Are you familiar? A man comes to work. And ignoring the assigned tasks for the day, he scrolls through his VKontakte feed, checks his email, constantly drinks tea and chats with colleagues. Or when he gets home in the evening, he lies down on the sofa, turns on the TV and clicks through the channels. And so on day after day... If you have the same problem, then it’s time to think about how to deal with laziness. But if you are not even able to read this article to the end, then your diagnosis is irreversible. And there is no need to continue reading. Let's look at the common reasons why people are lazy and put off their tasks for later. And how to succeed in business and be productive throughout the day. First, let's determine the root cause of laziness, and then find out how to deal with it.
What makes people lazy?
Imagine: Do you feel lazy when you do what you love?
For example, gamers who play their favorite game all day and night. But at the same time they do not feel tired, they are cheerful and energetic. Here is one of the famous quotes from psychologist and personal development coach Tony Robbins:
Quote: “There are no lazy people. There are goals that are not inspiring.”
No one was born lazy, people just don't know how to use their potential and how to properly direct their energy. Therefore, we need to understand and learn to direct our energy to achieve the desired goals. Why do you go to work? To get material benefits, realize yourself in life, build a successful career, etc.
But, if you go to work according to the principle “the day has passed and okay.” It’s worth thinking radically and changing your field of activity. Listen to yourself, what you want to do, what inspires you, and how you can benefit materially from it.
Let's return again to our gamers. Many of them run their own video channels on YouTube and earn decent money. Any office employee would envy their income level. And they get high from the process of their activity and at the same time receive material benefits.
Or people who like to grow vegetables on the plot. Have you met anyone like this? Many of them quit their jobs and open small agribusinesses, achieving great success. And all because they are doing what they love.
But what to do if you like your job, but it’s not clear why, laziness torments you throughout the day. There are several reasons.
How to deal with laziness: practical advice
Did you recognize your native laziness in the descriptions? Great, now it will be easier for you to deal with her.
Assess the scale of destruction
Before you start work, you need to look at your life and soberly assess the state of affairs. If you work or study, do housework, enjoy taking care of yourself and your loved ones, and laziness visits you in rare moments of physical fatigue - congratulations, everything is fine with you, and there is no need to worry too much.
Another thing is when you lie on the couch all day long, you don’t even have the strength to cook yourself something to eat, and your life is in complete decline. This state is called apathy, and it arises as a result of a crisis in the motivational sphere of the individual. It can be very difficult to get out of it, since the changes already affect the biochemistry of the brain. It is useless to scold yourself for laziness if the body simply does not have enough energy to perform everyday routine tasks.
Laziness is the unwillingness to do something when you have the strength to do it. If you have no strength for anything, this is already apathy or even depression.
The good news is that the methods described in the article will help at any stage, it’s just that the speed at which you get results will vary. Let's just talk about this in more detail.
Take things gradually
You should never try to overcome laziness at once. Working on your habits is more of a marathon than a sprint. You need to spend your energy carefully, not rush into the embrasure, otherwise you will fall back and be even more disappointed in yourself.
Start with small victories over yourself. If, for example, you have always been too lazy to drink 1.5 liters of water a day, promise yourself that now you will do it religiously. The action is elementary, but it still reinforces self-confidence and trains willpower. Then you can move on to more serious tasks. Start playing sports, put your affairs in order, do a general cleaning of the house, then repairs, and then world domination is not far away.
Get rid of the ballast of things put off “for later”
It is simply necessary to do this, otherwise all your efforts will be in vain. Every unfulfilled but urgent task takes a lot of energy - much more than is required to complete it.
If you have been planning a trip to the dentist or a spring cleaning on your balcony for a long time, now is the time to do it. You will be surprised how much easier it will literally become for you to breathe, and you will feel a surge of strength to complete new tasks.
Use the carrot and stick method
Motivation is one of the most important personal components that determine a person’s success in life. When performing some action, a person must answer himself why he is doing it.
Ask yourself this question every time performing a task causes internal resistance and activates laziness. The answer to it should be colorful, detailed, and figurative.
For example, you need to write a thesis - the deadlines are already running out, and the horse has not yet rolled around. Imagine how the dean hands you a document about graduation from the university, everyone around you claps and congratulates you. Feel the taste of freedom opening before you.
If such pictures do not motivate you well, you can do the opposite. Imagine that you didn’t write your thesis, your supervisor scolded you for being careless and left you for the second year, and now the same ordeal awaits you, only extended over time. A terrible picture.
As practice shows, the stick method turns out to be more effective for most people, but you need to gradually abandon it in favor of the carrot - this way life will become more pleasant and conscious.
Set realistic goals
An inflated level of aspirations is laziness’s best friend. The brain allocates energy only to those tasks that it considers achievable, and it doesn’t even know how to approach fruitless fantasies.
Adequately evaluate your current self and, based on this, set realistic goals. Imagine a janitor who, during breaks between work, dreams of becoming president. Sooner or later, he will become unbearably lazy to sweep the streets, and the motivation for change will never appear.
