Instructions
Revisit your unfinished to-do list in your mind. Surely everyone has one of these. And there are almost certainly a number of reasons lined up against each one, which is why it ended up on this list. Choose one thing every day and see it through to completion. Bring it on by all means. Sweeping away all your excuses. Using willpower. Every completed task will be your personal victory over. Practice shows that those who have set out on this path cannot stop and continue to complete any work they have started. Laziness capitulates under such pressure.
Set realistic and specific goals and objectives for yourself. If the goal is obviously impossible (“I want to fly into space as a tourist”) or non-specific (“I want to lose a few kilograms”), then it is unlikely to be achieved. These items will remain on your unfinished to-do list. But if you set the goal more clearly - “Lose 2 kg in 1 month by following a fractional diet,” then it has a better chance of achieving. Follow your guidelines day after day and you will succeed. And your reward will be not only your reduced waistline, but also a feeling of satisfaction with yourself, because you have won another victory over laziness.
Do one thing at a time. In a rush to prove to yourself that you can cope with laziness, don’t try to embrace the immensity and redo a bunch of things in one sitting. Most likely, you will fail and, in addition, you risk falling into trouble, after which you will briefly give up and “give up” on everything in general. That is, you will allow laziness to ruin your life again. It is better to act step by step, defining specific boundaries of your actions.
Pamper yourself for every victory, no matter how small. It is very difficult to overcome laziness if only hard labor, hopeless everyday life, and the routine of endless tasks loom before you. Motivate yourself. Come up with rewards for stages of work or for completing the task as a whole - whichever is more convenient and enjoyable for you. Try to focus on the rewards, and not on what's in between. At the same time, enthusiasm increases significantly, and it does not seem so boring and dull.
Play out in your mind the situation of what could happen if you don’t do this or that thing. This move is called reverse motivation. That is, you stimulate yourself not with rewards, not with encouragement, but with troubles. Think about what negative consequences, setbacks, failures and inconveniences your inaction could result in. The worst thing is if your loved ones (family, friends, colleagues) suffer. And all because of your laziness. Usually this technique works flawlessly.
Don't know how to overcome laziness? You don't have time to do anything, and it depresses you? Don't think this problem is unique. Millions of people around the world struggle with laziness every day, and many of them win. If they succeed, then you will definitely succeed. Find tips on how to overcome laziness below.
Fatigue
Many people do not know that willpower is not limitless. A person gets up in the morning and makes grandiose plans for himself. And in the evening, summing up the day, he realizes that much has not been done. Common situation? For many, laziness is considered a great sin in Orthodoxy. How to overcome laziness? Don't think that you are sinning if you don't do some work. The fact is that fatigue is a normal state. You can imagine your powers in the form of a vessel. In the morning it is always full, and by the evening the strength and energy are practically used up, and the reservoir is empty. No matter how much you force yourself to work, nothing will work out for you. In this case, there is no need to engage in self-flagellation; you should rest well.
In life there is always a choice of what to do. If a person spends the whole day at a job he doesn’t like, and spends a lot of energy, then by the evening there is simply no time left for a hobby. Think about whether you should change your job? A person should do what really brings him pleasure. Well, what if you’re doing what you love, but after a week of productive work you just can’t find the strength to get off the couch? This means you are tired. Relax, go to the forest or take a walk in the park. Think of the weekend as a legitimate and rewarding vacation. Don't beat yourself up because you want to spend the evening with friends instead of thinking about your project. Without good rest, you will not be able to work productively.
Fear
Before you think about how to overcome laziness, you should find out its cause. Perhaps you cannot begin to implement your planned project because of fear. Maybe you want to start drawing? But you are afraid that nothing will work out. You need to understand why the feeling of uncertainty arises. Maybe when you were a child, someone told you that you were bad at drawing, and you decided to quit. Remember, every effect has a cause. And she needs to be found. Having done this, it will be easier for you to start doing something new.
