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译者：Betty 校对：棋子, Cathy, Qidi, 暖暖
Why does motivation not last more than 2-3 days? How can I make it permanent?
为什么我做事总是三分钟热度？怎么持续激励自己？
好问题。这种事发生得确实比我们希望得要频繁。我们读了什么，和某人交流过，看见了一些东西，便激动地想要深入研究。在一段时间内，我们阅读相关的文章，上网查阅资料，和亲人、朋友交流，但是要不了多久，平常生活的潮水又重新涌来，把我们推回到原来的样子。于是我们好奇：为什么我们不能坚持下去？
如果你仔细考察在这期间你经历了什么，你就会发现下面所描述的至少有一项与你的情况吻合：
你不知道你到底需要做什么。一旦你开始对一件事物富有激情，最初的兴趣会促使你去阅读、查阅资料、讨论和试验。但几天之后，这些最初的动力可能就耗尽了。如果你不知道接下来你需要做什么，你很可能就不会继续做下去。相反，如果你创造出一个可以沉浸其中的环境，你就更有可能坚持探索这个使你感兴趣的新事物，并且一直受到激励。例如，你可能偶然接触到油画，想到你也可以试着画一幅就感到很兴奋。你读了一些文章，欣赏了一些大作，看了一些视频。那么，你不应该止步于此。接下来，你应该探寻附近的画廊，按照你的时间表，越早出发越好。假设你决定周末去画廊。接着，告诉自己应该在午休时去书店找几本有关绘画的书。然后，在网上订购画笔、颜料和画布，这样你就可以在几天后收到它们。第二天，你可以开始阅读你买来的那些书。周末到来的时候，按照计划去画廊。第二周，你的绘画工具到了。你已经开始阅读相关书籍并且欣赏过一些作品。此时你应该确定一个作画的时间。这时候，你可以去寻找绘画课，等等。简单来说，聚焦于行动。这会帮助你维持动力，一直受到激励。
没有养成习惯。你对某件事情感到新奇并且开始尝试，但是这项新活动很难跻身于你平常的生活习惯中。除非你把它变成一个新习惯，让自己自然而然地想要去做这件事，否则你就需要费力才会去完成它。如果你不把它变成习惯，你可能会忘记它，或者找借口来逃避它。如果这项新事物与你以前的习惯有冲突，那么这一切可能会更困难。举个例子，你可能有一个吃什么都放很多糖的习惯。如果你想要减少糖的摄入，你就在尝试做一件与你的习惯——比如喝茶加糖，或者下午吃饼干——相冲突的事情。你需要养成新的习惯以取代旧的习惯。
你不知道自己喜欢什么。很多时候，缺乏激励源于你不知道自己是否对这件事感兴趣。你可能对此很冷淡，不为所动。这时你很有可能不太了解这件事。如果你知道它，即使只知道一点点，你的激情也会被点燃。所以第一步就是战胜冷淡与懒惰，去尝试一下。遵循10分钟定律。答应自己只尝试做10分钟。听起来不算什么难事。当你只需要做10分钟，你不会用没有时间当做借口。最后你可能沉浸其中，花了不止10分钟在这上面。很好。你战胜了自己的懒惰，让自己着手这件事。保持这份动力。
你不根据优先级做计划。如果你有紧急的事务，那么很自然的，你就不会受到去探索新大陆的激励。你没有时间、需要暂停两三天，并不意味你缺乏做这件事的动力。你只需要做一个记录，过几天再来接着做这件让你兴奋的事。记住，你不可能同时做所有的事情。如果你有20件事需要做，那么你不能苛责自己为什么不去探索一个新领域。现代生活的种种可能性，使得那些你感兴趣的事情总比你有时间做的多出亿万件。所以不要担心，专注于对你真正重要的，这会使你有更多的精力和注意力来做它们。当你发现新的兴奋点，记下它们，把它们归类于“有一天/也许”这一任务集里，每隔一段时间去看看，在你准备好的时候尝试它们。
没有什么关于动机的魔法。你只需要创造出属于自己的环境，通过养成新习惯、坚持做这件事来训练思维，最后一切都顺理成章了。
Written by E. Honary from Skills Converged
答案原作者 E. Honary, Skills Converged 创始人之一
E. Honary
This is a beautifully expressed question. It does indeed happen more often than we like. We read something, talk to someone, see something and get excited to look into it more. For a short while we read about it, look it up online, mention it to friends and family but before long the tide of life returns and pushes us back where we were; the usual ordinary life. Then we wonder why we did not stick to it.
You don’t know exactly what you needed to do. Once you get excited about something, your initial interest will get you to read about it, look it up, talk about it and experiment. After a few days though you may run out of these initial actions. If you don’t know what exactly you need to do next, you are unlikely to do them. On the other hand, if you engineer an environment where you can immerse yourself more and more in this new area that you got excited about, you have more chances of actually doing something and remain motivated. For example, you might have come across an oil painting and got excited that perhaps you can give oil painting a try. You read about it, look at some paintings and watch some videos online. Now, you shouldn’t just leave it at that. Next, find what your local galleries have and decide exactly when to go to see some paintings as soon as you can based on your current schedule. Say you decide to visit a galley over the weekend. Next, tell yourself to pop into a bookshop over your lunch break tomorrow to find interesting books on painting. Next, order some brushes, paint and a canvas online so you can receive them by post in a few days. The next day, start reading the book you got from the bookshop. When the weekend comes, go to the gallery. Next week, your art supplies arrive. You are already reading books and have seen paintings. Schedule a time to paint next week. At this point you can start looking to attend some courses and so on. In short, you focus on actions. Each action helps you remain motivated and leads you to the next action. This helps you to maintain momentum and stay motivated.
A habit is not formed. You got excited and started something but now this new activity sits next to all your other ordinary habits. Unless you make it into a new habit where you automatically feel you want to do it, you have to consciously put effort into doing it. If you don’t have a habit, you may forget to do it or you may come up with excuses to avoid it. If this new activity is against another habit you already have, then it can even be more difficult. For example, you may have a habit of having too much sugar with everything. If you want to cut your sugar, you are now against your habit of adding sugar to your tea, or having biscuits in the afternoon. You will need to come up with new habits to replace the old ones.
You don’t know what you like. Most of the time, lack of motivation happens when you don’t know if something is exciting. You have apathy and you cannot be bothered. Most of the time this happens when you don’t know much about it, and most of the time if you knew something about it, even a little, your excitement can rise. So the first step in tackling apathy and laziness is just to give it a try. Follow the 10-minutes rule. Promise yourself that you are only going to do it for 10 minutes. Sounds like nothing. You cannot have any excuses on your available time when you only have to spend 10 minutes on something. The upside is that you may get carried away and spend more than 10 minutes on the task. Fantastic. You have just broken through the laziness barrier and got yourself involved. Keep the momentum.
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