一、Seinfeld Strategy
这个Seinfeld正是大名鼎鼎的《宋飞正传》的主演，被评为“有史以来百大喜剧演员”的宋飞。新入行的喜剧演员Brad Issac把握了一次难得的机会和宋飞交谈，问起他有没有什么建议送给年轻喜剧演员。回忆起那次交谈，Brad Issac说到：
He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day.
He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day.
“After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.”
他说，找一个大的挂历，找一个标记笔，每天写笑话，写完一天在挂历上画一个大X，坚持一段时间后，你就会形成一个“行为链”（chain），那时候就自然而然不想打破行为链，你需要做的就是不要打破行为链。
宋飞道出了这么一个规律。要坚持一件事情，前十天是最难的，但是当你坚持一段时间后，后面你就自然而然不希望其打破这个行为链。一开始你可能拖延症频发，总想今天就不写了吧，改天精神上再努力一把，但是在形成行为链之后，你就会发现，此时你要坚持下去需要的意志力远比一开始要低。
在这个道理上，宋飞不但指出了规律，还给出了方法，方法就是每天写笑话。这个方法是很容易迁移的，如果想提高编程能力，那就坚持每天学习计算机知识N（N可以为3，或多少，根据自己情况）小时；如果想锻炼写作能力，那就坚持每天写1000字以上的文章；如果想提高身体状况，那就坚持每天跑步4公里……
另外一位个人成长专家Steve Pavlina给过非常类似的建议，他的版本叫30-day trial。他在《30 Days to Success》中说到：
It seems too overwhelming to think about making a big change and sticking with it every day for the rest of your life when you’re still habituated to doing the opposite. The more you think about the change as something permanent, the more you stay put.
But what if you thought about making the change only temporarily — say for 30 days — and then you’re free to go back to your old habits? That doesn’t seem so hard anymore. Exercise daily for just 30 days, then quit. Maintain a neatly organized desk for 30 days, then slack off. Read for an hour a day for 30 days, then go back to watching TV.
人的思维是很容易想一下子改变自己的，比如立下决心，从明天开始，每天做一百个俯卧撑，这样一个无限期的目标带来的动力会比较小，而且不容易坚持。越是觉得这样的改变时长远的，越容易由于惰性保持现状。Steve Pavlina说，把时间定为30天，就像软件是试用期，试着按照新的方式坚持30天，30天以后，如果觉得改变合适就坚持下去，如果觉得不合适那也尝试了一种改变，也收获颇丰。
Steve Pavlina的建议是很棒的。我坚持过30天的素食，坚持过30天每天100个俯卧撑。这些30-day trial中，体现了宋飞所说的规律，一开始可能不好坚持，但是当你看到自己已经坚持15天了，确实不容易放弃，即使白天再拖延，看到一天快要结束了，也会赶紧开始把当天的任务完成，不愿意打破“行为链”。
二、2 Minutes Rule
作家连岳在《小目标，好实现》中说到：
有些任务很重，有些工作很烦，却又不得不做，所以许多人患了拖延症。据说治疗此症的最好方法是告诉自己：先做三分钟，然后可以玩。可是三分钟一结束，工作有了头绪，不少人就会接着做下去，拖延症就这么骗好了。
把繁重的任务分成几个容易实现的小目标，“骗骗”自己，反而不那么累。我最近在练跑步，当疲劳感出现时，往往离目标还有两千米，感觉一步也跑不动了，那时就只能不停哄自己：再跑十秒；十秒后，再跑五十米；五十米后，再烧掉三十卡热量……几个小目标实现后，疲劳感就过去了。
硅谷著名投资人，《黑客与画家》作者，Paul Graham在《What You'll Wish You'd Known》中说到：
I'm not saying you can get away with zero self-discipline. You probably need about the amount you need to go running. I'm often reluctant to go running, but once I do, I enjoy it. And if I don't run for several days, I feel ill. It's the same with people who do great things. They know they'll feel bad if they don't work, and they have enough discipline to get themselves to their desks to start working. But once they get started, interest takes over, and discipline is no longer necessary.
