Clear guide on how to stop being lazy outlines the causes, the simple psychology and strategies to get going again!
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Basically, laziness is something that occurs in all cultures (and is uniformly condemned everywhere). In ancient India, laziness was considered tamas, meaning unclean and bad. In Christianity, indolence is one of the seven deadly sins. And in ancient China, it was also condemned. So the question arises: how to stop being lazy? Go through our strategies below to find the ones that work best for you.
Laziness is in itself actually not a bad thing. Many animals are very lazy most of the time. That’s okay, nature intended it that way. If you are lazy, you save energy. This is very important in the animal kingdom. Because those who have too little energy cannot defend their territory and will therefore massively reduce their chances of reproduction. We humans are also lazy sometimes. That’s not bad either.
Ok, so laziness isn’t all that bad. Still, you actually have things you need to do … so you can’t be lazy all the time!
How to stop being lazy: first steps
First of all, it is important to correctly classify laziness: laziness is not tiredness that comes from overexertion. There are people who say of themselves that they are lazy while they do a lot more than others. The first step would be to honestly and clearly determine whether and how sluggish you really are before you no longer want to be lazy.
What to do if you are lazy: For example, if you sit for hours on the sofa eating chips and watching TV, then take walks. If you are permanently idle, create a schedule. If that doesn’t help either, you can also consult a doctor to see if you are actually depressed (depression is more serious than laziness, and should be treated as soon as it is diagnosed).
Reasons that cause laziness
First you should look at the reasons that lead to laziness. Because only when I know why I am lazy can I answer the question, what can I do about laziness.
PERSONAL REASONS
Often it is personal reasons that lead to laziness. Sure, everyone is lazy and molds a whole Sunday on the sofa. As I said, that’s ok. Wes is less good when laziness becomes a problem. Then it can be, for example, that you no longer do your work correctly. That leads to internal stress. Not to forget the stress with the employer, sooner or later it will most certainly occur if you are lazy at work.
Personal reasons for laziness can be:
- Revolt against rules
- There is a lack of knowledge to complete a task
- You want to do everything perfectly, but you’re afraid you won’t make it and then you don’t even start
- Hardly any frustration tolerance
- Bad time management: You just don’t have time to do the important things because you get lost in a thousand little things
- No priorities set: You don’t even know what to do next – because you haven’t sorted your tasks according to priorities
- Fear of failure: If you don’t start, you can’t fail. Then you don’t embarrass yourself either
These are all legitimate reasons. At least one could think so. Basically there are no real obstacles. Here the saying applies: Nothing good happens unless you do it.
If you don’t even start, you won’t achieve anything. Put nothing in, you’ll get nothing out. So it is important to remove the inner blockages and clear the way to success. Because it is an incredibly invigorating feeling to have achieved something. And even if it may not look like a heroic act, getting something done creates a feeling of inner satisfaction. When you’ve done this a few times, a flywheel will start moving. This will give you more energy in the fight against laziness next time. Then it is easier to do something about laziness.
EXTERNAL REASONS FOR LAZINESS
What can I do about laziness? There is another aspect to this! In addition to personal reasons for laziness, some external reasons can also play a role. Our own environment is not always structured in such a way that we can optimally get into a workflow. So it’s not just about what you can do against laziness, but also about how you can best position your environment against laziness. For this it is important to look at the external reasons for laziness.
External reasons for laziness:
- No suitable work material
- No praise and no recognition for work done
- Bad mood in the office / home
- Nagging people around you who pull you down and put you in a no-go mood
- Relationship dynamics between you and people in your environment
There are certainly many other external reasons. Look around carefully in your environment, then you will definitely notice something.
How to stop being lazy: the strategies
What you can do about laziness depends on whether you are aiming for personal or external reasons.
You can’t get personal reasons out of the way so quickly. Changing something in yourself is usually difficult. Which is not to say that it is impossible. But on the contrary. But it takes a lot of time and you have to stay on the ball continuously.
Eliminating external reasons for laziness is usually a little easier. A small example: I hate vacuuming. What I particularly dislike about it, however, are any objects that I have to vacuum around. The best example are chair legs. Really annoying. If I identify the chair legs as an external reason preventing me from vacuuming, then the solution is simple. Put the chairs up, done.
In the working world, of course, things look a little different. But even here some reasons can be eliminated relatively easily. For example, if you have work colleagues who always talk badly, then just spend your lunch break with other people.
I hope I was able to give you some pointers on what to do about laziness. What can I do about laziness – You can always ask yourself that when you are lazy again and actually want to do something. The question itself will get you moving. And exercise is exactly what drives laziness away.
Typical examples: 1
What to do about laziness: If you simply can’t get yourself up to anything, you should straighten the schedule and accept fewer duties. If you are too lazy for small duties, you should consciously do lighter duties first in order to gain strength for the more difficult ones. A great motivational aid: Small rewards when you’ve made it.
If the dishes are stacked up, make an appointment. If the apartment has to be cleaned again (and if you are often too lazy to do so) you can look again to rectify the schedule. And get up.
Typical examples: 2
If you have no drive and don’t want to be lazy anymore, you should consciously look for something that appeals to you and gets you out of the house: a club, dance course, book club, VHS – the possibilities are endless. If you keep pushing certain work in front of you, you can use calendar entries as a reminder.
Important in everything: no self-condemnation! There may be a great inclination to relapse into laziness like a frying pan with a certain amount of lust. This does not reduce laziness (but can cause bruises). Therefore it is always better to start with small steps and gradually increase.
How to stop being lazy: the optimal solution
The very best solution to reducing laziness is to live life the way it should be. Successful and happy people do not ask themselves: what to do if you are lazy? They are happy because they do what suits them. And that is the silver bullet out of laziness.
Because if you do what you really like and what suits you (you could say: if you follow your destiny), then there is no longer any room for laziness. Because in the end, laziness is also that: A signal that something is missing in your own life, for example meaningfulness.
Genevieve Dumas is a design, fashion, food and style writer who has worked on major magazines and mastheads in the United States and Europe.