Another example: a girl dreams of losing weight, goes on a diet and goes to the gym. But the intermediate results, obtained with sweat and blood, do not please her at all. She has already painted herself the image of a miniature nymph weighing 45 kg, and everything that falls short of this bar seems insignificant. Needless to say, very soon the poor thing will abandon her studies and return to her favorite buns.
Learn to plan
Do you know what distinguishes absolutely all successful people? That's right - the ability to plan competently. There are only 24 hours in a day, and in order to manage everything, you need to be able to manage them effectively.
The first thing you need to do is set your priorities. Stephen Covey, in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” advises ranking all your tasks according to their importance and urgency—let the most important and urgent be at the top of the list—and then in descending order.
Then you need to allocate time to complete each task. Psychologists advise taking one week as a time unit for planning - the period is not too short, but also not extended in time. Write down all your tasks in a weekly planner, taking into account your normal daily routine, and start doing them. At first it will be difficult for you; your brain will begin to resist and come up with various tricks to maintain the status quo.
Give yourself two weeks to get used to it. During this period, you need to strictly follow the plan, no matter how difficult it is. In half a month you will get used to it and get into the right rhythm, and life according to the schedule will not seem such torture to you.
Consider your biorhythms
We are all different - some are most productive in the morning, some in the evening, and some are inspired to work only at night. In addition to daily biorhythms, there are also biorhythms of productive attention.
Observe yourself - how much time usually passes from the start of work to the moment of loss of concentration and mental fatigue. If this value is constant, independent of any external reasons, then this is the rhythm of your brain tone, and you need to take it into account.
Many adults are characterized by the so-called childish or sprint type of attention - a very short-term focus on one task, a constant need for switching and distractions. If you are one of them, do not force yourself with long and tedious work. Divide the distance into several small segments and cover them in short runs. This way you will increase your performance significantly.
Form healthy habits
Have you noticed that things that are fixed in our brain in the form of habits never cause laziness? And all because they are brought to automaticity and do not require special energy costs.
I had a friend whose parents did not teach him to brush his teeth when he was a child. He complained all the time that he was too lazy to do it. For me, as for most people, this seems crazy - how can one be lazy to perform such a simple and ordinary action. And all because I developed a habit from an early age, but he did not.
Most habits are formed spontaneously and, unfortunately, are destructive. But you can form them consciously through repeated repetitions. At first the process will be difficult and creaking, but then it will become easier and easier.
Not long ago, scientists discovered that our brain is malleable, like plasticine, and is capable of changing throughout life. This property is called neuroplasticity and is used in the neurosophy brain control system that is popular today. The video clearly shows the process of formation of neural chains during the consolidation of a new habit.
So the best way to overcome reluctance to do something is to turn this action into a habit.
Listen to your laziness
Laziness is not always something bad and harmful. It also has its own specific function, otherwise evolution would have gotten rid of this mechanism. One insightful psychologist rightly noted that laziness is a psychological defense against unnecessary activity. Another question is why your brain mistakes this or that activity for unnecessary activity.
Maybe you tend to spend your internal resources irrationally, and your body signals you about this by turning on an energy-saving mode? Make a list of the most unpleasant tasks for you and think about whether they can be delegated to someone for your own benefit.
Let me give you an example. You really don’t like washing windows and every time you force yourself to do it with great difficulty. The whole procedure takes a whole day, and then you feel like a squeezed lemon. For this day, at your main job you could earn 2,000 rubles, while the service of washing windows in a cleaning company costs 1,000 rubles. Obviously, it will be more profitable for you to work overtime and entrust washing the windows to professionals - this way you will not only save energy, but also put a thousand rubles in your pocket.
Avoid the company of lazy people
Laziness is an incredibly contagious thing. This virus is very easy to catch, but it can be difficult to get rid of. The trick is that when you are in the company of lazy people, laziness begins to seem something natural and self-evident. It seems like only yesterday you were ashamed of the mountain of unwashed dishes in the sink, but today, when you see the same ones at your friend’s, you experience an insidious sense of relief.
Try to surround yourself with people who are strong-willed, purposeful, and ambitious. Their example will constantly motivate you and force you to work on yourself. Even if during the communication process you experience a little stress, feeling the difference is not in your favor, the faster you can become better and catch up to their level.
Feeling tired and lacking energy
Lack of sleep, feeling tired, vitality running low. This is the most common sign why people are lazy.
In this case, you need to think about your daily routine and lifestyle. Perhaps you go to bed late, watching a useless series late into the night or surfing the Internet. Smoking, abusing alcohol, eating poorly and leading a sedentary lifestyle. Such actions cause feelings of laziness even more.
What about people who have achieved great achievements in life? It's simple, they eat right, go to the gym and maintain a proper daily routine. They have developed self-discipline. Such people have a high level of energy that they have enough strength for work, housework and favorite hobbies.
So how can you increase your energy levels? We'll look at this a little later. Now let's move on to the 2nd point of the reason why we are lazy.
One minute rule
This rule will help those who find it difficult to perform the same type of actions.
