【阅读前提示】下面是一个又臭又长的帖子，主要是est自己想记录下来一些自己认为重要的东西，不喜欢的跳过好了。

很有意思的一个HN问答楼。如何解决习惯性“半途而废”的情况？

在看众牛回答之前我也自己想了下，也翻阅了一下中文资料。发现中文资料有个特点，都是直接开方子，不给机理和原因的阐述。有一些似是而非的解决方案，最终感觉帮助不大。再看HN的问答，我有个恍然大悟的感觉。。。或许我崇拜HN过于了。但是的确给我启发很大。

提问者的情况：

• reasonably smart (IQ scores have generally kept between 125 to 148)
• a creative asset at the workplace
• character flaw

感觉我也好类似啊，手里面一大堆想做的project，但是由于n种原因废弃了n久。

下面的第一个回复

I don't know enough about the OP to talk directly to your problem, so I can only share a few interesting frames of mind that I have picked up along the way that help push me along.
There is a phenomenon from child psychiatry that has shown that parents that say to a successful child, "Wow, you're so smart" undermine that child's ability to muscle through tougher challenges later on in life. These kids believe they are intrinsically better than their peers, so they don't keep putting effort into themselves. Eventually they encounter a challenge that exceeds their initial abilities and they give up since they don't understand their performance is in their control, not baked into their God-given make-up.
Parents who instead say, "Wow, you put in a lot of effort," teach their children that the success is based on factors that you can control, like how much effort you put in and how prepared you are and what you do. These kids do a lot better in life.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids
Your problem description (high IQ, creative asset, character flaw) is in the wrong frame. Since we're talking about action, it's not about who you are, but what you do.
Anyway, getting things done is surprisingly simple (not easy). You look at the goal, work backwards thinking of all the things that have to get done to get to that goal, and then start doing them.
Another key part of being successful is to delay gratification. People who need constant positive feedback to keep moving forward don't get very far in real situations since most of life is a slog on the way to a better destination.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_lehrer
The final thing that helps motivate action is to know where you want your life to lead. It helps give each smaller project a sense of purpose: does this move my life forward or not? If it does, it's easy to step through things.
Once you have a vision, it's important to continuously repeat in your head all the positive aspects of success. A lot of people focus on the failure or ever the fear of success. As I mentioned above, most real life projects are a grind on your energy and your emotional state. You have to be your own emotional support system.
I liked Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford where he acknowledged how death is a motivator. Life is short. It takes a long time to accomplish anything (5 years or more). So, you only get so many chances (maybe 10) to do something meaningful. You have to always ask yourself, "Am I living this day as if it's my last?"
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
I will say none of these approaches to life are intrinsic to a person. I suspect all successful people have to teach themselves these strategies along the way and they struggle with them the whole way along.

这个点中要害了。我们平时完成一个project的时候，人们往往会称赞你聪明，这个project的结果很漂亮。但是问题就出在这里。我们去完成一个project的关键不是聪明，也不是结果，而是过程。如果我们接受了这种赞许，不会对我们造成直接的影响，但是我们着手做下一个project的时候，我们首先会预测这个project的结果是不是漂亮，而且我们潜意识就会想，嘿，又有一次展示我聪明的机会来了。

这样，无意中，我们做project的动机就是完全面向玩弄自己的聪明了。而其实要做完一个project最重要的是你的付出和坚持。当你没有能做到付出和坚持，那么这个project也就很自然fail

就好比说我们的聪明只是办事效率，导数大，初值高而已。但是要达到最终结果还是得靠坚定不移的effort。

里面还提到父母鼓励孩子的方法和技巧，我觉得很重要。

其实做事很简单（但是不容易），确定了目标和方法之后，这个过程就是无聊的grind。就像MMORPG里打怪一样。

其次关键是delay gratification。这一点我觉得可以再深入一下，就是庞加莱和海明威的潜意识思考法。当你做得很high的时候，不妨停一停，让你的各种思绪跟上你最尖峰的节奏，而且有助于你的休息。这个其实是有助于提高你的整体productivity，而不是去追求一个peak performance。

里面提到的positive feedback很有意思。现在很多农村的孩子觉得读书无用，我觉得这就是缺乏一种instant positive feedback的结果。其实城市里的孩子也一样，只是他们多了一个peer competition而已。这也可以很好的解释为什么很多中学里成绩拔尖的人心理都比较变态。

最后的关键就是goal。我觉得这里的goal不仅要在action中间随时提醒自己，在最开始计划一个project的时候也要考虑周全。有的project看似很好玩，其实做下去是个无底洞，或者很容易就过时被抛弃的工具。这些project是不值得做的。在一个project里fail对自己的伤害比懒惰更大。

下面有人继续针对第二条constant positive feedback进行了展开

My way of addressing this, since the real world doesn't often provide it, is to provide it for myself. For instance, I had to read 2 chapters in my Number Theory book today. I told myself that after each chapter I would let myself read HN for 15 minutes. Now there is positive reinforcement.
Another trick that helps me stay focused is to make lists. I find joy in the simple act of crossing an item off a list.
So to finish a project break it down into simple concrete tasks, and come up with some sort of simple reward for each task finished. Make sure though that your definition of success is actually achievable and dependent on factors you control. After this, get to it, and finish that project!

