“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed,” Admiral William McRaven told the graduating class of 2014 at the University of Texas, Austin. What the us Navy counts as “making your bed”—square corners, centred pillow, blanket neatly folded at the foot of the rack—is idiosyncratic. Yet the admiral’s broader point is universal: whether you are a sailor, a salesperson or a ceo, “if you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day.” His commencement speech went viral.

“如果你想改變世界，就從整理床鋪開始吧，”海軍上校威廉·麥克雷文在德克薩斯大學(xué)奧斯汀分校對2014屆畢業(yè)生說。美國海軍所謂的“整理床鋪”——被子四角方正，枕頭居中，毯子整齊地疊在擱物架下面——很特別。然而，這位海軍上校更廣泛的觀點(diǎn)是普適的：無論你是一名水手、銷售人員還是首席執(zhí)行官，“如果你每天早上整理床鋪，你就完成了當(dāng)天的第一項(xiàng)任務(wù)?！彼漠厴I(yè)典禮演講在網(wǎng)上瘋傳。

Everyone must battle the temptation to temporise every now and again; millions of beds go unmade each morning even on a looser definition than the navy’s. That is also true of people who, like your columnist, a guest Bartleby, more often suffer from the inverse affliction—having trouble putting things off even if they probably ought to be. Still, as someone with a perennial itch for completion, she has some tips for self-professed dawdlers who wish to make their lives more naval.

每個人都必須時(shí)不時(shí)與拖延的誘惑作斗爭；即使按照比海軍更寬松的定義，每天早上也有數(shù)百萬張床沒有整理好。對于像專欄作家巴托比這樣的人來說也是如此，他們經(jīng)常遭受相反的折磨——即使事情應(yīng)該推遲，他們也很難推遲。不過，作為一個長期渴望完成任務(wù)的人，她對那些自稱懶散又希望讓自己的生活更有條理的人有一些建議。

Start off by not calling yourself a procrastinator. Indeed, if you do, you are probably already the opposite. In “Out of Sheer Rage” (1998), Geoff Dyer elevates dilly-dallying to an art form. The book chronicles how the author was wasting his time instead of writing a study on D.H. Lawrence. “All over the world people are taking notes as a way of postponing, putting off and standing in for,” Mr Dyer writes, including supposedly about himself. If only he could make a start, he laments. Given that he managed not just to start but also complete, publish and market a brilliant book—even if the subject matter was less lofty than intended—the lamentations were in fact cogs of productivity.

從不要稱自己為拖延者開始。事實(shí)上，如果你這樣做，你可能已經(jīng)是相反的了。在1998年的《Out of Sheer Rage》一書中，杰夫·戴爾將磨磨蹭蹭提升為一種藝術(shù)形式。這本書記錄了作者是如何浪費(fèi)時(shí)間而不是寫一篇關(guān)于戴維·赫伯特·勞倫斯的研究?！叭澜绲娜硕及炎龉P記當(dāng)作一種推遲、延期和替代的方式，”戴爾寫道，據(jù)說，這其中也包括他自己。他哀嘆道，要是他能開始動手就好了?？紤]到他不僅成功地開始創(chuàng)作，而且成功地完成、出版和銷售了一部杰出的作品——即使主題沒有預(yù)期的那么崇高——這些哀嘆實(shí)際上是生產(chǎn)力的一部分。

The easiest way to get things finished is to get going in the first place. The reason busy people never stop moving is because their constant movement generates further momentum. This is, obviously, easier said than done—especially if you find a task unpleasant. The more objectionable something seems, the more time you spend thinking about just how awful it is. That in turn makes you even less likely to broach it—and so on. Being aware of this vicious circle does not guarantee you will break out of it. But it is, well, a start.?

完成事情最簡單的方法就是在第一時(shí)間開始。忙碌的人從不停止運(yùn)動的原因是他們持續(xù)的運(yùn)動產(chǎn)生了進(jìn)一步的動力。顯然，這說起來容易做起來難——尤其是當(dāng)你面對的是一項(xiàng)不滿意的任務(wù)的時(shí)候。一件事情看起來越令人討厭，你花在思考它有多糟糕上的時(shí)間就越多。這反過來又使你更不可能開始這件事，以此類推。了解到這個惡性循環(huán)并不能保證你能打破這一循環(huán)。但這是一個開始。