TimUrban《生命日历》Life Calendar.docx

1、TimUrban生命日历Life CalendarSo in college, I was a government major, which means I had to write a lot of papers. Now, when a normal student writes a paper, they might spread the work out a little like this. So, you know - 上大学那会儿， 我是学政务专业的， 意味着我得写很多论文。 当一名普通的学生写论文时， 他们也许会像这样， 把任务分摊开。 所以，你明白 (Laughter) （

2、笑声） you get started maybe a little slowly, but you get enough done in the first week that, with some heavier days later on, everything gets done, things stay civil. 开始可能有点慢， 但是一个星期过后已经写了不少， 接下来有时写的更多一些， 最后一切搞定，事情不会搞砸。 (Laughter) （笑声） And I would want to do that like that. That would be the plan. I w

3、ould have it all ready to go, but then, actually, the paper would come along, and then I would kind of do this. 我也想这样。 至少我的计划是这样。 我准备好开始， 然而，事实上，到写论文的时候， 我是这么做的。 (Laughter) （笑声） And that would happen every single paper. 而且每次写论文都这样。 But then came my 90-page senior thesis, a paper youre supposed to sp

4、end a year on. And I knew for a paper like that, my normal work flow was not an option. It was way too big a project. So I planned things out, and I decided I kind of had to go something like this. This is how the year would go. So Id start off light, and Id bump it up in the middle months, and then

5、 at the end, I would kick it up into high gear just like a little staircase. How hard could it be to walk up the stairs? No big deal, right? 最后到了写90页毕业论文的时候， 本应该花一年时间去写的论文。 我知道对于这样一篇论文来说， 我平常的做法行不通。 毕业论文是个大项目。 于是我计划好， 决定这么去做。 一年的工作就这么安排。 起初少干点儿， 中间几个月持续干多一点儿， 最后高速档全力以赴 就像小台阶一样。 爬台阶能有多难？ 没什么大不了的，对吧？

6、But then, the funniest thing happened. Those first few months? They came and went, and I couldnt quite do stuff. So we had an awesome new revised plan. 但是接下来，有趣的事发生了。 起初那几个月？ 来了又走， 我基本没干什么。 于是就有了这个 很棒的修改计划。 (Laughter) （笑声） And then - 再然后. (Laughter) （笑声） But then those middle months actually went by

7、, and I didnt really write words, and so we were here. And then two months turned into one month, which turned into two weeks. And one day I woke up with three days until the deadline, still not having written a word, and so I did the only thing I could: I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours, pulling not o

8、ne but two all-nighters - humans are not supposed to pull two all-nighters - sprinted across campus, dove in slow motion, and got it in just at the deadline. 中间几个月竟然就这么过去了， 我基本上没写几个字， 所以变成了这样。 然后从还有两个月到还有一个月， 再到只剩两星期。 然后有一天我突然意识到 离截止期只剩三天了， 而我还一个字都没写呢， 于是我做了我唯一能做的事： 我花了72小时写出90页， 通宵整整两天赶工 人不应该连续熬两个通

9、宵 全速穿过校园， 慢动作潜入， 赶在截止期之前交了论文。 I thought that was the end of everything. But a week later I get a call, and its the school. And they say, Is this Tim Urban? And I say, Yeah. And they say, We need to talk about your thesis. And I say, OK. And they say, Its the best one weve ever seen. 我以为一切就这么结束了。 结果一

10、个星期之后我接到一通电话， 是学校打来的。 他们问：“你是蒂姆尔班吗？” 我说，“没错”。 他们说：“我们得和你 谈一下论文的事儿。” 我回答，”好“ 对方接着说, 这是我们看过最棒的一篇论文。“ (Laughter) （笑声） (Applause) （鼓掌） That did not happen. 那并未发生。 (Laughter) （笑声） It was a very, very bad thesis. 这篇论文写得非常非常烂。 (Laughter) （笑声） I just wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought,

11、This guy is amazing! 我只是想享受一下这个时刻， 当你们全部以为， “这家伙太牛了！“ (Laughter) （笑声） No, no, it was very, very bad. Anyway, today Im a writer-blogger guy. I write the blog Wait But Why. And a couple of years ago, I decided to write about procrastination. My behavior has always perplexed the non-procrastinators aro

