【職場英語】工作有時是最危險的拖延

I keep track of all my Secrets of Adulthood—the lessons I’ve learned, with difficulty, as I’ve grown up。

我把我在成長過程中遇到的困難，所受到的教訓都記錄在我的成長秘訣里。

A very helpful Secret of Adulthood is: Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination。

其中一項有益的秘訣是：工作是一種最危險的拖延。

When I have to do something I don’t want to do, any other task seems irresistibly enticing。

當我必須要做一件我不想做的事時，任何其他的任務在我看來都會有無法拒絕的誘惑力。

Sometimes, this tendency can be productive. I may not have gotten that piece written, but my office is clean, my errands are done, and I’ve cleared out a lot of email。

有時候這種心理傾向會帶來效率。我或許沒把那份文案寫好，但我打掃了辦公室、干了些雜事、清理了大量的郵件。

The problem is that—yes, I’ve been productive, but not in the right way. That piece still isn’t finished!

問題是——誠然，我挺有效率的，但并不是以一種正確的方式。我的那份文案還是沒有完成！

These days, I’m careful to be honest with myself about what “work” I need to do, and I recognize the work-as-procrastination excuse. I’m also wary of the related tendency: busy-work-as-procrastination excuse. Re-formatting a document isn’t writing! Unfocused reading on the internet isn’t research!

這些天，我小心翼翼地，力圖坦誠地告訴自己我該做的“工作”到底是什么，于是我發現了這種以工作為借口的拖延。同時我也發現了與此相關的另一種傾向：以忙碌工作為借口的拖延。修改文件格式并不是寫作！漫無目的地上網瀏覽并不是研究！

When a task is truly horrible, I sometimes tackle it with the resolution to Suffer for 15 minutes。

當一個任務真的相當艱巨時，我通常采用忍受15分鐘的方式來應對。

How about you? Do you procrastinate by working—by cleaning, organizing, answering emails, cruising the internet, making plans, or the like?你呢？你會利用其他工作來拖延么？——通過打掃、組織、回復郵件、上網、做計劃，諸如此類？