Overcoming Laziness

Overcoming Laziness

Get Things Done: Overcoming Laziness

 24 February, 2017 in personal

Even though all of us are mortal, for some reason we don’t seem to care that we have limited time on this planet. To find purpose, to love, to see the world, to know thyself – to accomplish all these things, we have on average 70 years if we’re lucky. If not, we have even less time. Unfortunately, laziness and procrastination is in our nature. However, in every human there’s also a successful person, who can’t reveal him/herself without the right effort. The question is ‘how can we wake this successful person up and deal with laziness and procrastination?’ How can we start valuing the precious moments that we have on this wonderful planet and begin doing something that really matters?

Let’s look at these five tips to help you beat laziness quickly:

1. Take action.As simple as that. If you don’t want to write, sit down and start writing. If you don’t want to read, sit down and start reading. If you don’t feel like exercising… you’ve got the idea. Procrastination happens when you listen to that “Gollum” voice in your head. With all your strength, make it shut up and just start doing what you need to do. You can never start if you keep listening to it.
2. One bite at a time.Imagine that you are served with a delicious meal and told that you need to eat it in one bite; otherwise, it will be taken away. Could you do this? None of us could, because fortunately we have normal-sized mouths. So, if you can’t do that, why to project this “one giant bite” attitude to your daily tasks? Take one bite at a time and you can even start finding your tasks pleasurable. On the other hand, if you try to do everything at once, you will do nothing and lose the motivation. Most of the time, it is we who make our lives difficult.
3. Remove the distractions.When we don’t want to do something, even such things as cleaning the closet, start to look for an attractive side. We also tend to follow different distractions around us – watch TV series, scroll Facebook pages, read blogs etc. Focus on what you’re doing without any distractions (disconnect the Internet, turn off the TV and put your phone on a fly-mode) and take some rest when you’re done.
4. Find motivation.Remind yourself how important is what you’re doing. If the things you’re doing stopped being important, then it’s time for introspection and recapping your goals.
5. Reward yourself.Of course, you don’t want to become a robot. And you don’t have to; you can reward yourself after each completed task. In fact, this is one of the greatest ways to stay motivated. Take a little nap, go for a 15-minute walk, or perform some activity that you like. This way, you will have more motivation to get things done.

The most difficult part in overcoming laziness is taking action. So, here’s a final straightforward recommendation – turn off that “bad friend’s” voice in your head, and just start making things happen.