6.Overcoming Impulses
六、克服冲动

The skill of focus basically boils down to a tension between two different forces: the desire to work and the desire to quit.
专注的技巧基本上可以归结为两种力量之间的张力：工作的欲望和停止工作的欲望。

What makes focus hard is that the desire to work is often low, and may even be associated with anxiety or negative feeling that create a feeling of aversion.Distractions, conversely, might feel tempting and the desire to quit might be strong.
专注的困难之处就在于工作的欲望非常低，甚至可能还夹杂着焦虑或产生反感的负面情绪。相反，分心的事物可能很有诱惑力，停下工作的欲望可能很强。

Improving focus is largely about recognizing these affective obstacles and reconditioning them.
提高专注力很大程度上就是认识到这些情感上的困难并克服他们。

The downside of this reconditioning process is that it is often task specific. Meaning it’s not something you do once and are done with forever, but something that way come up again and again, and which you need to recognize before it gets too bad.
克服缺点的过程在于，它通常是针对具体任务的。意思是说，这不是可以一劳永逸的，而会反复出现，需要你在事情变糟之前认识到它。

I recently had this problem when writing a book.My imagination kept bringing up images of what a critic might say of my arguments, so whenever I thought about it, I’d get anxiety and negative feeling that pushed me away. These could be overcome by working for a few minutes, but I’d often procrastinate for days with “writer’s block” when I’d hit a hard part.
我最近在写一本书的过程中就遇到了这个问题。我头脑中不断跳出批评家会如何评价我的观点的画面，每当想到这，焦虑和负面情绪就让我无法专注。工作几分钟就可以克服这些，但每当碰到困难的部分，写作障碍都会让我拖延上好几天。

This aversive obstacle to focus is much more powerful than the others, because you are going to avoid working on something until the pain of ignoring it becomes so great that you can’t procrastinate any more.The only way to handle this problem is to deal with it head on.
情绪反感给专注造成的困难比其他更严重，因为在忽略工作导致的痛苦足够强大，以致无法再拖延下去之前，你会避免做任何事。解决这个问题的唯一方式就是迎难而上。

Here’s what to do when you’re faced with an aversion to doing the work you need to focus on:
当你面对工作产生反感时，你需要这样做：

Expose yourself to your fears.In my case, that meant seeking out some of the people I imagined would criticize my book and talking to them first.Like a nightmare, you need to confront the absurdity of it before it stops scaring you . Getting that actual feedback, even if it is everything you were afraid of, can often desensitize you to its aversive effects.
1.让自己暴露在恐惧中。
对我而言，就是找一些我想像着会批评我的书的人，先和他们聊一聊。就像噩梦一样，你需要先直面它的荒谬，然后它才会停止吓唬你。获得真正的反馈，即使那正是你所害怕的，通常可以消除你的反感。

Stoke your enthusiasm.Action is the difference between the enthusiasm and aversion.If you desire something enough, this can push you over your fears about it.Motivation, in this sense, can help overcome those hiccups(especially until you can get contact with reality and diffuse some imagined aversions.) Spending time imagining your goals, visualizing the reasons you’re pursuing them and having conversations with positive people can all help in tilting that equation in your favor.
2.激发你的热情。
热情与反感之间的差别在于行动。如果你足够渴望一件事，这会促使你克服恐惧。从这个意义上说，动机可以帮你克服这些小问题（尤其是在你能接触现实并平息一些想象出来的反感之前）。花一些时间想像你的目标、想象你追求这些目标的原因，以及与积极的人交谈，都有助于天平向你有利的一方倾斜。

Systematic desensitization. If you feel chronic aversion to a set of tasks, the right solution might be to approach it head on.Push yourself in a situation that world make you feel extra uncomfortable, and make that(not whatever goal you’re trying to pursue)your main priority.That discomfort will eventually lessen as you’re exposed to it more and more. Exams making you feel tense?Sign up and write exams you know you’ll fail. Presentation gives you aversion?Afraid of criticism?Ask someone to critique your work in the harshest possible terms, rinse and repeat until it doesn’t feel so bad.
3. 系统性脱敏。
如果你对一系列任务长期感到反感，正确的解决办法可能是迎难而上。推自己一把，让自己处于一个感到极不舒服的情境，让那个任务（而不是随便什么你想要追求的目标）成为你的首要事项。随着你越来越多地暴露在这种情境中，不适最终会减轻。考试让你感到紧张？注册并参加你知道自己一定无法通过的考试。害怕批评？找人用最严厉的词语批评你的工作，一直重复直到不再感到糟糕。

The other coin of the affective dimension of focus is on the desire to quit or do something else.This can be an equally powerful drive, and sometimes is the one that’s more prevalent. Many people suffer from excess and diffuse enthusiasm that pulls them is too many directions so they achieve little.
专注的情感维度的另一个方面是想要停止工作或做其它事情的欲望。这是一个同样强大的驱动力，有时甚至是更为普遍的那个。许多人有太多感兴趣的事，热情过于分散，把他们的精力拉扯到不同方向，最终一事无成。

Here’s how to manage that:
以下是如何管理：

Examine your vices. Look at the patterns you’ve set up that constitute your main distraction addictions. Tiktok?Games?Checking your phone?Cutting out these vices can reduce their immediate pull on your psyche.
1.检查你的坏习惯。
看看你养成的行为模式，哪些构成了主要沉湎的事物。抖音？游戏？看手机？戒除这些坏习惯可以减少它们在心理上对你的吸引。

Box in your distractions.There are many tools which exist now that can allow you to control your consumption of things that might distract you.Website blockers can limit your access to addicting sources to certain allotted periods of the day.Electric timers can make turning on your television or accessing the internet harder when you want to focus without them.
2.把让你分心的东西收起来。
现在有许多工具可以控制你使用那些可能让你分心的东西。网站拦截器可以限制一天中特定时段对上瘾源的访问权限。当你想在没有电视和网络的环境下保持专注，电子计时器可以让开电视和上网变得困难。

Don’t respond.Ultimately, one of the biggest tools you can apply to dealing with the distractions is simply not to engage in them when you feel the desire to the most.This is hard, but it reduces their intensity for the next time.Even if you can simply interrupt them-waiting a few minutes before succumbing-you interrupt the pattern and weaken its grip on you.
3.不要回应。
最后，应对分心事物最强大的工具之一就是在你最渴望分心的时候不理它。这很难，但下一次想要分心时，渴望就会减弱。即使你只能简单地打断——在屈服之前等上几分钟——你也打断了这个模式并削弱了分心事物对你的控制。

Too many people focus on the easy aspects of focus, and too little attention is paid to the emotional side of focus.Very often powerful aversions and cravings are responsible for our inability to focus, and these take time and conscious effort to weed out.Recognizing what the problem is, however, is always the first step.
太多人聚集于专注力容易的方面，而很少注意到专注力的情感方面。无法专注通常是由于强烈的厌恶和渴望情绪，这需要时间和有意识的努力才能消除，但认识到问题所在，永远是解决问题的第一步。