[译]我如何做到每天写作？

译文BY刘安娜20161006

——说明：原文作者里奥·巴伯塔（原文链接：How to Write Every Day BY LEO BABAUTA）版权公开，译文版权归属我本人。译文转载请简信联系。——

I write every single day. I do it for a living, of course, but I think writing daily has allowed me to do it for a living.

我每天都写，以写作为生。当然，我觉得是正因为每天都写才让我能以此为生。

I journal, I write blog posts, courses for my Sea Change program, books and ebooks. For fun, I’ve written 50,000 words of a novel for NaNoWriMo, and another year I wrote 110,000. For years, I wrote newspaper articles and opinion columns. None of this is to brag, but to show the kind of writing I do when I write daily.

我写日记，也写博客，为身心灵项目课程写作，写书，也写电子书。世界写作月的时候我出于好玩写了5万字，有一年我写了11万字。多年来，我为报纸撰文，写专栏。并不是炫耀，而是说明我每天都写些什么。

The Benefits

写作的好处

Writing every day has helped me in so many ways. Just to name a few:

每天写作对我的各方面都有益。列举一些如下：

• My writing skills have improved with the years.我写作技巧日渐提高。

• I’m able to write faster, type faster, with so much practice.大量练习让我写作更高效，打字更快。

• I can clarify my thinking better because of writing regularly.定期写作让我思路更清晰。

• I’m able to think from the reader’s perspective, which helps me in lots of life situations.我能从读者的角度思考，有助于我理解多样的人生境遇。

• I am forced to reflect on my life, which deepens my learning.我必须每天反思，这深化了学习。

• I am forced to figure out how to motivate myself to write regularly.我必须想办法激励自己定期写作。

• I learn to create a regular practice, as I do with meditation, exercise and eating healthily. 我学会了定期训练，比如我冥想，锻炼，健康饮食。

• I learn to overcome perfection and put things out there to be judged, which helps me to embrace failure and messiness. 我学会克服完美主义思想，接受评价，这有助于我面对失败和混乱。

• I learn to overcome distraction and procrastination. 我学会了克服干扰和拖延症。

There are many more benefits too, from embracing uncertainty to find a way to express the soul of my being. Not small feats, I think.还有很多好处，包括面对不确定性，找到一种方式表达我的灵魂。我想，这堪称壮举。

So how do you write daily? I’ll share a few ideas that work for me.

那么，你是如何每天写作的呢？我分享几个对我有用的办法。

How to Write Daily

如何每天写作

What works for you will be different than what I do, but I thought I’d share what has helped me:

这些不一定对你也有用，但我想我分享一些对我有用的：

1. Most important: Have a great reason. The rest of this doesn’t matter if you skip this step. Answer this question: Why do you want to write every day? If it’s because it sounds fun, sounds cool, sounds nice … you’ll abandon it when you face discomfort. If you want to do it to help someone else, to make the world a better place, to lift someone’s spirits, to reduce your pain, to find a way to express your deeper self … then you can call on this deeper reason when things get difficult.

最重要一点：一个好理由。如果你省略了这步其他的都不重要了。你为什么想每天写作？如果原因是好玩，挺酷的，挺好的……那你不舒服的时候就会放弃。如果原因是你想帮助别人，让世界更美好，鼓励别人，减少自己的痛苦，找到一种表达内心更深层次的自己的方式……那事情变艰难的时候你有深层源动力。

2. Block off undistracted time. All you need is 10 minutes a day. But you have to block off those 10 minutes, and treat them as an unmissable appointment. You wouldn’t tell your doctor that you’ll get to your appointment with her “after checking your email and Facebook just one more time” would you? Then don’t do that to your writing appointment. This is undistracted time, so shut everything down, and treat this space as sacred. Have a place you write, treat it like your daily prayers, and be ready before the appointment starts.

锁定不受干扰时段。你每天只需要10分钟。但你必须锁定这10分钟，当成不可错过的约会一样对待。你不会告诉医生，你得再看看邮件和脸书再去赴约，对吧？所以写作约会也是一样的。这约会不能受干扰，屏蔽一切，严肃对待。圈定你写作的地点，就像每日祈祷一样，开始写之前准备好。

3. Don’t let yourself forget. What would you do if you absolutely couldn’t forget an appointment? You might write it on your calendar, set an alarm, even put up a note where you couldn’t miss it. You might ask someone else to remind you. Do all those things.

想尽办法记住。你想完全牢记约会时会怎么办？你可能写在日历上，定个闹钟，甚至在肯定能看见的地方贴张便签。你也可能让别人提醒你。全用在写作约会上。

4. Do it in a sprint. Some people think they need to write for an hour or two to make it count. But a task that big will seem daunting. Instead, write for 5 minutes. Or 10. Something small and doable. Then put your full focus and write your ass off for those 10 minutes, like you’re running to the love of your life after a long separation.

速跑一般写作。有些人认为得写一两个小时才算写作。但那么长时间写作让人望而却步。还是写5分钟。或者10分钟。短小可行。全神贯注，全力写10分钟，就像你跑向久别重逢的人生真爱一般。

5. Practice mindfulness. You can treat writing as a meditation — it’s a way to put everything aside but you and the writing, to let your thoughts become words on the page, to see your urges to run, the stories you’re telling yourself about yourself and your life. Don’t simply rush through the writing process and treat it as a chore — notice when your mind is complaining, notice the texture of the room around you, notice how your body feels as you sit and write, and embrace the moment.

