学会如何学习学习笔记——3. 2 拖延症与记忆——僵尸意识无处不在、过程与结果

僵尸意识无处不在

Just imagine backing out of a driveway for the first time ever in your life. For some of you, that might seem like a pretty exciting proposition. The first time you might do this, you would be in hyper alert. The deluge of information coming at you would make the job seem almost impossibly difficult. But once you've chunked how to back up down your driveway, all you have to do is think, let's go! And off you go. Your brain goes into this sort of zombie mode, where it is only semi-aware of a few key factors instead of being overwhelmed by all the data. It's the same idea with riding a bicycle. At first it's really hard later, it's easy.

Neuroscientifically speaking, chunking is related to habit. Habit is an energy saver for us. It allows us to free our mind for other types of activities. You go into this habitual zombie mode far more often than you might think, that's the point of habit. You don't have to think in a focused manner about what you're doing while you're performing the habit, it saves energy.

Habits can be good and bad, they can be brief like absently brushing back your hair or they can be long for example when you take a walk or watch television for a few hours after you get home from work.

You can think of habits as having four parts, the first, is the cue. This is the trigger that launches you into zombie mode, the cue may be something as simple as seeing the first item in your to-do list. Time to start next week's homework or seeing a text message from a friend, time to stop work. A cue by itself is neither helpful or harmful. It's the routine, what we do in reaction to that cue. That's what matters.

Number two, the routine. This is your zombie mode, the routine habitual response your brain is used to falling into when it receives the cue. Zombie responses can be useful, harmless or sometimes harmful.

Number three, the reward. Every habit develops and continues because it rewards us. It gives us an immediate little feeling of pleasure. Procrastination is an easy habit to develop because the reward, moving your mind's focus to something more pleasant happens so quickly and easily. But good habits can also be rewarded. Finding ways to reward good study habits is important for escaping procrastination.

Number four, the belief. Habits have power because of your belief in them. For example, you might feel you'll never be able to change your habits of putting off your studies until late in the day. To change a habit, you'll need to change your underlying belief. Thanks for learning how to learn.

想象一下，你第一次倒车出车道。对你们中的一些人来说，这可能是一个相当令人兴奋的想法。当你第一次这样做时，你可能会感到紧张。大量涌入你大脑的信息会让你觉得这个任务几乎不可能完成。但是一旦你学会了如何倒车出车道，你所要做的就是想着“我们走吧！”然后你就可以出发了。你的大脑会进入一种类似僵尸模式的状态，它只会半意识到几个关键因素，而不是被所有数据所淹没。骑自行车也是同样的道理。一开始可能很难，但后来会变得容易。

从神经科学的角度来看，分块与习惯有关。习惯是我们的能量节省器。它让我们的思维可以解放出来去做其他类型的活动。你会经常进入这种习惯性的僵尸模式，这比你想象的要多得多，这就是习惯的意义所在。在执行习惯时，你不需要集中注意力去思考你在做什么，它会节省能量。

习惯有好有坏，它们可以是短暂的，比如无意识地梳理头发，也可以是长时间的，比如下班回家后散步或看电视几个小时。

你可以把习惯看作是由四个部分组成的：首先是触发因素，也就是启动你进入僵尸模式的触发器。触发因素可能是很简单的事情，比如看到待办事项列表中的第一个项目。时间开始下周的作业或者收到朋友的短信，该停止工作了。触发因素本身既没有帮助也没有害处。重要的是我们对触发因素做出的反应和例行程序。

第二部分是例行程序，也就是你的僵尸模式，是你大脑习惯于在接收到触发因素后做出的反应。僵尸反应可以是有用的、无害的，有时也可能是有害的。

第三部分是奖励。每个习惯的发展和持续都是因为它给我们带来了回报。它给我们一种即时的小快感。拖延是一种容易养成的习惯，因为将思维焦点转移到更愉快的事情上会很快很容易地发生。但良好的习惯也可以得到奖励。找到奖励良好学习习惯的方法对于摆脱拖延非常重要。

第四部分是信念。习惯之所以有力量，是因为你对它们的信念。例如，你可能会觉得永远无法改变自己拖延学习的坏习惯。要改变一个习惯，你需要改变自己潜在的信念。感谢学习如何学习。

冲浪练习：过程与结果

[BLANK_AUDIO] One of the best ways of being effective in your learning is to use mental tools and tricks to inspire and motivate yourself. First, when it comes to learning in general, you should realize that it's perfectly normal to start with a few negative feelings about beginning a learning session. Even when it's a subject you ordinary like, it's how you handle those feelings that matters. Researchers have found that nonprocrastinators put their negative thinking aside saying things to themselves like. Quit wasting time and just get on with it, once you get going, you'll feel better about it.

