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Stop Being Lazy: How to Confront and Overcome Your Excuses

We all want to learn how to stop being lazy and throw our lives away. But it takes a lot more effort, hard work, and dedication than we might think.

stop being lazy

A philosopher once said, “People are naturally predisposed to wanton idleness.” Meaning if they could get away with not doing anything at all, they definitely would just spend their waking moments lying on the couch watching Netflix.

But if you want to stop being lazy, we’ll help you figure out why and how to make positive changes. In the modern-day era we live in today, it’s a bit harder to get up and use our time productively. We literally use our phones consistently, even when working on tasks.

Social media and gadgets have become a necessity, and it’s why it’s easy to be a couch potato if we lack the motivation and discipline to do so. However, laziness is something to not include in your lifestyle.

Laziness leads to procrastination, procrastination leads to not getting things done, and not getting things done ultimately leads to a myriad of unpleasant events amounting to lost money, opportunities, and time. So if you want to actually get something done with your life, you need to learn how to stop being lazy.

Why do we become lazy?

Several factors cause laziness if we actually take the time to analyze each one. While we can’t eliminate every element, it can help us understand how to be less lazy and actually get up and do something productive with our time. First, we become lazy when something drastic happens.

Whether it’s heartbreak, losing a job, experiencing rejection, or something along those lines, we get lazy when we’re spiraling in negative emotions. We use Netflix or social media to distract our negative emotions when it can have the opposite effect. Second, laziness can also be caused by the lifestyle you’re living.

If you have a sedentary lifestyle without making any effort to incorporate exercise or a balanced diet in your life, it’s easy to become lazy. A lack of goals is another thing that can cause laziness. When you don’t know what you want and what your purpose is, you’ll never feel motivated to get out of bed and do something.

Analyzing laziness

Okay, maybe you’re not really lazy. Maybe you just want to take a day off from doing anything because you’re stressed out or tired. That’s all well and good if done occasionally.

But if being lazy has become your habit, it could lead to a crash, which dominoes out to different aspects of your life. People admit to being lazy at something for a whole lot of reasons. Here are some of the commonly mentioned ones:

1. Boredom

You’re lazy because you’d rather do something else more enjoyable or interesting than the task at hand. A perfect example is studying for an exam.

Instead of doing so, you’d rather spend time with your friends or reading an enjoyable book. Your laziness is caused by the fact that you don’t like the task being required of you. [Read: 15 reasons why you’re bored with your relationship]

2. Fatigue

Many people seem to miss out on the fact that fatigue can cause laziness. Sometimes, you’re just too tired to do anything – and that’s okay. If you’re sleep-deprived or your body and mind are just too exhausted to do anything at all, that’s why you’re feeling lazy.

3. Lack of motivation

Motivation seems to be the most common reason for being lazy. In other words, you feel like it’s not worth the effort or energy you spend doing a particular task.

For instance, you feel lazy to exercise because you feel it’s a waste of energy. However, you should also know that motivation is a matter of discipline and mindset than anything else.

4. The task is too daunting

It requires a lot of effort, and you feel a little afraid of failing. This goes specifically for perfectionists and those who fear failure. They’re lazy not because it’s in their nature, but because they’re afraid of delivering a task with several mistakes and flaws.

How to deal with laziness

We’ve talked about the possible causes of laziness so you can understand it better, but what about how to deal with laziness? Here are some concrete ways for how to stop being lazy to lead a more productive life.

1. Make a list of the activities you’re too lazy to do

The first step to solving your laziness problem is to recognize and acknowledge you’re lazy about something. Make a list of activities you’ve never started or always find difficult to accomplish because of laziness. Include everything such as work-related activities, personal errands, and even the most superficial lazy habits at home.

Your list serves as the guide to pinpoint why you’re lazy in the first place. After you’re finished with the list, you can better reflect on which tasks you find so difficult to start, and you’ll often see a common theme with all these activities. [Read: 12 simple things you do that makes your life much worse]

2. Find the underlying cause for your laziness

From your list of tasks, think of the reason why you’re too lazy to do them. For example, “too lazy to cook dinner on Tuesday night because ____,” continue doing this through the whole list.

Soon you will notice a pattern in your laziness. As mentioned before, you get lazy because you’re uninterested, fatigued, unmotivated, or overwhelmed by that task. From there, you formulate a plan of action to fight your laziness pangs.

Laziness from fatigue

Feeling fatigued will never make you want to stop being lazy as your mind, heart, or body is tired. So if this is the cause of your laziness, there are ways you can learn how to stop being lazy.

3. Get enough rest

You accomplish things best in all aspects of life when you’re well-rested. It is well-established that going through the day without proper rest harms your productivity, decision-making, creativity, and other mental functions. Never underestimate the power of adequate sleep and rest on your body.

Maybe it isn’t that you’re lazy, but you’re not giving yourself enough rest to recharge your energy. So take breaks, get between 7-8 hours of sleep each night, and go easy on yourself when needed.

4. Get PROPER rest and relaxation

Being well-rested is not just about the body and the amount of sleep it gets. It is also about giving your mind a break from stress. Take a vacation once in a while. And if you’re not the holiday type of person, do something equally enjoyable and fulfilling, such as a hobby.

Overwork and stress lead to burnout which leads to being lazy. Emotional and mental burnout are common reasons behind laziness. As important as your work might be, your mental health and well-being are far more important.