A teenager? Teenagers are often unsure of their abilities. They think it’s stupid to go dancing because those around them will laugh. Parents should talk to their child and explain to him that the opinions of others should not influence his personal choice. Each person is individual.
You should sit down and think about the situation. Let's take public speaking as an example. For many people this is a lot of stress. It is difficult to sit down to write a speech, because this process will remind you of the speech. Think about what will happen if you put off writing a speech? That's right, you will have little time to prepare, and the text will turn out bad. What if you sit down and write? This will give you time to practice, give a test performance in front of your friends, and rehearse. When you logically understand the wrongness of postponing any project, it becomes easier to complete it.
Losing interest
Laziness doesn't happen without a reason. And you need to learn to understand yourself better. Many people wonder how to overcome laziness, instead of finding the roots of the problem. Perhaps you don't want to do the project because you're not interested. In this case, think about whether you need to do anything at all. There is a possibility that your desire to run was imposed on you by a friend. But in reality, you don't enjoy getting up and running early. It would be easier for you to go to yoga or go swimming. And if this is really the case, then don’t reproach yourself. There is no point in fulfilling other people's wishes. You have one life, learn to be selfish. Of course, everything is good in moderation. And if your husband asks you to cook borscht for him, and you are too lazy, this does not mean that you need to refuse your loved one. But if you are forced to do something unpleasant for a long time, find the strength to refuse.
Motivation
How to deal with laziness as an adult? Think about your motivation. It should be your own. For example, you want to learn a foreign language. Now think about why you want to do this? You may enjoy watching original films or communicating with foreigners. If this is so, then you won’t have to motivate yourself. The first success will fuel interest. What to do if motivation is lost? If you sincerely want something, then the desire to engage in a project cannot disappear. Inspiration leaves a person if his business ceases to be relevant specifically for him. And here you should re-read the previous paragraph about loss of interest. But sometimes you have to do things that you really don’t want to do. Try to find something positive in them. Are you sent on a business trip to an unfamiliar city, and you don’t want to go? Think about the possibilities that open up. You will see new places, meet interesting people. This can be a great motivation to go to a boring conference.
You just need to start
Very often people put things off because they do not know what to take the first step to implement their planned project. How can an adult deal with laziness in this case? You should describe your project step by step. For example, you want to renovate your room, but you’ve been putting it off for six months now. And why? Does it seem to you that repairs always go on endlessly and require a lot of money, effort and time? Now sit down and write everything down step by step. The plan will look something like this:
- draw a room design;
- find suitable furniture;
- look at the wallpaper;
- find curtains;
- calculate the total cash expense;
- start saving;
- peel off the wallpaper;
- take out the furniture;
- put up new wallpaper;
- order furniture;
- bring and assemble furniture;
- buy suitable decor;
- arrange and hang decorative elements.
When the action plan is clear, implementation no longer seems impossible. You will have a clear plan before your eyes, which may change, but the changes will not be very large. Yes, there is always force majeure. But it’s still easier to navigate unfamiliar terrain with a bad map than without one at all.
Physical activity
Many may find it strange to say that physical exercise improves cognitive abilities. Therefore, the answer to the question of what to do if you are lazy will be obvious. Join a gym. While doing physical exercises, a person stops thinking about routine problems, his mind clears and, accordingly, his well-being improves. At the same time, you will also improve your health and put your body in order. Physical activity will help you realize that nothing is impossible. Yesterday you couldn’t do the splits, but today you can do it with ease. This means that it will be just as easy to cope with other complex matters. Feeling your own strength will give you self-confidence.
Practice time management
Lack of organization is a problem for many people. It is precisely these individuals who are always in a hurry somewhere and do not have time to do anything, who are tormented by the question of what to do if they are too lazy to do something. In this case, simple practice will help. You should sit down and write down on a piece of paper all your affairs that are rushing through your head like a whirlwind. Everything from complex work projects to cooking dinner should be written down. Now you need to combine things into categories: work and home. List all projects by priority. The next step is to write the next action for each project. If you need to buy a gift for your husband, then the action will be to come up with a present. You can go further and write out the whole chain:
- come up with a gift;
- decide where to buy a present;
- go to the store.
