BBC随身英语｜我们为什么会拖延？

Why we procrastinate

Is your house at its tidiest when you've got a deadline coming up? Do you have a list of jobs that you really need to do, but you really don't want to start doing?

Procrastination can mean that we spend more time putting off a job than we'd ever actually spend completing it. Understanding why we do it might help us to understand how to stop doing it.

There are different reasons why people procrastinate. Some people avoid tasks if they can relate them to traumatic situations in their past. Sometimes we don't do certain tasks because we're swamped with other things. If people are unhappy about being asked to do something, they might put it off to feel like they are regaining some control.

Another common reason for procrastination is just the worry that doing something will be unpleasant or that we will not be able to do it well enough to satisfy ourselves.

This last kind of procrastination can be a result of our mindset. People with a perfectionist mindset are likely to have a very rigid idea of what success in a task looks like. This is coupled with being anxious not to fail at that task.

Psychology lecturer Annemiecke Apergis-Schoute points out that procrastination can be the result of a struggle between our brain's reward and threat systems. If the threat of failure or discomfort is greater than the potential reward from doing the task, we're likely to avoid it.

Cognitive flexibility could help us to avoid procrastinating. If we change the way that we think about a task, it can be easier to start working on it. If we can challenge our expectation of what succeeding could be, and how uncomfortable working on the task will be, it can seem less threatening.

Breaking down tasks into small components also makes them less daunting as well as providing a feeling of achievement when each of these steps is completed. It can also be useful to consider what triggers procrastination for you. Having a better understanding of this can help you get things done.

词汇表
procrastinate [prəʊˈkræstɪneɪt] vi. 拖延，耽搁
procrastination [prəʊˌkræstɪˈneɪʃn] n. 拖延，拖延症
put off 推迟，拖延
traumatic [trɔːˈmætɪk] adj. 痛苦的，创伤性的
be swamped with [ˈswɒmpt] 忙得不可开交，应接不暇
regain [rɪˈɡeɪn] vt. 重新获得，恢复
mindset [ˈmaɪndset] n. 思维模式，心态
perfectionist [pəˈfekʃənɪst] n. 完美主义者
rigid [ˈrɪdʒɪd] adj. 刻板的，僵化的，顽固的
be coupled with [ˈkʌpld] 与…结合，加上，伴随
reward and threat systems 奖赏与威胁系统
discomfort [dɪsˈkʌmfət] n. 不适，不自在，不舒服
cognitive flexibility [ˈkɒɡnətɪv ˌfleksəˈbɪləti] 认知灵活性（大脑在不同任务、想法或策略之间快速切换的能力）
threatening [ˈθretnɪŋ] adj. 威胁性的，令人生畏的
break down 分解，拆分
component [kəmˈpəʊnənt] n. 部分，成分，部件
daunting [ˈdɔːntɪŋ] adj. 令人生畏的，使人气馁的
trigger [ˈtrɪɡə] vt. 触发，引起

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