you’ll start to notice the reasons as they come up.

• You can solve procrastinate by hard self reflection. My method is journaling. Writing down every reason in long-term as a kind of exercise, you will begin at getting answers.

Some of these questions might be laid out as this:

Am I overwhelmed by the task?

Do I fear failure?

Is this task boring or not interesting?

Do I feel like I’m not prepared or qualified to do this?

Is there something else on my mind distracting me?

Fear and self-doubt are the most common reasons. Fear and self-doubt aren’t fun, and we don’t want to do tasks that we don’t find fun, especially when they’re something that we used to find fun and begin to feel like a chore.

• The most common reasons is fear and self-doubt. We don’t want boring, especially it is fun but boring now.

If you’re someone like me who started writing because you thought that it’s fun, you’ll find that some parts of writing are often not fun. I try to remind myself that any goal worth achieving has parts of it that are tedious and boring. It’s not always going to be fun. The fun is in achieving the goal.

• I am a good example. I started writing because fun but feel boring in some parts. I sometime remind myself any goal which is worthy is boring but the fun is in achieving the goal.

Whenever I am procrastinating, I try to go through this process to help myself discover why I am putting it off:

Why am I not writing the memoir about my dad？

I wanted to go to the gym instead.

Why did I want to go to the gym instead?

I missed my workout this morning.

Why did you miss your workout this morning?

Because I slept in.

Why did I sleep in?

Because I went to bed too late.

Why did I go to bed too late?

Because I was watching a show instead of going to bed.

This is what happens when you don’t have your priorities identified. If your priorities are always shifting, then you will feel aimless.

Was going to the gym more important than writing my memoir for 30 minutes? No. I missed my workout this morning. Missing one task is a great excuse to procrastinate other tasks. If you flip-flop on your priorities, it will create a state of overwhelm, causing you to procrastinate more.

• Which is important? Gym or Memoir? Memoir. And I missed my workout this morning. Do not let a missing become a good excuse. Firming your choices. Flip-flop make your priorities and delay.

//10

Your Future Self Vs Your Current Self

Our future self is abstract to us. We have no idea what the future will hold, but we can take some actions to strive towards a better future. This is a part of being human. With all the news today about how the world is going to be ruined by the year 2050, the economy is going to crash, and we will all be doomed, why would we bother thinking about our future selves?

• Future is misty. We don’t know it. But we can find better ourself in future my do something now. That a part of human. A question is why? With all the news today about pessimism in the future.

This trap can lead to a hedonistic look at life. Even if the world ended by the year 2050, ask yourself, “Would I regret doing things that are important to me?”

• Hedonistic may born from this. “I should not left any regret, my be world end at 2050.

The answer is an obvious no. If the world ended, the things you would regret would be binge-watching the same TV show five times or not spending enough time with the people you love.

//这段真的有必要reword吗

This is part of the meaning of sacrifice. If you sacrifice a little now, you may get a large reward later. The key word is “may.” You have to have some sort of belief that it will work out for you. If you don’t believe it’s going to work out for you, why would you want to keep doing it?

• Two key words in this problem, “sacrifice” and “may”. Sacrifice a little now, may get more in the future. Please believe that will come, if you don’t believe, how to keep doing it?

Your future self is important. Distractions will always be present. Procrastinating is often emotional because of the fears that we face within ourselves. We say we would love to live to 100% of our true potential but the truth is, reaching our full potential frightens most of us. It frightens us because we would have to face who we are and all of our shortcomings.

• Our future is important. Distractions from our heart and heart is always be present. It make fear. We want full of our potential, but that is frightens. Because we have to fact our shortcomings.

// 14

//这篇文章的解决办法依旧是下策，不适合我，也不应该适合我。