And so - to every case. When you feel too lazy to do one project, just open your plan and see what you can do now. For example, if you want to relax, find a movie or book on the list that you have been wanting to read for a long time. This way you won't have the impression that you are wasting your life.
Set a deadline
Don't know how to overcome laziness and start taking action? This may occur because the time boundaries for the implementation of the project are very blurred. In this case, you should set your own deadline. This is the deadline by which the project must be completed. Even if that project is reading a book. In this case, when the time frame is not blurred, but outlined, it will become much easier to act. You won't feel like you have the whole year to read a book.
Promotion
The person loves praise and gifts very much. But no one gives adults gifts for cleaning the floors or for successfully completing useful training. How to overcome laziness? The psychologist’s advice is this: give yourself gifts for every action you perform. And it doesn't have to be something large. You can treat yourself to a delicious bun or a cup of aromatic coffee. As a pleasant bonus, there may even be a walk alone or a dedicated hour of free time to read or watch your favorite show. If you know that there is a reward for every completed action, then implementing projects will become a pleasant experience.
Anchors
One of the easiest ways to combat laziness is psychological programming. Rituals help a lot with this. For example, drink a cup of tea every time you start working. But you should avoid drinking tea for days on end. Drink a fragrant drink and immediately sit down to work. After some time, the body will understand the connection and after a cup of tea it will tune in to the desired wave. If you really like tea, then make a separation. Drink green tea before starting work and black tea throughout the day. This ritual can be replaced by any other. For example, before starting work, do a light warm-up or go to the window and stand there in silence.
Laziness is a lack of hard work, an absolute lack of readiness to do anything, to show even the slightest effort to action. From the position of science, laziness appears in the context of the volitional sphere of the individual, is perceived as its negative quality, lack of activity, motivation, reluctance to achieve goals, desire to relax and have time for rest. In contrast to the volitional characteristics of a person, there is lack of will, and the concept of laziness belongs to it.
Psychology interprets the concept of laziness not as a disease or unhealthy state, but as a symptom, a signal of a problem; it is a conflict between a person’s desire and his duty, the need to do.
Reasons for laziness
Psychology considers the causes of laziness in several directions: the living conditions in which a person finds himself; individual characteristics of the individual’s nervous system, upbringing and the person in society. Among the most common causes of laziness, several are described below.
Firstly, physical fatigue, when a person is tired physically, emotionally, intellectually. If the balance between rest and work is disturbed, the individual’s internal strength is depleted and the desire to do anything disappears. The body and nervous system refuses to continue working in this mode and signals the need for rest, manifesting itself through laziness.
The second problem, a symptom of which is the lazy state, is the loss of interest or lack thereof in the work that a person does or should do. The goal is not inspiring, lack of . What we need to do does not correspond to the values and interests that are significant to us at this time, a feeling of futility of what we are doing. The discrepancy between “I want” and “should” is something that exhausts you from the inside. A person is obliged to do something that does not seem necessary to him. “Whose purpose is this?” “Who needs this?” If you force yourself to act, resistance will naturally arise, most likely unconscious. If you force yourself to do something for a long time that is not interesting, laziness will definitely overcome.
The next reason for laziness is... Fear that it will not be possible to do this, that as a result of wasted energy, money, or some kind of effort, a person will not receive what is needed. Thus, laziness performs a protective function against those actions that a person is afraid to do and which intersect with some discomfort for him. He may not be aware of this fear; he will simply be too lazy to do it. An individual may be afraid of something new for him, something in which he has never had experience, he may be afraid of looking ridiculous, of starting a task and not finishing it, of not acquiring the dividends on which he hoped. There may also be fear through past negative experiences, a personal traumatic situation with sad consequences.
