你并非懒情无聊或缺乏动力Ever feel stuck like fear is holding you back？

It’s Not Laziness, It’s Fear

这不是懒惰，是恐惧

I don’t know you, but I know this: You have internet access, and enough time to spend some of it reading.

我不认识你，但我知道这一点：你有互联网连接，并且有足够的时间来阅读一些内容。

It sounds obvious, but this tells me two more important things about you: One, you’re in the top half of humanity’s wealth distribution, because the other half of the world’s population isn’t even online yet. And two, since you’re here, you’re likely fighting a very modern human fight. You’ve probably already got the basics covered — food, a roof over your head. For you, the obstacles to a better, happier life aren’t all concrete. You’re trying to defeat more abstract enemies: laziness, boredom, self – doubt, procrastination.

这听起来很显然，但这告诉我关于你两件更重要的事：第一，你属于人类财富分配的上半部分，因为世界上另一半人甚至还没接入互联网；第二，既然你在这里，你很可能正在与一种现代人类特有的斗争作斗争。你大概已经满足了基本需求——食物和住所。对于你来说，通向更好、更幸福生活的障碍并不完全是具体的。你在与更加抽象的敌人作斗争：懒惰、无聊、自我怀疑、拖延症。

Here’s the thing: All these concepts are one and the same. And there’s only one way to deal with them.

问题在于：这些概念其实是一样的。解决它们的方法只有一个。

You’re not lazy. You’re not bored. You’re not unmotivated.What you are – what all of us are – is afraid. And the best advice for overcoming fear is the bland three-word sentence Nike turned into the most successful marketing slogan of all time(after slightly tweaking a serial killer’s last words): Just do it.

你并不懒惰。你并不无聊。你并非缺乏动力。你的本性——我们所有人的本性——是恐惧。克服恐惧的最佳建议是耐克有史以来最成功的营销口号——这句平淡无奇的三个字（在对连环杀手的遗言进行了一些调整后）:做就对了。

You’re Not unmotivated

你不是缺乏动力

“I’m not motivated” is never a true statement. Not motivated to do what? Work? In that case, aren’t you motivated to avoid it?Every action human beings ever take is driven by some kind of incentive, whether it’s money, or happiness, or peace, or satisfying your conscience. Your motivation may not always be obvious, but it’s always there.

“我没动力”从来都不是真的说法。没有动力去做什么?工作?那你是不是有动力去避开它?每个人类做出的每一个行动背后，都会有某种动力，无论是金钱、幸福、平静，还是满足良心。你的动力可能并不总是显而易见，但它一直存在。

If you hate every second of the workday, you’re not unmotivated to change your job. But you haven’t,

如果你讨厌工作中的每一秒，你并不是缺乏动力去换工作。你没有换工作，

which means there’s something holding you back. For some reason, it feels like you can’t make the change. It’s too hard, requires too much effort, makes you too vulnerable to rejection. So you don’t even try. But that’s entirely different from not being motivated, and it’s only a sign that it’s time to dig into this feeling.

这意味着有什么东西在拖住你。出于某种原因，你觉得自已无法做出改变。它太难了，需要太多的努力，让你太容易受到拒绝的伤害。所以你干脆不去尝试。但这和缺乏动力完全不同，这只是表明是时候深入了解这种感觉了。

You’re Not Bored

你不是无聊

I once struck up a chat on Tinder with a woman who was a scrum master and a physiologist. She was in business school, but, really, she wanted to study fashion and launch her own creative company. In short, she was a fascinating person.

我曾在Tinder上与一位女士聊过天，她是一名Scrum大师和生理学家。她在商学院读书，但实际上她想学时尚并创办自己的创意公司。简而言之，她是一个非常有趣的人。

When I asked her why she even used the app, she spoke the most common lie in the world: “I’m bored.”

当我问她为什么使用这个应用时，她说出了世界上最常见的谎言：“我无聊。”

How do I know it was a lie? Because no one is ever bored anymore. There’s no reason to be. Most of us don’t even choose to try. We’re 100% connected, 100% of the time.

我怎么知道那是谎言?因为现在没有人会真正无聊。根本没有理由无聊。我们大多数人甚至不选择去尝试。我们24小时全天候在线。

We just pretend to be bored so we can keep filling our days with meaningless distractions, like small talk on Tinder, because we know what lies beneath the stillness: existential dread. Go through the door of boredom, and that’s what you’ll find.

我们只是装作无聊，以便继续用一些无意义的事物填满我们的日常，比如在Tinder上闲聊，因为我们知道静止背后隐藏的是存在的恐惧。走过无聊的门，你会发现那就是你所害怕的。

The great scientist and mathematician Blaise Pascal once said: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” You’re not bored. You’re terrified of being alone with yourself in your own head.

伟大的科学家和数学家布莱兹·帕斯卡尔曾说:“人类所有的问题都源于人无法独自安静地坐在一个房间里。”你不是无聊。你害怕的是与自己独处，在自己内心的世界里。

You’re Not Lazy

你不是懒惰

Laziness is the scapegoat of everyone who’s trying to capitalize on your claim of “being bored.” “You’re not bored – you’re boring!” is what they’ll tell you. You need a hobby, or a calling, or a $250 fitness program with a personalized meal plan.

