番茄工作法幫助你三個星期寫一本書

As a writer, I’ll bet you’ve got more than one ‘brilliant idea’ project rolling around in your head.

作爲一個作者，我建議你的腦子裏不要有超過一個“天才的計劃”在打轉。

If you’re anything like me, you’ve come up with at least a handful of great book ideas in the past 6 months, and have a few other creative ideas flourishing as well.

如果你和我沒有任何共同之處，那麼在過去6個月的時間內你將只能遇到一點點書裏絕佳的想法和進展很少的有創意的點子。

An e-course perhaps?

也許是一個電子課程？

An audio series?

一個音頻系列？

A membership section to your blog or site?

個人博客或網站中的一個會員欄目？

Quite likely, All of the above!

沒錯，所有都是！

It’s one thing to come up with an endless stream of great ideas, but it’s quite another to fine-tune them into a realistic action plan and then to actually execute that plan.

無窮無盡地設想好點子是一回事，但是細緻地把它們調整爲可行的行動計劃並實際地執行則是另一回事。

Which means that finding a way of to cut down the time it takes to execute your action plan would be brilliant, wouldn’t you say?

找到方法將時間用切分於執行行動計劃將是明智的，這意味着什麼，你說呢？

There is a way for you to write your new e-book project in just 25 minutes a day.

現在有一個方法能讓你每天只花25分鐘就能寫出一本新的電子書。

The Pomodoro Technique

番茄工作法

The technique was developed in the 1990s by an Italian efficiency enthusiast.

這個方法是在20世紀90年代由一個意大利高效狂人發明的。

All you need is a task and a timer. You can use a kitchen timer (place it where you can see it as you work). Or you can use free online timers such as focusboosterapp or ticktocktimer.

你需要的只是一個任務和一個計時器。可以用廚房計時器（把它放在你工作時能看到的地方）。或者你可以用免費的在線計時器比如focusboosterapp或者 ticktocktimer。

Set the timer for 25 minutes – and write.

設置時間爲25分鐘並寫下來。

Churn through your task, ignore distractions. Don’t edit, or check your Facebook account, or make tea, or stare at the ceiling. Just write.

專心做你的你工作，忽略干擾。不要編輯或者檢查你的Facebook，泡茶或者盯着天花板。只要寫。

At the end of 25 minutes, stop. Even if you want to keep going on. Just stop.

25分鐘結束之時，停止。即使你想繼續。停下。

How It Works

它如何運作

Seeing time ticking down gives the brain a sense of urgency. Our brains like boundaries because boundaries create sharper focus.

看着時間一分一分地流逝爲大腦帶來了一種急迫感。大腦像是邊界，因爲邊界產生了更爲清晰的聚焦。

Think about it. If I were to ask you to name your favorite book or author, you’d be blank for a few moments. Then you’d come up with one. As time went by, you’d come up with more and more names. Why does this happen?

想想看。如果我讓你說出最喜歡的書或者作者，你會在一瞬間陷入空白。然後你會想出一個。當時間流逝，你會想出越來越多的名字。爲什麼？

Because there are no boundaries. You can choose any book or author you want, but your brain is groping for an answer.

因爲這裏沒有邊界。你可以選擇任何你想要的書或者作者，但是你的大腦是在搜索一個答案。

First, your brain tries to formulate boundaries. Only then can you focus on a specific book or author.

首先，大腦嘗試去建構邊界。只有這樣你才能聚焦到特定的一本書或一個作者。

But what if I asked you who your favorite mystery author is? Your answer would come much quicker, because a boundary has already been defined.

但是，如果我問你誰是你最喜歡的神祕作家呢？你的答案會給出得快一點，因爲邊界已經被限定了。

The Pomodoro technique creates a boundary of time, sharpened by the visual of time ticking down. On focusboosterapp, the color of the timer changes from green to orange and then darkens to red, and there’s a ringing sound at the end of the session. On ticktocktimer, a very satisfying gong sound signals the close of 25 minutes.

