节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-09-17
难易度:Medium
关键字:preference, assignment, procrastination, abandon
(Music).
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
Thank you for joining us for the second day of our lesson called The Psychology
of To-Do Lists.
So far we've talked about how to-do lists can be very helpful but sometimes
maybe they're not so helpful.
With each to-do list, there might be some limitations.
There might be a problem.
And of course we have some solutions that we will continue learning about in
today's lesson.
Now if you have a to-do list, often you will have some difficult tasks and maybe
some easier ones.
Which ones do you usually do first, the difficult ones or the easy ones?
Carolyn?
Well, I usually try to do the easier ones or the shorter ones first, but it also
depends on the amount of time I have available.
So if I only have a short amount of time, I'll try to do as many easy tasks as I
can.
But if I have a long amount of time or a lot of time, then I might go ahead and
try to do one of the longer or harder tasks and get it done.
Yeah. You feel better getting a more difficult task finished.
That is for sure.
If I have a difficult task, I might try to do a little bit of it, and then take
a break and do an easy task.
Well, what about you?
Right now it's time for us to get started with today's lesson The Psychology of
To-Do Lists.
(Music).
The Psychology of To-Do Lists.
Problem: Most people have a preference for short, easy tasks.
But this can lead to the easy jobs getting checked off while long ones remain.
Solution: Divide long assignments into smaller parts.
For example, don't write Plan trip to Japan; write Check plane-ticket prices
online.
This makes long tasks seem easier.
You can also use "fun" tasks as rewards when you finish difficult ones.
Problem: Writing the list itself can be a form of procrastination.
It gives you a sense of accomplishment - without doing any real work.
(Music).
All right.
So with each problem we have a solution.
And we're going to get to the solution for this problem after our break.
But for now let's go back to the beginning of this lesson.
We read about a problem.
Most people have a preference for short, easy tasks.
Carolyn, do you find that to be true?
I think that's pretty true.
A lot of people do have a preference for short or easy tasks.
And that is a word from the Word Bank: preference.
Now if you have a preference, then that is a thing that you prefer or something
that you like to do more than something else.
That's right.
You have a preference for something.
Of course I have a preference to do easier things.
Nobody usually has a preference to do more difficult things.
Of course life is full of things that we need to do, and some of them are
difficult.
Now a preference, well, you can use this in other ways.
You need to go to dinner tonight.
Do you have a preference for steak or for salmon?
What will you choose?
What is your preference?
That's right.
So you could have a preference for food, a... a preference for things that you
like to do.
Maybe you have a preference for certain sports.
You could watch the basketball game or the baseball game.
What is your preference?
Which one do you want to watch more?
And Carolyn used a word earlier, the word "prefer." This is the verb form.
P-R-E-F-E-R.
I prefer the easier tasks.
But let's continue.
But this can lead to the easy jobs getting checked off while the long ones
remain.
OK. So that can be a problem.
You just focus on the easy tasks, and then you just forget about the more
difficult tasks.
I think we talked about that a little bit in our introduction today.
Yes. But don't worry.
There is a solution right here.
Divide long assignments into smaller parts.
And we have a word from the Word Bank, the word "assignment." Now an assignment
is a task or a job that you are given to do.
So an assignment could be homework at school or a project at work.
All right.
So what about your homework assignment?
Are you finished working on your assignment?
It's something that your teacher assigns for you to do.
Or if you're working in a company or at a job, then your boss will assign you to
do certain tasks.
Some of them are difficult; some of them are easier.
So you can divide your long assignments or maybe your more difficult assignments
into smaller parts.
That's right.
So for example, don't write Plan trip to Japan.
Oh, that is a lot to do.
Write Check plane-ticket prices online.
Well, that does seem a lot simpler.
That's right.
It breaks up your bigger assignments into smaller parts.
So this makes long tasks seem easier.
We read here:
You can also use "fun" tasks as rewards when you finish difficult ones.
All right.
So here we see the word "fun," and it's kind in quotes here.
So maybe a task is not really that fun, but it's easier than other ones.
So it might be kind of fun compared to the more difficult ones.
And they are kind of rewarding.
I would also put the word "rewards" in quotes as well.
But it might be that it is an actual fun task.
Maybe one of the things to do on your list is write your friend a birthday card.
And that would be very fun, but first you must finish your math or English
assignment.
Once you get that done, then you can write the card.
OK. So so far we have seen one problem and one solution.
Now here's another problem.
Writing the list itself can be a form of procrastination.
Yes. I think many people understand this.
Let's look at that word "procrastination." It's a big word.
It means that you are putting off your work until another time, sometime in the
future.
You don't want to do it now; you'll do it later.
That's right.
So many times I know I tend to have a problem with procrastination.
I will know that I need to be doing something right now.
But oh, that task is too difficult, it will take too much time.
I'll just do it later.
But then later comes, and I have to do it right away.
Oh, it can make you very nervous, so you don't want to get into the habit of
procrastination.
That's right.
Well, there's a famous phrase that says: Why put off until tomorrow what you can
do today?
But procrastinators like to turn it around.
They say: Why do today what you can do tomorrow?
However, I think it is very important.
I think Carolyn would agree we should try to get things done as fast as
possible.
Don't procrastinate.
Well, to-do lists can be a form of procrastination because writing it gives you
a sense of accomplishment - without doing any real work.
And that can be a problem because you feel like you've done so much just writing
the list.
But you haven't done any real work.
Well, let's talk about that phrase: real work.
What is real work at the office?
Well, for me, it requires some creativity.
It's not just mind list work.
For me, real work is kind of... it involves creativity of some kind.
But what about you?
What is real work for you?
Well, you might have a task that you need to get done.
That would be your real work.
But instead, you are checking your Facebook.
That is not real work.
That is procrastination.
Yes, it certainly is.
Well, it's time for us not to wait any longer.
Let's continue learning something with Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.