Another reason for laziness is homeostasis. Our body strives to preserve the state that is familiar to it. The body is full, it is not in danger, it is comfortable, it does not need to make any efforts to do something new for itself. This is how a person survives.
Also, causes may be the presence of neurological or mental illnesses, alcohol abuse, drug use, disturbances in the stimulation and production of the hormone dopamine.
When studying hyperactivity in children and attention deficit disorder, the causes of laziness can also be identified as behavioral problems in childhood and emotional trauma. Separately, I would like to highlight the reason for the occurrence of constant, chronic laziness - this is childhood and growing up without worries, without the right to make independent choices, without solving problems, when the mother decided and did everything for the child, did not allow him to be independent.
Analyzing all of the above, based on the causes of laziness, psychology identifies this phenomenon from several angles:
- a signal that the goals are not environmentally friendly - do not correspond to our desires and personal capabilities;
- a sign of the inconsistency of the task, when our tasks require a lot of effort, but the result is not worth it;
- lack of motivation, no desire and importance in;
- physical, emotional, intellectual inactivity, passivity.
How to overcome laziness?
There is a mythical opinion among people about how to overcome laziness and apathy: this is a magical psychological method, one right solution, a magical exercise that will help solve the problem. But there is no such unique remedy. There is an internal responsibility for everyone, how a person will be able to live or serve his life, and make decisions independently. And how to get rid of laziness in each individual case, the choice is up to the lazy person and his responsibility.
How can a person get rid of laziness in today's society? If you have decided to stop being lazy and are ready to take responsibility for all the events and changes that will happen in life, then it is worth analyzing the algorithm of your actions and options for working with laziness. First of all, it makes sense to study the causes of this condition.
I remembered the joke: “A man lies on his bed for days, his wife chops wood, cooks food, washes, cleans. She was very tired, she approached the man and angrily: “Why are you lying there all day, if only you could help with the housework!” “He calmly answers her like this: “What if there’s a war, and I’m tired.”
A common reason for a lazy state may be fatigue. In this option, there is nothing more effective than rest. The only condition for such a rest: do not consciously occupy yourself with anything at all, especially what is more tiring - watching TV, thinking about how to get rid of laziness along the way, analyzing the past day, week, month, criticizing yourself for inactivity and passivity, but just relax and rest. There is also a reliable way to overcome fatigue - active rest, changing activities to activities with pleasure. Ask yourself: “When did you rest so well that you felt full?” Here there is a need to think about a clear daily routine, the appropriate use of time, alternating physical activities with intellectual ones, and spending more often in fresh, clean air.
If the reason for lack of interest is loss of inspiration for the activity itself or its result, then the appropriate question would be: “Why should I do this?” The answer will be an explanation of what the symptom of laziness signals, what is valuable for a person, where to look for interest, how you can motivate yourself, inspire you to move towards the result of your assigned goal. If you force yourself to do uninteresting things, there will be no results. There will be internal resistance. If there is no satisfying clear answer to the question asked, then it is worth figuring out whose goal the person is realizing and who needs it. Maybe a lazy state protects a person from inappropriate waste of energy, time, and personal resources. In this option, it is recommended to look for personal motivation; it is worth using praise, promises of encouragement, fulfillment of desires, which is closer to the individual. It is important to see the pleasant and joyful in little things, to learn to enjoy minor victories more.
How to get rid of laziness caused by fear? Laziness here plays a positive function, protecting us from discomfort, unpleasant sensations and consequences. Fear is often unconscious, so understanding the cause of laziness is extremely difficult. It is advisable to track what is painful in such activities, what we are afraid of, what we would like to distance ourselves from. Ask yourself: “What is my internal benefit, what is my gain if I refuse to do this?” Here the best way out is to admit your fear, find what exactly we are afraid of, what needs to be done to overcome internal fears. In modern society, being lazy is a more acceptable form of behavior than being afraid. But fighting laziness will be useless and tiresome when its cause is fear. It is important to understand why you don’t trust yourself? What needs to be changed, tightened up, understood in order to renew your own determination, your capabilities, and increase confidence.