懒惰是每一个试图从你”无聊”声明中获利的人用来推卸责任的借口。”你不是无聊——你很无聊!”他们会这么告诉你。你需要一个爱好，或者一个使命，或者一个250美元的健身计划和定制的饮食计划。

This, too, is nonsense. Laziness, like boredom, doesn’t exist. As psychology professor Devon Price has explained on Medium: “No one wants to feel incapable, apathetic, or ineffective. If you look at a person’s action (or inaction) and see only laziness, you are missing key details.” What looks like laziness or self-sabotage, he wrote, is almost always something else – a lack of confidence, an unmet need.

这也是胡说八道。懒惰，就像无聊一样，并不存在。正如心理学教授Devon Price在Medium上解释的那样：”没有人希望自己显得无能、冷漠或低效。如果你只看一个人的行为（或不作为），而认为那是懒惰，你就错过了关键的细节。”他写道，看起来像懒惰或自我破坏的行为，几乎总是另有原因——缺乏自信、没有满足的需求。

Once again, it’s not a lack of motivation, an inexplicable unwillingness to act,

再一次，阻碍你通向成功和幸福的并不是缺乏动力，也不是无法解释的不愿意行动。

that obstructs your path to success and happiness. It’s the invisible boundaries in your head that you’re tripping over ——sometimes without ever moving at all.

阻碍你的是你头脑中那些看不见的界限——有时候，甚至是你没有迈出一步。

The Dog That Keeps On Chasing The number of things you can be afraid of is endless.

那只一直追逐的狗 你可以害怕的事情是无尽的。

You’re afraid of dying early from a plane crash or an armed robbery or a natural disaster or a newly discovered parasite, even though the odds strongly suggest you won’t. You’re afraid of being alone because of existential dread, but also because it looks weird and gets weird looks, and if your parents haven’t asked why you’re still single yet, your friends most certainly have.

你害怕因为飞机失事、持枪抢劫、自然灾害或者新发现的寄生虫而早死，尽管概率强烈暗示你不会。你害怕孤单，因为存在的恐惧，也因为那看起来很奇怪，别人也会给你奇怪的眼神，如果父母还没有问你为什么还单身，朋友们肯定早就问过了。

You’re afraid of writing the first chapter of your book, because who thinks that’ll ever work out?

你害怕写下书的第一章，因为谁会认为它能成功？

But you’re also afraid of wasting 10 more hours watching Game of Thrones, especially now that you’ve already seen the whole thing twice.

但你也会害怕再浪费10个小时看《权力的游戏》，尤其是现在你已经看过整部剧两遍了。

I could keep going all day. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of looking stupid, fear of losing something or someone, fear of fear, fear of wasting time, fear of not being good enough, smart enough, attractive enough.

我可以一直讲下去。害怕失败，害怕成功，害怕显得愚蠢，害怕失去某些东西或某些人，害怕恐惧本身，害怕浪费时间，害怕不够好，不够聪明，不够有吸引力。

In order to deal with all these fears, you could buy a new book from a new guru each week, collect a stunning array of probably-placebo supplements on your shelf, churn through organizational systems and mantras and resolutions. Or, you could wake up and realize that all these fears are the same thing. Fear is the same dark creature that’s always plagued us, and it will continue to invent new tricks till kingdom come. You have to find a way to live in spite of it.

为了应对所有这些恐惧，你可以每周购买一本新书，从新导师那里学到新知识，收藏一堆可能是安慰剂的补充品，捣弄组织系统、口号和决心。或者，你可以醒来，意识到所有这些恐惧其实是同一个东西。恐惧是一直困扰我们的黑暗生物，它将继续发明新的伎俩，直到永远。你必须找到一种方式，尽管如此，仍要继续生活。

The Cure

解决方法

I’m no more qualified to talk about fear than any random guy you’d meet on the street. I don’t have a degree in psychology, or even formal training as a writer. But, like you, I have lived with fear my whole life. And, somehow, I’ve still arrived in a place where I have a job I love, lots of time to spend how I want, and a general sense of happiness. I have my own issues to resolve, but I feel okay taking life one day at a time. And that’s what it’s about. Beat the dog again and again. And again.

我并没有比街头遇到的任何一个路人更有资格谈论恐惧。我没有心理学学位，甚至没有作为作家的正式训练。但像你一样，我也生活在恐惧中一生。不知怎么的，我仍然到达了一个地方，我有我喜欢的工作，拥有很多自由的时间来做自己想做的事，并且有一种总的幸福感。我也有自己的问题要解决，但我觉得每天过得不错。这就是生活的意义。一次次地战胜那只狗。

“Just Do It” as a Strategy

“去做吧”作为一种策略

A strategy is a long-term approach to getting what you want. It’s a set of behaviors you’re committed to, a line of principles you’re unwilling to compromise.

策略是一种实现目标的长期方法。它是一套你承诺遵循的行为，一条你不愿妥协的原则线。

Using “Just Do It” as the strategy, the operating system of your life, means committing to figuring it out on your own. You chase your goals based on what you believe in. If you think art should be free, then make art for free and get sponsors or donors. If you don’t believe in remote work, rent an office and hire locally.

将“去做吧”作为策略，你生活的操作系统，意味着你承诺独立搞定一切。你根据自己的信念追求目标。如果你认为艺术应该是免费的，那就免费创作艺术并寻求赞助或捐赠。如果你不相信远程工作，就租个办公室，在当地招聘。

Make a Promise to Yourself

给自己许个承诺

You’re not unmotivated. You’re not lazy. You’re not bored. You are afraid. We are all afraid. And yet, we are still here. So every day, choose to be here, moving forward.

你不是没有动力。你不是懒惰。你不是无聊。你害怕。我们都害怕。但我们仍然在这里。所以，每天选择继续在这里，向前走。