12、und me, and I wanted to explain to the non-procrastinators of the world what goes on in the heads of procrastinators, and why we are the way we are. Now, I had a hypothesis that the brains of procrastinators were actually different than the brains of other people. And to test this, I found an MRI la

13、b that actually let me scan both my brain and the brain of a proven non-procrastinator, so I could compare them. I actually brought them here to show you today. I want you to take a look carefully to see if you can notice a difference. I know that if youre not a trained brain expert, its not that ob

14、vious, but just take a look, OK? So heres the brain of a non-procrastinator. 不是这样的，那篇论文超级烂。 不管怎么样，我现在是个博文作者。 我为“打破砂锅问到底”写博文。 几年前我决定 写一篇关于拖延的文章。 我的拖延行为总是让 我身边那些不拖延的人感到困惑， 所以我想向不拖延的人解释一下 拖延者脑袋里到底是怎么想的， 还有为什么我们这些拖延者会这样。 我的假设是 拖延者的大脑 和不拖延者的大脑是不同的。 为了证明这一点， 我找到一个核磁共振实验室 让我可以扫描自己的大脑 和一个经证实不是拖延者的大脑， 然后我就可以

15、对比这两种大脑。 今天我把它们都带来了。 我希望大家能认真比较 这二者之间是否有什么差别。 我知道大家 不是受过训练的脑科专家， 看起来可能不明显， 但是让我们来看一下，好吗？ 这是一个不拖延者的大脑。 (Laughter) （笑声） Now . heres my brain. 现在， 这是我的大脑。 (Laughter) （笑声） There is a difference. Both brains have a Rational Decision-Maker in them, but the procrastinators brain also has an Instant Gratifi

16、cation Monkey. Now, what does this mean for the procrastinator? Well, it means everythings fine until this happens. 这二者之间有一个区别。 两种大脑里头 都有一个理性的决策制定者， 但是拖延者的大脑里， 还有一只叫即时满足的猴子。 对拖延者来说这意味着什么呢？ 它意味着在这件事 发生之前一切都挺好的。 This is a perfect time to get some work done. Nope! 现在是开始干活的最佳时机. 才不是呢! So the Rational De

17、cision-Maker will make the rational decision to do something productive, but the Monkey doesnt like that plan, so he actually takes the wheel, and he says, Actually, lets read the entire Wikipedia page of the Nancy Kerrigan/ Tonya Harding scandal, because I just remembered that that happened. 于是当理性的

18、决策制定者 做出理性的决策， 想做一些富有成效的事时， 猴子不想这么做， 于是他开始掌控方向盘， 而且他说：“实际上， 让我们来读一下维基百科上关于 南茜克里根/汤妮雅哈丁 的丑闻案吧， 因为我刚想起来这件事。 (Laughter) （笑声） Then - 然后 (Laughter) （笑声） Then were going to go over to the fridge, to see if theres anything new in there since 10 minutes ago. After that, were going to go on a YouTube spiral

19、that starts with videos of Richard Feynman talking about magnets and ends much, much later with us watching interviews with Justin Biebers mom. 然后让我们走到冰箱， 翻翻看这10分钟以来 有没什么新东西。 之后，让我们继续 在视频网站上浏览， 从理查德费曼 谈磁性的视频开始看， 一直看到 对贾斯汀比伯老妈的采访 看到地老天荒。 (Laughter) （笑声） All of thats going to take a while, so were not

20、 going to really have room on the schedule for any work today. Sorry! “这一切都花时间, 所以我们今天的日程安排 没办法抽空干活。 很抱歉！“ (Sigh) （叹气） Now, what is going on here? The Instant Gratification Monkey does not seem like a guy you want behind the wheel. He lives entirely in the present moment. He has no memory of the pas

21、t, no knowledge of the future, and he only cares about two things: easy and fun. 这是怎么回事呢？ 即时满足猴子似乎不是那个 你想让他操控方向盘的人。 他完全活在当下。 他没有过去的记忆， 没有对未来的认识， 他只关心两件事： 简单和快乐。 Now, in the animal world, that works fine. If youre a dog and you spend your whole life doing nothing other than easy and fun things, youre

22、 a huge success! 在动物世界里，这样没问题。 如果你是一条狗， 你简单、快乐地度过这一生， 就已经是巨大的成功！ (Laughter) （笑声） And to the Monkey, humans are just another animal species. You have to keep well-slept, well-fed and propagating into the next generation, which in tribal times might have worked OK. But, if you havent noticed, now were

