How to overcome laziness: 7 easy and proven tips to act quickly and effectively
In this article, you will find useful tips on how to overcome laziness. I will present simple and effective steps to create a life that lives up to your ambitions by becoming more productive.
If you wish, you can benefit from the support of a life transition coach in order to overcome procrastination and reach your goals faster.
To go further on the topic of procrastination, I advise you to read the following articles: 10 outstanding tips to stop procrastinating and 11 tips to fight procrastination at work and at home.
Here is a summary of my advice to overcome laziness:
1 – Do your most important tasks first
2 – Associate pain with laziness and pleasure with taking action
3 – Become aware of what causes your laziness
4 – Remember that it all depends on you
5 – Focus on the positive impact you will have on the lives of others
6 – Eliminate your bad habits
7 – Combine the activities you don’t like with the ones you like to do
1 – Do your most important tasks first
You’ve probably already heard a piece of advice opposite to the one I’m giving you here, which is to do the things you don’t like to do first.
If you feel lazy, just thinking about doing tasks that you don’t like will only increase your demotivation and laziness.
This is why I advise you to manage the tasks that are most important to you first before those that are less important.
You will start to reduce your laziness and increase your motivation if you start with:
- writing a list of tasks that are important to you in your to-do list
- schedule these same tasks in your agenda
- perform these tasks at the times you schedule
If you wish to go further on how to increase your motivation, I advise you to read the article how to motivate yourself .
By focusing on the tasks that allow you to reach your most important goals you will be able to:
- reach your goals more easily and quickly
- strengthen your motivation
- reduce your stress
- increase self-confidence and self-esteem
If you wish to go further on the subject of productivity, I advise you to read the article 14 tips to be more productive at work and in your private life.
Now that you have understood the importance of performing your most important tasks first, the next tip is to psychologically associate pain with laziness and pleasure with action.
2 – Associate pain with laziness and pleasure with taking action
If you are in a lazy mental state it is because you have learned to associate something negative with doing the actions you are pushing away.
At the same time, you have associated some rather pleasant emotions and sensations with the idea of not changing your behavior.
To overcome laziness, you need to follow the opposite process.
First, write down everything you have had to endure so far in your personal or professional life because of your excessive laziness.
Think about what will happen to you and your loved ones if you allow your laziness to take control of your life.
What will happen in your professional or family life?
What will be the impact on your confidence and self-esteem?
What will be the mental and financial consequences of your inaction?
Which people will suffer the most because of your choices?
Now, think about the benefits you will gain by finally taking action and answer the following questions:
What will be the benefits of your new actions for you and your loved ones?
What level of confidence will you feel as you move out of your comfort zone?
Who will benefit from your decisions?
What new opportunities will you be able to create?
Answering these questions will help you to change your mental associations and consequently you will be more motivated to take action.
If you are having difficulty taking action, I suggest you read the article how to overcome the fear of taking action.
Now that you understand the importance of using pain and pleasure to your advantage, the next piece of advice is to understand what generates your laziness.
3 – Become aware of what causes your laziness
You are not lazy all the time and there are many times in your day when you feel motivated.
Take time to understand what affects your choice to be lazy.
It may be your internal language. You say something to yourself and immediately feel a sharp drop in energy to take action. In this case, it is important to become attentive to the words you use to describe your experiences.
Your laziness can be fed by those around you and in general by the people you spend most of your time with. If this is your case, you can reduce your laziness by spending more time with motivating and inspiring people.
You may be lazy because of your pessimistic attitude about the results you think you can achieve.
This may depend on past experiences or more recent situations in which you have explained your poor performance thinking you have little potential for success.
It is therefore possible that your laziness simply depends on a limiting belief that you have developed.
If you are unable to move forward in your life because of your beliefs, I invite you to read the article how to overcome limiting beliefs in which I discuss this topic in more detail.
Understanding what generates your laziness is important to prevent it from continuing to impact you negatively.
Now that you have realized the importance of understanding the causes of your laziness, the next tip is to take back your responsibility.
4 – Remember that it all depends on you
The most obvious things are often the ones we miss the most and that’s why my advice is a simple reminder about something you may have forgotten.
