Getting started is one of the hardest parts of writing. You have this whole blank page in front of you, and you can put whatever you want on it. It still scars me, to be honest, till this day.

In this video, I’m gonna share a few quick tips for how to get over that hurdle and start writing an essay without being too stressed by it. These work for any kind of writing- not just academic essays but also personal essays, short stories, even writing a cover letter for a job application.

開始動筆是寫作中最難的部分之一。想象一下，在你面前有一張空白的紙，而你可以在上面寫下任何內容。說實話，直到今天我都還有點害怕這個過程。

本期將分享一些技巧，告訴你如何克服這個障礙來開始動筆，而不會感到壓力太大。這些技巧適用于任何類型的寫作，不僅包括學術論文，還包括個人散文，短篇故事甚至是求職信等等。

1. Don’t limit yourself upfront. 不要一開始就給自己設限

It’s really normal to have no idea of what you want to say when you first start to work on something. That’s totally fine. Instead of feeling nervous or anxious about this, just lean into it. Take some time and jot down anything and everything that you could think of that could possibly be related to the topic that you’re writing on. Don’t censor yourself or criticize any idea, no matter how small or how weird. Just make ton of notes.

開始寫東西時，不知道自己該寫些什么是很正常的。這都沒關系。與其為此而緊張或焦慮，不如直面它，投入一點。慢慢來，記下任何你能想到的、可能與你寫作主題有關的東西。不要壓抑自己或否定任何想法，無論它是多小或多荒誕。盡量記下更多的想法。

2. (Once you have done this) Think away from your desk.（做完上面這件事之后）離開書桌，放空思緒

It may be the case that you have a ton of ideas, and you make a lot of notes. But you also may not have any ideas. If this thing happens a lot, and you really feel stuck, get up from your desk and go do something else. Preferably something that is active but that doesn’t fully engage your mind, like going for a walk or cleaning your room. This may feel like “procrastination,” but it’s actually enormously helpful. When your body is moving, your mind will start moving too, especially because you’ll be putting a lot less pressure on yourself. Good ideas tend to come when we aren’t trying really hard to have good ideas, and let our mind wander and make connections that we maybe wouldn’t consciously think of. Then once you start to have some ideas, come back to your desk and jot down notes.

可能出現的情況是，也許你有很多想法，并做了很多筆記。也有可能毫無思路。如果這種事經常發生，而你真的覺得困難重重，那就離開你的書桌，先放一放，去做點別的事情。 最好是一些需要活動的，不太費腦的事情，比如散步或者打掃房間。這可能感覺像在“拖延”，但確實很有用。當你的身體在運動的時候，你的思維也開始活躍，特別是因為這樣你對自己的壓力就會小很多。好的點子往往是在我們不太刻意地去思索好的想法的時候產生的，讓我們放飛思緒，并建立起我們可能不會有意識地想到的聯系。然后，一旦你開始有一些想法，回到書桌旁把它寫下來。

3. Sleep on it. 放一放再說

After you’ve gotten some notes down, take a break! You may have been told that it’s important to “sleep on” a problem. This is good advice. Our minds do a lot of unconscious processing while we rest. Hence the stories about scientists, for example, who had great realizations while they are doing something totally unrelated. You can literally sleep on your essay (take a nap, or wait until the next day), or just go do another unrelated task. Let your brain do its work, and then come back to your notes with fresh eyes after some time has passed. You’ll likely then be able to figure out which ideas are the most interesting, and which fit together in unexpected ways.

記下一些想法后，休息一下！也許有人告訴過你，“有些重要的事情，可以放一放”。這個建議很好。休息時，我們的大腦會進行很多無意識的活動。比如，有些故事提到科學家會在做一些毫不相關的事情時產生了一些靈感。所以，你可以先把文章放到一邊（小睡一會兒，或者等到第二天），也可以去做一些其他事情。讓你的大腦運轉起來，然后再以全新的視角重溫你的筆記。這樣你就可以找出哪些想法最有趣，哪些想法是以意想不到的方式組合在一起的。

4. Write a bad draft.寫一篇糟糕的草稿

Finally, once you have done all of this, just sit down and write a really bad draft. And I mean it. Make it bad. Don’t try to edit as you write, and don’t think about whether it is good or not. Just to make it your goal to write an absolutely terrible draft and get the words done on paper. It’s so much harder to start writing when you’re putting pressure on yourself, so take that pressure off. All you have to do is write, nothing more. You’ll come back to revise later - that’s when you can worry about making it good. If you have too many expectations for your first draft, you’re likely to end up limiting yourself, and you are gonna miss out on discovering core new ideas. Plus, it will just be a lot harder to clear that hurdle of getting started.

最后，在你完成了所有這些之后，坐下來寫一個很糟糕的草稿。我是認真的，寫篇糟糕的草稿。寫的時候不要嘗試去修改，也不要去糾結它是好是壞。你的目標就是寫出一份相當糟糕的草稿，把它寫在紙上。當你給自己施加壓力時，開始下筆會尤其困難，所以要把這種壓力放下。你所要做的就是寫下來，僅此而已。后面你還會來修改，那時你就可以考慮如何把它寫好了。如果你對你的初稿期望過高，可能反倒會限制自己，從而錯過發現新思路的機會。而且，提筆寫作的心理障礙也會更難跨越。關于如何培訓寫作思路。

When I was younger, I had a really hard time getting started with writing. I used to procrastinate a lot. And it wasn’t that I was lazy; I just didn’t know how to start! But once I learned the things I’ve described here, getting started became much easier. Everything I’ve talked about here is something I still do and find helpful. One important thing to keep in mind, though, is that this process takes time- so start as early as you can.

我小的時候，開始寫作也非常困難，總是有點“拖延癥”。并非因為懶，而是我根本不知道該從何下手！但是，當我掌握了我在此談到的這些技巧之后，開始動筆就變得容易多了。我在這里談到的每件事，我現在仍然在做，感覺確實受益良多。但要記住的是，這個過程需要時間——所以盡可能早開始，這很重要。