23、 not in tribal times. Were in an advanced civilization, and the Monkey does not know what that is. Which is why we have another guy in our brain, the Rational Decision-Maker, who gives us the ability to do things no other animal can do. We can visualize the future. We can see the big picture. We can

24、 make long-term plans. And he wants to take all of that into account. And he wants to just have us do whatever makes sense to be doing right now. Now, sometimes it makes sense to be doing things that are easy and fun, like when youre having dinner or going to bed or enjoying well-earned leisure time

25、. Thats why theres an overlap. Sometimes they agree. But other times, it makes much more sense to be doing things that are harder and less pleasant, for the sake of the big picture. And thats when we have a conflict. And for the procrastinator, that conflict tends to end a certain way every time, le

26、aving him spending a lot of time in this orange zone, an easy and fun place thats entirely out of the Makes Sense circle. I call it the Dark Playground. 而对于猴子来说， 人类是另外一种动物。 你睡好、吃饱、繁殖下一代， 这么做在部落时代或许没问题。 但是，假如你还没注意到， 我们现在不是生活在部落时代。 我们处于一个先进的文明， 而猴子根本不懂那是什么。 这就是为什么我们脑袋里还有另外一个家伙， 理性的决策制定者， 他让我们有能力去做 其他动

27、物无法做到的事情。 我们可以预见未来。 我们可以顾全大局。 我们可以做长期打算。 而且他想把这些都考虑进去。 他想让我们做 任何值得现在去做的事儿。 有时做简单快乐的事 是有意义的， 比如吃饭、睡觉 或者享受应得的休闲时光。 这就是为什么即时满足猴子 和理性的决策制定者之间有重合。 有时他们意见一致。 但是有时，更有意义的是 去做那些比较难 而且不那么让人享受的事情， 这是出于全局的考虑。 此时二者之间会产生冲突。 对于拖延者来说， 每次冲突都以这种方式结束， 就是他在橙色区域 花费了大量时间， 这是那个简单又快乐， 但是又没有意义的那个区域。 我把这片区域称为黑暗的操场。 (Laughter

28、) （笑声） Now, the Dark Playground is a place that all of you procrastinators out there know very well. Its where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening. The fun you have in the Dark Playground isnt actually fun, because its completely unearned, and

29、the air is filled with guilt, dread, anxiety, self-hatred - all of those good procrastinator feelings. And the question is, in this situation, with the Monkey behind the wheel, how does the procrastinator ever get himself over here to this blue zone, a less pleasant place, but where really important

30、 things happen? 黑暗的操场是一个 所有拖延者都很了解的地方。 这里是在本来不应该休闲的时候 的休闲娱乐的活动场所。 在黑暗的操场得到的快乐 其实并不是快乐， 因为它完全是不劳而获的， 这会带来内疚、恐惧、 焦虑、自我憎恨 这是所有拖延者的感受。 而且问题是，在这种情况下， 由猴子掌控着方向盘， 怎么能让拖延者把自己 带去蓝色区域那边呢， 那边虽然没那么舒适， 但是有很多重要的事情要做。 Well, turns out the procrastinator has a guardian angel, someone whos always looking down on him

31、and watching over him in his darkest moments - someone called the Panic Monster. 其实拖延者有个守护天使， 总是看不起他并且看守着他， 在那些最黑暗的时刻 它被称为恐慌怪兽。 (Laughter) （笑声） Now, the Panic Monster is dormant most of the time, but he suddenly wakes up anytime a deadline gets too close or theres danger of public embarrassment, a c

32、areer disaster or some other scary consequence. And importantly, hes the only thing the Monkey is terrified of. Now, he became very relevant in my life pretty recently, because the people of TED reached out to me about six months ago and invited me to do a TED Talk. 恐慌怪兽大部分时间都在冬眠， 但是截止期很靠近的时候 或者处于在公众面前出丑的危险中时， 或面临事业灾难时， 或有其他可怕的后果时， 它就会突然醒来。 而且重要的是， 他是猴子唯一害怕的东西。 最近在我的生活里， 恐慌怪兽变得相当重要， 因为TED的工作人员 6个月之前联络过我， 邀请我做一次演讲。