If you find yourself avoiding certain tasks because they make you feel uncomfortable, you should know there's another helpful way to re-frame things. And that's to learn to focus on process not product. Process means, the flow of time and the habits and actions associated with that flow of time. As in, I'm going to spend 20 minutes working. Product is an outcome, for example, a homework assignment that you need to finish. To prevent procrastination, you want to avoid concentrating on product. Instead, your attention should be on building processes. Processes relate to simple habits, habits that coincidentally allow you to do the unpleasant tasks that need to be done. For example, let’s say you don't like doing homework in a particular class. So you put off working on the homework. It's only five questions you think. How hard could that be? Deep down, you realize that answering these five questions could be a very lengthy job. It's easier to live in a fantasy world where the five questions, or the ten-page report or whatever, can be done at the last minute. Your challenge is to avoid focusing on the product, the answers to the questions. The product is what triggers the pain that causes you to procrastinate. Instead, you need to focus on the process or processes. The small chunks of time you need over days or even weeks to answer the questions or prepare for tests. Who cares whether you finish the homework or grasp the key concepts in any one session. The whole point instead, is that you calmly put forth your best effort for a short period. Now process.  Notice how in this picture physicist and surfer Garret Lacy is focused on the moment. Not on the accomplishment of having surfed that wave.

For you, one of the easiest ways to focus on process is to focus on doing a Pomodoro, a 25 minute timed work session, not on completing a task. The essential idea here is that the zombie habitual part of your brain likes processes because it can march mindlessly along. It's far easier to enlist the friendly zombie habit to help with a process, then to help with a product. By focusing on process rather than product, you allow yourself to back away from judging yourself, am I getting closer to finishing? And instead you allow yourself to relax into the flow of the work. The key is when a distraction arises, which it inevitably will, you want to train yourself to just let it flow by. Of course, setting yourself up so that distractions are minimal is also a very good idea. Many students find that either a quiet space or noise canceling headphones if, if you can afford them, can be helpful when they're really trying to concentrate. I'm Barbara Oakley. Thanks for learning above learning. [BLANK_AUDIO]

在学习中取得高效的一种最佳方法是使用心理工具和技巧来激励自己。首先，当涉及到一般的学习时，你应该意识到在开始学习时有一些负面的情绪是完全正常的。即使是你喜欢的科目，如何处理这些情绪才是关键。研究人员发现，非拖延者会将消极的想法放在一边，对自己说：“别再浪费时间了，继续前进吧。一旦你开始行动起来，你会感觉更好。”

如果你发现自己在避免某些任务，因为它们让你感到不舒服，那么你应该知道还有另一种有益的方法来重新调整思维。那就是学会专注于过程而不是结果。过程意味着时间的流动以及与时间流动相关的习惯和行为。例如，我打算花20分钟工作。结果是你需要完成的作业。为了防止拖延，你要避免专注于结果。相反，你的注意力应该放在建立过程中。过程与简单的习惯有关，这些习惯恰好能让你完成需要做的不愉快的任务。例如，假设你不喜欢在某个特定的班级做作业。所以你推迟做作业。你觉得只有五个问题。这有多难？在你内心深处，你知道回答这五个问题可能是一个非常漫长的过程。生活在一个幻想世界中更容易，在那里五个问题、十页的报告或其他任何事情都可以在最后一刻完成。你的挑战是避免专注于结果，即回答问题。结果是引发痛苦的原因，导致你拖延。相反，你需要专注于过程或多个过程。你需要花费几天甚至几周的小块时间来回答问题或准备考试。谁会在乎你是否完成了作业或掌握了任何一节课的关键概念。相反，关键是你在一段时间内冷静地付出最大的努力。现在关注过程。注意在这张照片中，物理学家兼冲浪者加勒特·莱西专注于当下的时刻，而不是成功冲浪那波浪的成就。

对你来说，专注于过程的最简单方法是进行番茄工作法（Pomodoro Technique），即25分钟定时工作阶段，而不是完成任务。这里的基本思想是你的大脑中习惯性的部分喜欢过程，因为它可以漫无目的地进行。让这个友好的僵尸习惯帮助你处理过程比帮助处理结果要容易得多。通过专注于过程而不是结果，你可以让自己不再评判自己是否离完成更近了？相反，你可以让自己放松地投入到工作的流程中。关键是当分心出现时（它不可避免地会出现），你想要训练自己让它自然流过。当然，尽量减少分心也是一个非常好的主意。许多学生发现，无论是安静的空间还是降噪耳机（如果负担得起的话），在真正试图集中注意力时都是有帮助的。感谢收听以上学习内容。