How can a person overcome laziness and apathy if they are a symptom of depression, unwillingness to change anything, a habitual way of existence, a legacy of upbringing or illness? Then it is recommended to contact the necessary specialists in the field of medicine for examination or treatment, work with a practicing psychologist, psychotherapist. J. Hollins wrote that depression, like apathy, has a useful message, that something vitally significant lies in a state of depression, and it is very important not to run away from it, but to plunge into this stay, feel and understand more about it, so that later you have the strength to go further.
Any encounter with laziness requires effort. Where these efforts should be applied is determined by what is hidden behind the symptom. All the same, you will have to make an effort; this condition itself will not disappear. The absence of laziness does not mean doing many things, forbidding oneself to do nothing, it is about the absence in the current life of reluctance to act, decide, move.
Basically, there are three options not to be lazy:
- this is when inspiration is present, and if the matter does not inspire, then the person understands how to interest himself;
- when an individual has the opportunity to motivate himself to do this. Here it is important to maintain a balance in understanding what a person needs and what he really wants. After all, if you only force yourself, you can become very exhausted from such pressure, and subsequently you will not want to do anything at all;
- come to terms with the situation, stop criticizing yourself for your laziness. After all, laziness may protect you from empty, uninteresting work, the end of which will not bring the desired pleasure.
In general, the symptom of laziness indicates a lack of understanding and idea of what an individual actually wants in his life. A person who is aware of what he wants copes with laziness easily. 
Incredible facts
How often have we forgotten something, or lacked the strength to finish what we started.
The habit of procrastination seems harmless, but over time the burden of unfinished tasks becomes more and more.
Did you know that The Dalai Lama was one of the biggest procrastinators in the world?
As a student, he put everything off until the last minute and was ready to study and work only when faced with difficulties or when deadlines were pressing.
He has since learned his lesson and teaches others not to procrastinate: " Always prepare in advance so that if you die today you will have no regrets".
We can achieve so much more when we stop procrastinating. The only problem is that laziness can be very difficult to overcome.
How to overcome laziness
However, there is a rule that will help you become much more productive.
Our brains are bad at making decisions because decisions involve some kind of change. At the same time, our instincts protect us from change. The 2-Minute Rule helps you avoid the decision-making process and encourages you to start doing things that you've been putting off.
Here's what it sounds like:
Rule 1. “If something takes less than 2 minutes to complete, do it NOW.”
This is the most important principle to remember. You will be surprised how much you can do in 2 minutes.
Here are a few of them:
Wash your plate immediately after eating.
Write an important letter
Write a plan for the day while you drink your morning coffee.
Remove the desk you are working at.
Call the person right now.
Make an appointment
Throw away the trash
- Make your bed immediately after you get up.
If you keep listing what you can do in 2 minutes, the list will be endless.
The rule sounds very simple. When you find yourself thinking, “I'll send this email later,” resist the urge to procrastinate. Instead, think like this: “This will only take me 2 minutes, I’ll just do it now.”
How to get rid of laziness
Rule 2. If a task requires more than 2 minutes, break it into several stages.
Do you think your life won't change at all if you start making your bed as soon as you wake up? It will change when you develop a habit, and habit beats laziness.
For example, you need to write an important report. You can't do this in 2 minutes. But you can break this task down into shorter goals, such as:
Collect the necessary material
Conduct research
Write an introduction
Write other parts, step by step
Edit
Ask a friend's opinion
Adjust
Send report
If collecting information takes more than 2 minutes, break this task into smaller ones. What can you do in 2 minutes right now?
You can select two documents. Do it right now. Once you have passed this stage, you will be well on your way to achieving your goal. As they say, the main thing is to start.
How to overcome laziness
How does the 2 minute rule work in life?
When you read about this rule, everything seems quite simple, but in practice it really works: it is too simple to be ignored.
