No matter how hard we try, we all have periods of time when we feel like every thing we do is a struggle. If you find that you are taking more days than required to accomplishing something, that’s a warning sign. If you are habitually lazy, that can lead you down a winding path that only ends in sadness and disappointment. What can you do to fight back against laziness? Turning around a lazy lifestyle is actually fairly easy. You just need the right motivations and some helpful hints to get you back on the right path.
Ask Yourself Why
The most important thing you can do to start overcoming laziness is to ask yourself why. Finding out the root cause of your laziness can be exactly what you need to start making positive changes and become more energized. Think about the things you want to do like improving your career, relationships or health and start by mentally accepting you need to make a change. In fact, studies have shown that nearly 80 percent of all New Year’s resolutions fail. Let that be a reminder that laziness is all in your mind.
Start Small
If you try too hard and too fast to turn around your lazy ways, there is a good chance you will fail altogether. Instead, start small. Do you feel especially lazy when it comes to exercising? Start going for a five to then minute walks. That’s simple, easy and more than manageable time-wise. Do you lack motivation when it comes to cleaning up your house or apartment? Pick one room and clean it up or do the dishes for five minutes in the kitchen. If you try and make your goals too big or too complicated, your chances of failing increase too. Nor should you expect everything to be perfect or go smoothly at first. Remember, this is all about starting small and working on changing your mindset.
Start in the morning
Your early morning behavior is likely to set the mood for the rest of your day. Start your day by doing one task or one thing that matters to you. Perhaps it is that early morning walk or spending a few extra minutes enjoying breakfast. Whatever it is, it should be something that you do not normally do but you wish you did.
The fact is that you will not achieve anything by doing unproductive things (like checking Facebook) first thing in the morning. Start you day badly, and it will end badly too. If you start your day with a mindset that encourages action, the rest of the day will follow.
Develop a Plan
You can’t combat laziness with just thoughts. You need to have a plan in hand. Start laying out a plan for how you accomplish what you need to achieve those goals and desires. Think through how much money, time, effort or help you will need from others to make these goals a reality. Having an action plan is one of the quickest methods to stop being lazy and start improving yourself. Having a plan will also give you something you can look back on and remember what it is you are trying to achieve.
When you feel you are getting lazy again, look back at your plan. This will help you get off the metaphorical sofa and stop feeling lazy.
Use the Pomodoro Technique
One of the most common aspects of feeling lazy is when you feel overwhelmed. If you have too much work, try the Pomodoro technique. Break up your day into focused work and breaks. Start working for 25 minutes and then break for five minutes. Do this as a cycle four times and then repeat. Eventually, this work method will help you focus your mind to work hard during the 25-minute “working” session, and the breaks will help give you a rest.
In fact, be lazy during the breaks. It’s totally okay as long as you work hard and concentrate when you are “on.” Allowing small breaks and a little bit of laziness can be exactly what you need to focus when the clock tells you it’s time to get back to work.
Practice Mindfulness
Another smart way to train your mind away from laziness is to practice being mindful. In fact, being mindful may even be considered something of a “cure” for laziness. Mindfulness provides an opportunity to identify when you are being lazy, procrastinating or simply not making any effort to improve yourself. As you start being mindful and believing in it as an ideal, laziness can go right out the window.
Start living in the moment, enjoy what you have and don’t watch the world fly by while sitting on your sofa flipping through channels. Mindfulness will teach you that the former is a much better choice than the latter.
Keep Going No Matter What
The most difficult part is to persevere when things get tough. It is easy to slide back into old habits when things get hard. When those moments happen, you have a choice to accept that things are hard and move on or decide that things are too hard and give up. In those moments, remember your goals, your plans and do not lose sight of what you want to accomplish. The key is, do not give up.
There is no one-size-fits-all for stopping laziness at its core. What works for you may not work for others. The good news is that there are so many different techniques and ways to train your mind to get out of your lazy funk. The only thing that is required of you right now is get moving.