Here are some tricks to getting yourself into a kind of task you often find yourself avoiding and even finding ways to feel righteous as you savor completion.
Vividly Specific Contrasting Scenarios
Picture the worst and best case situations—in all their emotional details—for not starting an important task now. How bad could the consequences be if you don’t get it done or done right? How exciting could it be if you did it on time and superbly? What if you intend to start it later today? How many things “beyond your control” can prevent you from getting started? If you did, in fact, start it right now, when is the soonest you might be done if you get clear and focused, and allow no other interruptions until you get to a crucial state of completion or actually finish it?
What small indulgence could you give yourself when you’re done? Take a break to savor time with a colleague who makes you laugh? Get a surprise gift for a friend who’s been especially thoughtful recently? Dive into another, slightly less pressing task and actually get ahead of the curve for once?
See Your Success Again and Again
Since most nurses have time-pressed lives, allowing yourself to savor each success is akin to imprinting on your psyche the experience of satisfaction with a task completed. Just as athletes learn new habits to improve performance by watching videos of master athletes, then store up memories of those images of successful work-outs for their constant internal play-back, your stored-up memories of ease in task completion can motivate you to have those satisfying experiences more often. You are literally seeing yourself repeat your performance. That’s new habit-forming. You will become more naturally inclined to dive in early and get more tasks completed in a state of inward and outward grace.
Take on a Big Task, a Bite at a Time
Large or unfamiliar tasks where you don’t feel especially confident about your future performance are the ones you’re most likely to avoid. Write down the steps to completion.
Call This Approach “Going Slow to Go Faster Later.”
Writing will make the steps more real and doable to you and your commitment to the timetables you attach to each task become more vital. They are right in front of you. Post your “tasks and timetable” where you can’t avoid seeing it. Tell others of your commitment to that sheet. These actions will place the task higher in your consciousness.
Reward Yourself and Savor Your Rewards
Plan your rewards ahead of time. Diligent nurse that you are, don’t deny yourself the reward when you are done by rushing onto the next task. Life goes by too fast anyway. For example, when I complete boring tasks—and not before—I allow myself time to do something that gives me pleasure, such as a stop at a bookstore or time with a friend. When I finish a big important task I give myself a bigger reward such as a trip or new outfit.
Sidelong Glancing at It
Sometimes facing a task straight on just makes you freeze. Try to picture how to do it by “sidelong glancing”, that is getting small glimpses out of the corner of your mental eye about how you can most easily do the task. One of the best ways is to literally get moving and looking around. In times of mind—blocks, anger or tension, men tend to act out more while women tend to shut down, moving less, You will be more aware of your emotions and motivations when you get into motion. Consider walking, showering, eating or otherwise being “on your way”to doing the task. You will let your mind go naturally free.
When you are in motion and not focusing directly on what you have to do, especially if you can get outside into the fresh air and sunlight, you can literally see farther, gain a larger perspective and see how the parts of the task can fit together. You will pull up ideas from lower in your consciousness, think of apparently unrelated ideas that do, in fact, have a bearing on ways to get the task done. Your unconscious mind becomes your friend in helping you recognize your best path to accomplishing the task. And the task will seem less onerous because you lift your mood when you put yourself in motion.
是否还记得深夜的大学里，朋友那一张张因焦虑而睡眼惺忪的面孔？那是因为期末考试即将到来，他们在考试前一夜临时抱佛脚努力弥补，也许你也是他们当中的一员。当时，对于像我这样一本正经，考前每天花点儿时间惬意地读读课堂笔记就能轻松过关的人，你也许憎恨不已。
你们会乐于知道像我这样的人在其他情况下也会有应得的报应。怎么会这样？因为每个人都会在做某些事情时出现思维障碍。思维障碍并不等同于智力问题，它会使我们懊恼，陷入自责，这是很常见的经历，试着避免它只会招致更多的损失。这样的经历我们都曾有过。
只不过，我们会在不同的地方遇到不同的阻碍。比如说，我的绊脚石，就是听那些冗长而无聊的报告。我会溜出去写一篇短文，或在早晨沿着我居住的海边乡村的小山跑上半小时。然而，若是给我一个较大的任务，比如写一本书，在健身房进行一小时锻炼，或类似去干洗店、加油站等既无聊又浪费时间的任务时，我就会变得绝顶聪明，想出一切无法立刻行动的借口，往后推辞。这些听起来是否很耳熟呢？
下面这些小技巧可以让你不再逃避任务，并且，让你在完成任务后，甚至可以感受到本该拥有的成功与喜悦。
真实详细地比较各种方案
想象一下最好和最坏的情景——把能影响你情绪的所有情况都考虑到——如果你不完成或不立即完成它，后果会有多么严重；如果你按时且精彩地做完，又会是多么令人兴奋；如果今天迟些开始做又会如何；让你不能开始的“不可控因素”有多少。事实上，假如你目标明确、集中精力、排除干扰，直到你完成了任务的重要阶段或者实际上已经完成，最快需要多久。
你会在完成时，让自己怎样放松？休息一会儿，享受一下同事让你开怀大笑的时光？送一份意外惊喜给近来特别关心你的朋友？还是投入到另一个压力较小的任务，以便提前完成呢？
不断重温你的成功
