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譯者：Betty 校對：棋子, Cathy, Qidi, 暖暖
Why does motivation not last more than 2-3 days? How can I make it permanent?
為什么我做事總是三分鐘熱度？怎么持續(xù)激勵自己？
好問題。這種事發(fā)生得確實比我們希望得要頻繁。我們讀了什么，和某人交流過，看見了一些東西，便激動地想要深入研究。在一段時間內，我們閱讀相關的文章，上網查閱資料，和親人、朋友交流，但是要不了多久，平常生活的潮水又重新涌來，把我們推回到原來的樣子。于是我們好奇：為什么我們不能堅持下去？
如果你仔細考察在這期間你經歷了什么，你就會發(fā)現下面所描述的至少有一項與你的情況吻合：
你不知道你到底需要做什么。一旦你開始對一件事物富有激情，最初的興趣會促使你去閱讀、查閱資料、討論和試驗。但幾天之后，這些最初的動力可能就耗盡了。如果你不知道接下來你需要做什么，你很可能就不會繼續(xù)做下去。相反，如果你創(chuàng)造出一個可以沉浸其中的環(huán)境，你就更有可能堅持探索這個使你感興趣的新事物，并且一直受到激勵。例如，你可能偶然接觸到油畫，想到你也可以試著畫一幅就感到很興奮。你讀了一些文章，欣賞了一些大作，看了一些視頻。那么，你不應該止步于此。接下來，你應該探尋附近的畫廊，按照你的時間表，越早出發(fā)越好。假設你決定周末去畫廊。接著，告訴自己應該在午休時去書店找?guī)妆居嘘P繪畫的書。然后，在網上訂購畫筆、顏料和畫布，這樣你就可以在幾天后收到它們。第二天，你可以開始閱讀你買來的那些書。周末到來的時候，按照計劃去畫廊。第二周，你的繪畫工具到了。你已經開始閱讀相關書籍并且欣賞過一些作品。此時你應該確定一個作畫的時間。這時候，你可以去尋找繪畫課，等等。簡單來說，聚焦于行動。這會幫助你維持動力，一直受到激勵。
沒有養(yǎng)成習慣。你對某件事情感到新奇并且開始嘗試，但是這項新活動很難躋身于你平常的生活習慣中。除非你把它變成一個新習慣，讓自己自然而然地想要去做這件事，否則你就需要費力才會去完成它。如果你不把它變成習慣，你可能會忘記它，或者找借口來逃避它。如果這項新事物與你以前的習慣有沖突，那么這一切可能會更困難。舉個例子，你可能有一個吃什么都放很多糖的習慣。如果你想要減少糖的攝入，你就在嘗試做一件與你的習慣——比如喝茶加糖，或者下午吃餅干——相沖突的事情。你需要養(yǎng)成新的習慣以取代舊的習慣。
你不知道自己喜歡什么。很多時候，缺乏激勵源于你不知道自己是否對這件事感興趣。你可能對此很冷淡，不為所動。這時你很有可能不太了解這件事。如果你知道它，即使只知道一點點，你的激情也會被點燃。所以第一步就是戰(zhàn)勝冷淡與懶惰，去嘗試一下。遵循10分鐘定律。答應自己只嘗試做10分鐘。聽起來不算什么難事。當你只需要做10分鐘，你不會用沒有時間當做借口。最后你可能沉浸其中，花了不止10分鐘在這上面。很好。你戰(zhàn)勝了自己的懶惰，讓自己著手這件事。保持這份動力。
你不根據優(yōu)先級做計劃。如果你有緊急的事務，那么很自然的，你就不會受到去探索新大陸的激勵。你沒有時間、需要暫停兩三天，并不意味你缺乏做這件事的動力。你只需要做一個記錄，過幾天再來接著做這件讓你興奮的事。記住，你不可能同時做所有的事情。如果你有20件事需要做，那么你不能苛責自己為什么不去探索一個新領域?，F代生活的種種可能性，使得那些你感興趣的事情總比你有時間做的多出億萬件。所以不要擔心，專注于對你真正重要的，這會使你有更多的精力和注意力來做它們。當你發(fā)現新的興奮點，記下它們，把它們歸類于“有一天/也許”這一任務集里，每隔一段時間去看看，在你準備好的時候嘗試它們。
沒有什么關于動機的魔法。你只需要創(chuàng)造出屬于自己的環(huán)境，通過養(yǎng)成新習慣、堅持做這件事來訓練思維，最后一切都順理成章了。
Written by E. Honary from Skills Converged
答案原作者 E. Honary, Skills Converged 創(chuàng)始人之一
E. Honary
This is a beautifully expressed question. It does indeed happen more often than we like. We read something, talk to someone, see something and get excited to look into it more. For a short while we read about it, look it up online, mention it to friends and family but before long the tide of life returns and pushes us back where we were; the usual ordinary life. Then we wonder why we did not stick to it.
You don’t know exactly what you needed to do. Once you get excited about something, your initial interest will get you to read about it, look it up, talk about it and experiment. After a few days though you may run out of these initial actions. If you don’t know what exactly you need to do next, you are unlikely to do them. On the other hand, if you engineer an environment where you can immerse yourself more and more in this new area that you got excited about, you have more chances of actually doing something and remain motivated. For example, you might have come across an oil painting and got excited that perhaps you can give oil painting a try. You read about it, look at some paintings and watch some videos online. Now, you shouldn’t just leave it at that. Next, find what your local galleries have and decide exactly when to go to see some paintings as soon as you can based on your current schedule. Say you decide to visit a galley over the weekend. Next, tell yourself to pop into a bookshop over your lunch break tomorrow to find interesting books on painting. Next, order some brushes, paint and a canvas online so you can receive them by post in a few days. The next day, start reading the book you got from the bookshop. When the weekend comes, go to the gallery. Next week, your art supplies arrive. You are already reading books and have seen paintings. Schedule a time to paint next week. At this point you can start looking to attend some courses and so on. In short, you focus on actions. Each action helps you remain motivated and leads you to the next action. This helps you to maintain momentum and stay motivated.
A habit is not formed. You got excited and started something but now this new activity sits next to all your other ordinary habits. Unless you make it into a new habit where you automatically feel you want to do it, you have to consciously put effort into doing it. If you don’t have a habit, you may forget to do it or you may come up with excuses to avoid it. If this new activity is against another habit you already have, then it can even be more difficult. For example, you may have a habit of having too much sugar with everything. If you want to cut your sugar, you are now against your habit of adding sugar to your tea, or having biscuits in the afternoon. You will need to come up with new habits to replace the old ones.
You don’t know what you like. Most of the time, lack of motivation happens when you don’t know if something is exciting. You have apathy and you cannot be bothered. Most of the time this happens when you don’t know much about it, and most of the time if you knew something about it, even a little, your excitement can rise. So the first step in tackling apathy and laziness is just to give it a try. Follow the 10-minutes rule. Promise yourself that you are only going to do it for 10 minutes. Sounds like nothing. You cannot have any excuses on your available time when you only have to spend 10 minutes on something. The upside is that you may get carried away and spend more than 10 minutes on the task. Fantastic. You have just broken through the laziness barrier and got yourself involved. Keep the momentum.