正念训练。你可以把写作看作一种冥想——把一切放置一边，只有你和写作，思绪转化为文字，留意思绪溜号的渴望，看到你对自己讲述的关于你自己和人生的故事。不要仓促，认为写作是杂活——留意你是否在抱怨，留意房间里周围的构成，留意当你坐下来写作时身体的感受，拥抱当下。

6. Practice gratitude. As you practice mindfulness, notice the awesomeness of this moment of self-expression. It’s so easy to take this for granted, and want to go do something else. But instead, pause and see what you can appreciate about this writing time. What is beautiful? What are you taking for granted? For me, I am grateful just to have the opportunity to write, to help others, to share what I am learning about this world. And having a roof over my head, not starving and not being in incredible pain, being able to see light and colors and hear the music of the world … these are simply incredible!

学会感激。你做正念训练时，需留意这种自我表达的时刻无与伦比。我们很容易把这种时刻当做理所当然，想做点别的。但其实应该暂停一下，观察你该如何感激这种写作时间。哪些美好被你忽略？视而不见？对我来说，我感激有写作的机会，可以帮助别人，分享我所学到的人生。有屋可住，有饭可吃，无怖无痛，欣赏光影色彩，聆听音乐……一切都那么不可思议！

7. Embrace imperfection. Writing is about letting go of our ideals, and just doing anyway, even if we can’t have perfection. If we only wanted to write amazing things, instead of sucky first drafts, we’d never write. So we have to be messy, let ourselves not be good at something, put it out anyway, and embrace the imperfection of life.

接受不完美。写作让我们抛开理想主义，即便不完美也要写。如果我们只想写出惊世奇作，而不接受糟糕的初稿，那我们永远写不出来了。所以我们可能写得很糟，感觉并不擅长，但仍然写作并公布，接受人生的不完美。

8. Don’t let your mind run (for a little while). Your mind will want to run from the writing. This is normal. The mind doesn’t like uncertainty and discomfort. You’ll want to go check email, check blogs, check social media, check news, go clean your kitchen. Notice this urge, and then sit with it. Don’t run.

把控思绪别溜号。写作中你可能想溜号。这很正常。我们不喜欢不确定性和不舒适感。你可能想看看邮件，浏览博客，翻翻社交媒体，刷新新闻，打扫厨房。留意到这些冲动，坚守住。别溜号。

So that might seem like a lot, but in truth it’s pretty simple. Have a big reason, block off the time, set unforgettable reminders, do it in short bursts, and be mindful, grateful, and focused.

看上去好像挺多的，但其实特别简单。找个好理由，锁定时间，设置难忘的提醒，快速完成，正念，感恩以及全神贯注。

Practicing this on a daily basis helps you form some incredibly useful skills of staying with something and not running to distractions, learning to express yourself, sticking to a regular habit, and being mindful and grateful. These help in all areas of life, and I highly recommend you start today.

每天练习写作有助于你养成一些有用的好习惯，能精神集中，不被外界干扰，学会表达自己，遵守日常习惯，正向思考，学会感恩。这些对人生各方面都有益，我强烈推荐你从今天开始。

——我有一些想法的分割线——

我是从今年6月开始写作的，状态好的时候日更过一段时间，状态不好的时候也任性的休息一段时间。

对我来说，每天写作有两个最明显的好处，第一，有效治疗了拖延症。如果不是因为想着要写些什么，很多时候我也就没那么积极，时间一躺而过。自从下决心每天都写点什么以后，我就开始学习如何发现主题，如何组织文章构架（提纲），如何填充文章内容，空余时间我的脑子也在运作，思考相关的内容，用better notes（我觉得最好用的便签本app）记录所有的主题和灵感，以及提纲半成品（可以在关键词前面加#，这样可以按关键词搜索查看）。

第二个好处就是迫使我反复思考，尤其是在我读完了一本书以后想要写点什么的时候。以往读书，读了也就读了，最多在豆瓣上（或微博上，或both）写个140字的短评，抒发下感想，也就罢了。如今，书后感成为我主要写作内容之一（另一主要内容是翻译我喜欢的文章），那么读书就不能随便读了。读的过程中需要不停思考，哪部分对我触动最深，我是如何将它和自己的经历相连，什么角度才不会落入俗套，书后感的框架如何。很多人会按照图书的目录来对书进行总结，但我觉得那样太简单，我更喜欢跳出目录，从书的内容里找到另一种逻辑上的关联。

而如何坚持每天写作，其实和如何坚持早起、如何坚持减肥（或运动）、如何坚持读书等等各种需要付出时间精力的长期活动一样，最最重要的是，扪心自问，你为什么这么做？自从我写了几篇学英语的文章以后，就不停有小伙伴咨询我如何学好英语，我会反问他们一个问题：你为什么要学英语？只有找到一个你真心为之感到激动的理由，你才知道应该怎么做，做什么，并且有动力去做一切有助于实现目标的事情。写作也是这样，如果说写作的理由是看到别人写，很受欢迎，我觉得我也能写，那写了几篇以后就很容易懈怠。哪怕是树立一个只有数字的目标，比如说，每天1000字，写100篇。也会比前面的那个理由坚持的更久，走的更远。

近期番茄钟很流行，它通过强制性的25分钟（也可以调整）集中做某一件事提高我们的效率。我也有一个，但既不是番茄状，也不是厨房钟状，是一个体态优美的沙漏。白色的沙粒从一端流向另一端，恰好是30分钟，正好可以作为一个番茄钟使用。当反转沙漏，沙子开始匀速流淌，不是钟表的滴答声，而是“沙……”，声音很小，很轻柔，给我一种宁静感，就像一些教人专注的app里的背景噪声。我写作（或读书）时，中途也会忍不住想溜号，先看沙子有没有走完，而基本上每次看都还有一些，我就会很感慨——原来我坐在这里还没有30分钟啊，就能又静下心来继续。写作对于训练我集中精神确实很有帮助。

你每天写作吗？或者你有什么每天都在坚持做的事情吗？你这么做的原因是什么？

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