For example, attend courses or sports training. Based on the Japanese kaizen method (or the one-minute rule), you need to do something every day for one minute. In this case, you will not feel tension, but only joy and pleasure from what you have accomplished. Short classes will inspire you, help you believe in yourself and motivate you to greater achievements. Gradually, you need to increase the time until you reach the required duration.
Of course, this method is suitable only for those who do not seek quick results, but want to eradicate the very cause of laziness.
Lack of motivation
Comfort zone
Quote from Wikipedia: “A comfort zone is an area of living space in which a person feels confident and safe.”
Our brain is programmed to consume as little energy as possible. He always tries to create a comfort zone for himself. Thus, distancing you from self-realization and success. If you have already achieved results in life. And they created a comfort zone around themselves. Then the motivation to move on disappears. Why bother if everything is fine?
Unattainable Goals
Somewhere inside us there are cherished desires. Go on vacation to other countries or improve living conditions, etc. But these goals seem unattainable.
Or, for example, a person got a job in a new company that he likes. But it is impossible to climb the career ladder. All top positions are occupied by experienced professionals, who will be difficult to promote.
In such cases, the desire to act and make attempts to realize your desires disappears. Motivation disappears.
Fear of failure
Such fears completely discourage motivation. But those who are not afraid to make mistakes succeed. Let's take successful businessmen as an example. Naturally, they could burn out and make mistakes at the start. But they were not afraid to take a risk and open their own business. The fear of failure is alien to them and that is why they earn decent money.
How to get rid of laziness - right here and now:
- Take a shower. There are two reasons: First: to wash away toxins from the largest organ of our body - from the skin and to give way to toxins that are removed by the pores of the skin. And the second reason is to warm up your whole self, which will give good blood flow.
- Drink two cups of water. Flush out toxins and jumpstart your body. Water will make your blood more fluid, and you will even start thinking faster.
- If you have a sedentary job. Place a firm chair and try to sit with your back straight. Do not cross your legs and arms, do not squeeze veins and capillaries.
- Meditation is 5 - 30 minutes, for example, but you can just sit quietly in silence and think about the goal, motivation, what is happening now, and what is truly Important. Meditation is a very good way to make yourself comfortable with the situation and understand what to do next.
- Do finger exercises. Synchronize the hemispheres of the brain, which helps to concentrate.
- There are many more exercises for example:
I hope my experience will help you become the creator of your goal, and you now know, “How to get rid of laziness?” Return to this post if laziness creeps up on you again.
NEW EXPERIENCE
Another way to motivate yourself is to gain some new experience. For example, go on an adventure. Any budget will allow you to create some new experience for yourself.
It doesn't have to be an exotic trip to Hawaii or a tourist trip to Madrid; sometimes you can get even more pleasure from a holiday in the countryside.
The main thing is to abstract yourself from everyday life: forget about the beds and construction, take your favorite book and lie in a haystack for half a day, contemplating the blue sky.
Is it raining or snowing and you are in the city? It's okay too. Give yourself a real day off, which will be a real reboot for your body. Subsequently, it will be easier for you to motivate yourself to succeed.
When I lived in Texas, one of my favorite ways to relax was to visit a bookstore. I intuitively selected about 20 books, took a huge cup of latte with oatmeal cookies and immersed myself for 5-6 hours in a variety of genres - from fiction and educational literature to healthy eating recipes and fashion magazines.
And then I loved going to the movies. Such days, 1-2 times a month, gave me the opportunity to break away from the hustle and bustle of my professional life and immerse myself in another world.
Another good way to spice yourself up is to pretend to be a tourist in your city. Go to a museum, visit a theater, an exhibition, a new trendy restaurant.
The rule “think less - do more”
This rule applies to long-term goals or projects that we often put off. We think about and work through all possible scenarios, risks, results, even the opinions of others at every stage.
Of course, with this approach, laziness and fear will tightly tighten their chains around you, and you are unlikely to budge. Sometimes you just have to do it. Think through the next step and carry it out, and then analyze the result. You may be a genius, but no one will know about it if you don't do anything.
Productive morning rule
Often in our professional activities we need to do small, but uninteresting or unpleasant things. Most often they are put off until later, sometimes completely forgotten and receive a reprimand from management. Such things are not fun, but the consequences of not doing them can cause more serious problems.
How to overcome laziness in this case? It is obvious that such matters need to be taken and dealt with. To make this as flexible as possible for yourself, set aside morning hours for such tasks. Especially if the task is mechanical in nature, for example, organizing documentation according to a certain criterion.
In the morning, the brain performs such tasks easier and faster. Plus, after successfully completing a boring task, you'll feel extra energized and excited to tackle other tasks.
Laziness amid a creative crisis
Finally, this is possible. There are plenty of reasons for creative crisis. Sometimes it occurs against the background of age-related crises. Sometimes - due to too high intellectual load. Practice shows that creative laziness can only be overcome if you switch to solving other problems.
If you are unable to achieve career growth, you should focus your energy on strengthening your family. When you are truly a representative of a creative profession, you need new experience. To do this, try to meet new interesting people, visit hitherto unknown places, read literature that is unusual for you, and watch films that are unusual for you. Most often, a change of conditions helps to get out of a creative crisis, although not immediately.
