樂，學中文、教中文。/Enjoy learning &Teaching Chinese

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170925-the-surprising-tricks-to-help-you-focus-at-work

By Caroline Williams卡洛琳·威廉姆斯

25 September 2017

白日夢

這似乎違反直覺，但當你難以集中精力時，讓思維開個小差或許是最好的應對方式之一。越來越多的心理學家發現，我們會花很多時間做白日夢——按照某些指標來看，這種活動的時間占比甚至高達50%。正因如此，一些心理學家認為心不在焉並不算是一種故障，而是説明人腦正常運作的整個體系的一個關鍵組成部分。

Zone out

It might seem counter-intuitive, but allowing your mind to wander may be one of the best approaches if you are struggling to focus. There is a growing realisation among psychologists that we spend an awful lot of time daydreaming – almost 50% of the time by some measures. This has led some psychologists to suggest that mind wandering is not so much a glitch, but rather a key part of the system itself that can help our brains function.

研究大腦可以幫助我們明白一件事情：我們的注意力之所以渙散，都是有正當理由的。想要集中注意力，就需要用到包括額皮質在內的一片大腦區域網路，那裡負責抵抗干擾，控制我們的自然衝動，阻止我們去做一些更有趣的事情。保證這片網路的正常運轉所需的能量，高於我們漫無目的思考時所啟動的大腦區域消耗的能量總和。一天之中，我們難免會有精疲力竭的時候，每到此時就會心不在焉。

Looking at the brain itself can help to reveal that our focus wanes for a good reason. Concentration requires a network of brain regions including the frontal cortex, which is responsible for resisting distractions and controlling our natural impulse to do something more fun. Keeping this network functioning requires more energy than the group of brain regions that are active when we are thinking about nothing in particular. Inevitably, at some point during the day, we run out of steam and that’s when mind wandering kicks in.

既然不可避免，何不專門為此安排一段時間呢？哈佛大學心理學家保羅·塞裡（Paul Seli）曾經專門區分過故意的心不在焉與意外的心不在焉。他表示，只有意外的心不在焉才對我們手頭的任務有害。塞裡表示，在知道白日夢不會影響自己的情況下主動這麼做的人——例如做一些不動腦筋的行政工作——所受的影響低於那些無意間心不在焉的人。

So if it’s going to happen, then why not schedule it at a convenient time? Paul Seli, a psychologist at Harvard University, has distinguished between deliberate and accidental mind wandering, and says that only the accidental kind is bad for getting stuff done. People who slot in their daydreaming when they know that it won’t matter – when doing mindless admin, for example, suffer less than those whose minds skip off without their say-so, says Seli.

"如果任務很簡單，有意識地思維渙散可能不會對你的表現產生影響。但必須要給人們提供從渙散的思維中獲益的機會，例如解決問題或制定計劃。"他說。

“If the task is easy, intentionally mind wandering will likely not result in performance costs, but it should afford people the opportunity to reap the benefits of mind wandering, such as problem-solving and planning,” he says.

此舉表明，有意識地讓自己的思維時不時地擺脫束縛，或許是有好處的。

This suggests that deliberately letting your mind off the hook now and again might pay dividends.

"可以思考一些毫不相關的事情，比如解決腦海裡出現的其他問題，然後再回到手頭的任務上來。"塞裡說。

“Think about something unrelated, maybe problem-solve something else that you've got on your mind and then come back to your task,” suggests Seli.

允許自己思考工作之外的其他事情，不僅可以緩解思維渙散帶來的負罪感，還有助於從內心的待辦事項列表中劃掉幾項原本就會分散精力的事情。

Giving yourself permission to think about anything but work not only takes the guilt out of mind wandering, it also helps tick a few things off the mental to-do list that caused the mind wandering in the first place.