番茄工作法創造了一個時間的邊界，並因視覺見證時間的一點點流逝而被突出。在focusboosterapp中，計時器的顏色由綠色變爲橙色然後漸漸變暗成爲紅色，在一個階段結束的時候一陣鈴聲響起。在ticktocktimer裏面，一段非常悅耳的信號鐘聲標誌着25分鐘的結束。

And that is the secret.

這就是祕密。

How I Drafted My Book in 3 Weeks

如何在三個星期內寫完一本書

I’ve written a book on sleep. Insomnia and other sleep disorders, to be specific.

我曾經在睡覺的時間寫完一本書。失眠和睡眠不規律，是其原因。

It has 6 chapters, an introduction, a summary, a couple of handy worksheets, and many ‘real-life’ stories of insomnia woven in – everything from the hilarious no-sleep story to stuff that will make you cry.

有6個章節，一個引言，一個總結，兩份便捷的工作記錄，以及一些編織在失眠中的“真實生活”的故事——每一個有趣的無法入睡的故事都會讓你潸然淚下。

Sure sounds like a big project, doesn’t it? And I’ve written all that by working just 25 minutes a day, using the Pomodoro technique.

聽着確確實實像是一個巨大的計劃，對嗎？然而我每天只用了25分鐘就全部寫完了，就是用了番茄工作法。

I learned about the technique from a fellow blogger, and decided to give it a go.

我從一個博友那兒學到這個方法，就決定試一試。

Can’t hurt, I thought. And certainly anything that has a finite end to it is more appealing than the never-ending feeling of urgency and being overwhelmed that we writers are so good at.

不會有害處，我想。當然，任何有一定結果的事都比作者熟知的永不停止的緊迫和慢慢淹沒其中的感覺更有吸引力。

My sleep book had been gathering metaphorical dust for about 5 weeks until I started using the Pomodoro technique.

從開始使用番茄工作法以來，我的睡眠記錄已經積了將近5個星期的隱喻之灰了。

In just 3 weeks of using the technique, I’ve finished drafting my introduction, key chapters, and summary, and have done roughly 80% of the necessary research and fact gathering. All in 25-minute blocks.

僅僅使用了3個星期，我就完成了引言、主要章節和總結，並且粗糙地完成了80%的必要的研究和事實收集。所有的事情都在25分鐘內做完。

What surprised me was how often I got into the flow of Writing – no toggling, no editing, no lack of clarity. Writing seemed delightfully easy!

真正讓我震驚的是我現在常常能進入到流暢寫作的狀態——沒有暫停、沒有增刪、也不缺乏清晰。寫作似乎是令人愉悅的簡單。

Make It Work for You

讓它爲你工作

The key to using this technique effectively is using an actual timer. I like ticktocktimer because it lets you choose the length of time you’d like (you might find you work better in 20- or 30-minute blocks).

有效率地使用這個方法的關鍵在於使用一個可見的計時器。我之所以喜歡ticktocktimer是因爲你可以選擇自己喜歡的時間長度（也許你發現自己在20或30分鐘的時間段內工作得更好）。

The best part is that even if you don’t feel like writing, even if you’ve no idea what you’re going to say, it’s easy to begin when you know that the ‘pain’ of writing will be over in a few minutes.

最好的事情是，即使你不想寫作，即使你根本不知道該說什麼，當你知道寫作的“徒勞”將在幾分鐘之內超過一切時，就很容易開始了。

And who knows? You may find yourself in that elusive flow state before you know it!

誰知道呢？在知道之前也許你就找到了自己捉摸不透的源源不斷的狀態。

There it is – the key to writing your next book or project in just 25 minutes a day. Let me know in the comments how it goes for you. Gong!

這是每天僅用25分鐘寫完下一本書或者計劃的祕訣。請在評論中讓我知道它對你是否有用。叮鈴鈴！