我们并不需要太多的自制力，我们要做的是“开始”，有正事没做却不想做的时候，不妨告诉自己先去做两分钟，是在不愿意做的话再继续玩。
对于这个方法，James Clear在《How to Stop Procrastinating by Using The "2-Minute Rule"》提供了简单易行的两个规则：
Part 1 — If it takes less than two minutes, then do it now.
Part 2 — When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.
结合30-day trial，你就发现这是一个好方法。比如希望自己好好学算法，不一定目标就要定每天学10页《Introduction to Algorithms》，因为那样很难坚持，怎么知道这三十天会不会中途有考试，没有那么多空闲时间，怎么知道这三十天会不会来个大姨夫就不想看书呢，一旦失败是很打击自己，而且会坚持不下的。可以定目标为，每天看2页以上《Introduction to Algorithms》，当你开始看了，看进去之后很可能就不仅仅想看2页，还想读的更多，后面多努力就看自己了。这样30-day trail更容易成功，最后坚持下来，会发现收获比定高目标坚持不了要好得多。
当然，James Clear的 2-Minute Rule来的更加彻底，他认为可以把所有习惯降级到一个两分钟的行动。道理是一样的，小目标，更容易开始去做，更容易坚持，最后效果更好。
三、Self-forgiveness
一篇论文《I forgive myself, now I can study: How self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination》介绍了一个有用的结论：
The result of this study indicate that studying self-forgiveness in relation to procrastination may be beneficial in shedding new light on the processes that influence this self-regulation failure. Self-forgiveness for procrastinating appears to be constructive in the short-term by allowing the individual to overcome the negative affect associated with an earlier task and engage in approach-oriented behaviors on a subsequent similar task.
另外，在拖延症方面颇有研究的Timothy Pychyl教授在《Forgive Yourself to Stop Procrastination》一文更好地总结了这个研究结论：
Forgiving oneself for procrastinating on a given task is related to less procrastination on a similar task in the future.
This relationship is mediated by negative affect, such that self-forgiveness reduces procrastination by reducing negative emotions.
The presence of this relationship depends on the extent to which the individual procrastinated on the first task. In our study, only at high levels of procrastination on the first exam was self-forgiveness negatively related to procrastination on the second exam.
研究结果表明，自我原谅是可以减轻拖延的。现实中，我也常常看到有朋友对自己要求很高，当达不到自我要求，开始沮丧，开始进入“什么事都不相干”状态，然后开始一方面批判自己，觉得自己没用，另一方面希望给自己更多压力，让自己开始奋斗。这样自我施压却往往不奏效，研究表明人因为种种原因，自我否定，反而会沉浸在自我否定中，更难开始做正事。
所以，当自己一起床发现已经十点了，不要埋怨怪责自己太多，原谅自己，会让你更加容易投入新的一天。当自己一个论文拖延了十多天还没开始写，不要埋怨怪责自己太多，那样只会让自己陷入负面情绪，不愿行动，还是原谅自己，那样会更容易让自己行动起来。
四、Helping Future Self
在Quora问答《Tips and Hacks for Everyday Life: What are your tricks to avoid procrastinating?》中，有人回答到：
This sounds silly, but it's the way I have phrased it since I was a teenager, and it makes more sense to me than more elegant ways of putting it:
"What will the me I will be tomorrow wish I had done right now?"
I think of it as "doing myself a favor".
此言甚是也。
数学家Terry Tao在博客《On Time Management》中也谈到过相似的观点：
A corollary to this is that one should deal with tasks before they become so urgent that they have to be done immediately, thus disrupting one's time flexibility.
想想，现在着手做事，实际上就是帮了未来的自己。我们常常把事情拖到最后，往往到时候会发现很多事情都挤在一块了，时间使用毫无灵活性。不拖延最大的好处就是，前面把事情做了，后面即使突然又有其他急事要做，也能从容轻松地解决。时间的灵活性是最好的回报。
阅读资料：
How to Stop Procrastination on Your Goals by Using the "Seinfeld Strategy"
How to Stop Procrastinating by Using The "2-Minute Rule"
Forgive Yourself to Stop Procrastination
Tips and Hacks for Everyday Life: What are your tricks to avoid procrastinating?