You can’t be motivated if you’re constantly drained and running on empty fuel, you know? [Read: 13 inspiring ways to bring out the best in yourself]

5. Re-evaluate and reorganize your daily activities

Fixing your daily schedule helps decrease the urge to be lazy. Once you’ve got your daily activities on a list, label each activity according to priority. If you’re spending a lot of time on an activity that is not really important for your day and you want to stop being lazy, consider decreasing the time spent on that activity.

For instance, maybe you noticed you’re spending hours using your phone when you could’ve used that time to work out or finish your deadlines. This is why it’s essential to create a to-do list based on the most important to the least. It keeps you both organized and accountable.

Laziness from boredom and lack of motivation

When you don’t like the task you’re about to do, it’s a natural tendency to become lazy and not want to do it altogether. So how to stop being lazy if this is the reason? Here’s how.

6. Keep your eyes on the prize

People like the idea of accomplishment but revile taking the road towards accomplishment. For example, you daydream of getting a ripped body but give in to laziness when it comes to following your gym training and diet.

Fighting laziness in this case is just a frame of mind because at times, people forget that to get those well-cut abs, they need to finish 100 reps and cut down on the carbs. If you want to learn how to stop being lazy and see results, the trick is to be positive.

Instead of thinking training is hard and painful; your frame of mind should be, getting a well-built body is incredible. Focus on the rewards of your hard work and not on the difficulties it causes you. Nobody ever said accomplishing your goals will be easy so if you’re serious about learning how to stop being lazy, realize you can’t take the easy way out.

7. “The sooner started, the sooner done”

When tasks pile up and you have a lot of time on your hands, that’s a scenario bound to laziness and procrastination. You need to stop being lazy and think of procrastinating as a boomerang. No matter how far you throw it from you, it is sure to come back and hit you.

Procrastination is a terrible habit that you shouldn’t be getting used to. If your reason for procrastinating is perfection, stop obsessing over every perfect detail. It’s better to get something done, no matter the mistakes you’ve made, rather than getting nothing done because of your need to be perfect.

Just get started on the task and avoid doing it at the last minute. Pushing yourself to fend off laziness and finish your tasks early has better rewards. You produce a more satisfactory output, and you have more time to relax until the next task comes along. [Read: How to motivate yourself to do pretty much anything]

Laziness because you’re overwhelmed

You can expect moments where you’ll feel overwhelmed in your life, which can cause you to be stuck. So you’re not lazy as much as overwhelmed with a bunch of different emotions simultaneously. Here are ways to learn how to stop being lazy if you feel overwhelmed.

8. Ask for help

As simple as that. Okay, maybe it’s not as simple if you’re the type of person who has trouble asking for help. But if you want to learn how to stop being lazy, asking for help is such a life hack. You’re not less of a person for doing so, you know? If you feel like not doing something because it is too much for you, the best option is to ask for help.

However, this does not mean giving the entire workload to the other person. Doing something with a companion is much more motivating than doing it alone. Not only does it make the task lighter and more manageable, but it also makes it more fun to do. You’re less stressed, and you get to finish the task at hand. It’s a win-win!

9. Organize your activities

If you received a planner notebook last Christmas, it’s time to put it to good use. You see, sometimes you get lazy because you have a lot of activities and you have no idea what to do first. As we’ve already mentioned above, it can be helpful to organize or plan out your day.

So maybe you want to start your day working out after having breakfast, after which you begin doing your deadlines for work. You can write this down in your planner to help you become more productive and efficient. If you want to stop being lazy, make a list of what you need to do.

Include long-term goals, short-term activities, and also include the most superficial of tasks like chores. Now organize them into monthly, weekly, and daily tasks. When overwhelmed, start with the easy ones, and work your way into crossing out the most difficult ones.

Looking back at your organizer, crossing out an accomplished task, even if it’s simple and mundane, gives you a sense of accomplishment, motivating you to follow through. [Read: A helpful reflection: What am I doing with my life?]

10. Find ways to accomplish things efficiently

As in Occam’s Razor, the simplest solution is the best one. Try not to exhaust yourself by adopting elaborate ways to do a task. Remember the fastest route from point A to B is a straight line. For example, if you have a deadline, keep working without paying attention to distractions.

Finish the task in one sitting, and don’t leave it half-finished. The more you leave tasks unfinished, the lazier you become. Avoiding distractions might be easier said than done since we’re all surrounded by more distractions than ever before. If you have to, mute all the notifications in your phone or better yet, turn it off for a while.

It’s necessary that you keep working without distractions, at least until you finish a particular task. You could also opt to use the Pomodoro Technique, where you work straight for 25-minutes and earn a 5-minute break afterward.

[Read: Don’t stay stuck: 16 strategies to get your shit together]

So, how to stop being lazy?

Working on your laziness is one of the challenging things you can do for yourself, but it’s necessary if you want to lead a productive life. Instead of constantly binging on Netflix each day, it’s time to get up and get something done with your life. Trust us; your future self will thank you for this eventually.

As we grow older, responsibilities pile up more than we can avoid. Being lazy is definitely not an option. So learning how to stop being lazy is necessary to live the best life you can possibly live. 

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Paul_Mangay
Paul Timothy Mangay
Paul aka Morty is a keyboard-pounding cubicle-dweller based in Manila where he occasionally moonlights as a writer for anyone in need of his mediocre word-strin...
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