任务的分解和增量小规模激励也是一个很有用的方法。这里分辨了两种project，一个是能够一下子做完的，一个是不能一下子做完的。根据实际情况要多做准备和打算。

There's a reason TDD and agile are approaches programmers generally enjoy more, and it's because you get positive feedback early. The success of these techniques are only partially due to their inherent ability to adapt to change: it's also the fact that the people using them are inherently happier because they get this re-enforcement they are going down the right path and making progress.

说道这里我又想起了船夫们喊号子。。。。。。节奏性的鼓励，甚至直接把工序做成一种艺术过程，这也是提高生生产力的一个方法吧。

继续摘录一些有意思的回复

Edison also had teams of people working for him, to do the laborious tasks, a strategy the OP might want to... employ ;) hire people... I just had that problem... I couldn't finish any project, but I knwe how to do everything... I hired people, tell them how to work, micro manage them... and all I can say is that I'm quite successful... Stop trying to do all by yourself... you are too valuable to spend time actually doing things...

很不错很经济实惠的手段

Your IQ is not relevant to your ability to complete projects. It is possible your feelings about your high intelligence is a problem in that it keeps you from being willing to experience failure. These fears should dissipate as you incrementally do complete projects.
Diligence > Intelligence.
Thomas Edison: 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.
as Tesla said, if Edison had been a bit smarter, he wouldn't have had to sweat so much.

暴笑 lol

stop at a point where you know exactly what you need to do next. It's much easier to come back when you do this.

find something that people can pay you for. Money is a hell of a motivator.
have a targeted customer/user. You will feel you cant let them down.
try to have it be something that you yourself would use. it will force you to finish the project.

这里是feedback的一些具体技巧。大学里找MM一起去上自习就是一个很强大的学习动力。说道这里我应该认识到竞争和游戏的极大促进作用。

有人提到了一种和GTD类似的时间管理技巧，叫Pomodoro Technique

all we really need is someone to talk to

英语中这句表达方式很迷人

The Cult of Done Manifesto

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

前面提到了要分辨一个project是否能被一下子搞定。这里有位回复了如何去做一个长达几个月甚至几年超长大型project

1. 不要一开始就被一些障碍和难题搞郁闷了。就像马拉松一样一开始不要去拼命冲刺。
2. 任务的分解。这一条被很多人反复提到。也是很多背单词方法论里重要的一点。我想这为了避免despair这一点是很重要的
3. 每天习惯性在一定时间总结当天成就和所处位置
4. 奖赏和激励的feedback
5. 关掉浏览器。不要为其他可有可无的事情分心

ENTP, ENFP, INFP, INTP等性格不同的人也可以采取各自独特的方法（Temperament Theory）。可以来这里测试。做这个测试我很纠结，因为很多事情都是我曾经没有仔细考虑过的。有的答案我两者兼有，甚至交叉。不好选择。我的结果是NTs - Rationals/ Conceptualizers (INTP, ENTP, INTJ, ENTJ)。很有可能就是INTP

Many INTPs are a lot like the stereotypical absentminded professor -- dawdling, distracted, and forgetful of mundane chores, late for obligations, losing homework or library books, and generally disconnected from the business of life in the external world...A big problem for INTPs is that they are so quickly bored, and once their attention wanders, they will rarely finish the many interesting projects they start.

继续，有人说他的毛病更大，断网都没法治。他说应该做 attention medication

At the risk of being accused of "cheating", I recommend attention medication. I am very smart, and did exceptionally well in school, but found myself unable to take even "start small" tasks to completion when not faced with an absolute, completely immutable deadline (and even then, I still handed in papers days late). I tried methods found in books, tried adjusting diet and routine, tried altering workplaces, went as far as trying to do work without an internet connection (!) -- nothing. This had nothing to do with motivation. I believed strongly in open source software, and loved to code small projects, but never finished anything. I enjoyed writing, and tried no less than 5 times to start a blog. I started building electronic circuits like headphone amplifiers but abandoned them halfway through soldering. No matter how much I wanted or tried to get stuff done, it just wouldn't happen.
A year and a half ago I started taking Vyvanse, which is essentially a slow-release amphetamine salt compound. Since then, I've completed an excellent and productive internship at Apple, shipped two major releases of Quod Libet (an open-source music library application), and am actually making progress on a sprawling thesis, three things I would never have imagined being able to do before. I've even seen a difference socially (I can have conversations that are important to others but meaningless to me without getting bored) and emotionally (I no longer feel like a failure or a waste of potential).
Other people have posted many great suggestions, and by all means, try them. But also talk to a qualified psychiatrist that you trust.

这个Vyvanse就是下面的

ADD meds (Attention Deficit Disorder)。。。。好囧。。。

后面的回复就没看了。太多太长了～～～～～～

小时候总结的resources + skills + attitude，我发现attitude这个东西有的时候是害人的。过于注重调整attitude会让你迷糊和自以为是。调节attitude是在高压迫不得已情况下的一种自我调整的手段。这样做事很牵强，很容易疲劳，人也很容易老化。甚至attitude最终被tweak成一种belief，这下就彻底脑残了。