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How to get things done—eventually
“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.
Everyone must battle the temptation to temporize 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.
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.
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.
In practical terms, getting going can mean something as simple as opening an email. Two decades ago, in “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity”, an American time-management consultant, David Allen, warned readers that “the in-basket is a processing station, not a storage bin”. The email inbox, whose contents do not pile up on the desk, is even easier to confuse for a garbage can than a tabletop in-tray. Electronic correspondence is the starting point of most work projects, ever more so in the era of hybrid work. So just click it. And if you still find yourself avoiding things on your to-do list that make you anxious, involving others can help. Discussing tasks with colleagues can suppress the tendency to dodge the parts of your job you like the least.
Once you have got moving, consider your waypoints. That may mean breaking a job down into smaller, more readily achievable chunks. A seminal paper from 2005 by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology examined how conceptual knowledge is processed. The authors found that the brain prefers concrete and discrete tasks to broad and abstract ones. Set your sights on completing a document first, rather than starting out with the goal of crafting a complete strategy. Whatever you do, resist the urge of the overly concrete, like sharpening pencils.
Procrastination lies between logic and emotion, between ambition and achievement. Bridging that gap can be difficult, even when you know full-well that if you do, the dreaded task will no longer lurk at the back of your mind like an unwanted squatter. Quick progress is difficult but rewarding, offering a high that is undiscoverable to those who leave things till the very end.
Putting something off doesn’t make it go away. That trivial truth is worth repeating. Just ask the central bankers who kept delaying interest-rate rises even as economists warned of rising inflation. Now they must ratchet rates up further and faster, at the risk of provoking a recession. Most workplace decisions are not nearly as consequential but firms can still suffer material losses if employees put off tasks and decisions. So if that email arrives first thing in the morning, read it and reply—even if that means leaving your bed unmade.
注释：
rack: n:v
n表示“（放衣物、碗碟等的）架子；”，means "framework for holding objects “，如：He put his bag on the luggage rack.他把包放在行李架上。
v表示“使人遭受难以忍受的痛苦或折磨 ”，means " inflict, torture“，如：I was racked with doubt and pain.我满腹疑虑,痛苦万分。
Admiral：n
表示” 海军将官; 海军上将; 舰队司令 ”,means”an officer of very high rank in the navy”,如：He served as an admiral in the war.战争中他是海军上将。
idiosyncratic: adj
表示“ 特质的；与众不同的 ”，means "peculiar to the individual “，如：Want to have an idea only, want to have originality only, the network does not reject the music of any forms, any idiosyncratic music people.
只要有思想，只要有创意，网络不拒绝任何形式的音乐，任何特质的音乐人。
inverse: adj
表示“相反的 ”，means " opposite in nature or effect or relation to another quantity“，如：Subtraction is the inverse operation of addition.减法是加法的逆运算。
Affliction: n
表示“ 痛苦；”，means "a state of great suffering and distress due to adversity “，如：I have great sympathy for people in affliction.我对那些受苦受难的人们充满同情。
perennial: adj
表示“ 永久的 ”，means "lasting three seasons or more “，如：Our perennial problem is not having enough money.长期困扰我们的问题就是缺钱。
dawdler: n
表示“懒人 ”，means "someone who takes more time than necessary; someone who lags behind “，如：I am a dawdler, often the dress east throw one is thrown on the west, etc when wanting to wear, cannot find everywhere. 我是个懒人,经常把衣服东扔一件西扔一件,等要穿的时候到处找不到。
naval: adj
表示“海军的”，means " of a navy “，如：He is a naval officer. 他是一名海军军官。
Profess: v
表示”声称; 公开表明 ”,means”claim sth, often falsely; state openly”,如：They have become what they profess to scorn.他们成了自己曾声称看不起的那种人。
procrastinator: n
表示“ 拖延者；拖拉者 ”，means "someone who postpones work (especially out of laziness or habitual carelessness) “，如：Ever been accused of being a procrastinator? 是否因为拖拖拉拉遭到指责？
dilly-dally: v
表示“磨蹭 ”，means "postpone doing what one should be doing “，如：Morning get up very late to finish up again, bed grandma dilly Dally to eat breakfast. 早上很晚才起床，起完床又要磨磨蹭蹭的去奶奶家吃早饭。
chronicle: n
表示“记录；编年史 ”，means "a record or narrative description of past events “，如：The subscription rule was canceled because an event chronicle rule that it depends on failed.
由于所依赖的事件历史记录规则失败，订阅规则被取消。
lament: v
表示“哀悼；惋惜；悲叹 ”，means " feel or express deep sorrow “，如：The children lament the death of their mother. 孩子们哀悼母亲的去世。
Lofty: adj
表示“高的；崇高的；高尚的 ”，means " high;of unusually high moral quality“，如：He has lent his name to the lofty cause. 他以自己的名义支持这一崇高的事业。
Cog: n
表示“ 轮齿；从属地位的人或物”，means "a subordinate who performs an important but routine function “，如：Jim was only a very small cog in a very large criminal wheel. 吉姆只不过是一个大犯罪团体里的小人物。
Dodge：v
表示” 避开；躲避”,means” get round difficulties, avoid duties, etc. by cunning or trickery”,如：The man jumped aside to dodge the speeding truck. 这人跳到旁边以躲避疾驶的卡车。
broach: v
表示“ 初次提起；开始商讨”，means "bring up a topic for discussion “，如：He broached the subject of a loan with his bank manager. 他向银行经理提出贷款问题。
hybrid: adj
表示“杂种的；混合的 ”，means "mixed;produced by crossbreeding “，如：The hybrid architecture here attracted all of us deeply. 这里多种多样的建筑深深地吸引了我们所有人。
discrete: adj
表示“ 不连续的；分离的 ”，means "separate; discontinuous “，如：They give off discrete amounts of radiant energy.它们放出不连续的辐射能量。
squatter：n
表示“蹲着的人;擅自占地者 ”，means " someone who settles on land without right or title “，如：The squatters were evicted by bailiffs on Tuesday. 这些住违章建筑的人在礼拜二被法警驱逐出去了。
ratchet: v
表示“ 一步一步进行 ”，means " move gradually“.
Consequential: adj
表示“重要的 ”，means "having important issues or results “，如：Rarely has the world faced a choice more clear or consequential.这个世界面临如此清晰而重大的选择是很少有的。
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