You are responsible for the results you achieve!
You decide the meaning you give to what happens to you and what actions you decide to take or not take throughout your day.
You are the creator of everything that happens inside and outside of you.
You decide whether or not to believe that you have unlimited potential.
You agree to do or not do something.
You are the only one who can do what is necessary to make a difference in your life.
You are also the one who has created all the reasons for what you describe as failures.
If you need to overcome a personal or professional failure, I advise you to read the article on how to bounce back after a failure.
When you remember that it’s all up to you, you will eliminate these imaginary obstacles and start living again.
It is by remembering that you have the power to control your thoughts, emotions and actions that you will begin to make the changes that will allow you to progress more effectively in your professional and personal life.
Now that you understand the importance of taking back responsibility, the next tip is to focus on the positive impact your decisions and actions can have on others.
5 – Focus on the positive impact you will have on the lives of others
An extremely effective way to overcome laziness and get out of a limited view of yourself is to focus on the positive impact your choices and actions can have on others.
Is it possible that you have the potential to positively change other people’s lives simply by trusting yourself and taking actions that will allow you to create the life you dream of?
Is it possible that overcoming laziness is not just a goal that concerns you but also the likelihood of inspiring others to follow your example?
Is it possible that overcoming laziness is not just an individual challenge but rather a collective game in which you become a person that others want to emulate?
And if the answers to these questions were all affirmative, what would you do differently?
What would you do if you knew that your victory against laziness was just the starting point of a domino effect that could impact many people, including people you don’t know?
What would you do if everything was possible and you understood that your decisions and actions are more important than you think?
As long as everything is possible for you, take action and see how you will change your life as much as the lives of others.
Now that you understand the importance of focusing on the positive impact you can have on others; the next tip is to identify and eliminate your bad habits.
6 – Eliminate your bad habits
Your laziness may depend on your habits and therefore on the behaviors you repeat day after day in an automatic way.
Some people think they are lazy and lack motivation but in reality, their laziness comes from their bad habits.
For example, some people don’t get enough sleep or have poor quality sleep. In the short term, the effects of this behavior are lessened.
But over time, these people develop the bad habit of sleep procrastination.
If you would like to know more about this topic, I invite you to read the article how to overcome sleep procrastination.
Other people make inappropriate food choices that reduce their physical and mental energy.
As a result, these people feel weak because they are not eating optimally.
If you wish to go further on this subject, I advise you to discover the article a healthy mind and body starts with good nutrition.
There are many other habits that you have that are partly responsible for your current laziness.
The most important thing is to start identifying them. Start with an unproductive habit and then write down what the consequences of that habit are.
Then mark what the consequences will be in the near future and in the longer term if you don’t act quickly.
Successively, write in your to-do list, a list of actions to take to solve your problem.
Choose an action that you will plan and execute within 24 hours. Congratulate yourself on this first step and move on to the next actions. By doing so, you will be able to get rid of your bad habits.
Now that you have learned the importance of identifying and eliminating your bad habits, the next tip is to create new and more productive habits.
7 – Combine the activities you don’t like with the ones you like to do
A very simple way to overcome laziness is to combine an activity you don’t like with one you like.
Imagine that you don’t want to play sports but instead enjoy listening to good music.
You’ll find that by combining these two activities, you’ll start to feel more motivated to play sports as well.
This is because over time, your brain will indirectly associate pleasure with physical activity through the direct benefit of listening to music.
Of course, it is not always possible to combine all your activities, but preparing a list of these activities will allow you to drastically reduce your laziness.
This is why I am asking you to write two lists of your activities that you constantly postpone and those that you love to do.
Then create a third list of all the possible combinations of activities you can do. In this way, you will be able to overcome your laziness with several effective combinations.
Conclusion on how to overcome laziness
In this article, I’ve given you tips on how to overcome laziness, take action and live a more fulfilling life.
If you are interested in the topic of productivity, I invite you to discover all my articles on productivity.
If you are looking for tools to improve your time management skills, I recommend you read my article on the best time management apps.
If you want to learn how to manage your time, I invite you to find out more about our online time management course.
If you want to benefit from the expertise of a life coach, write to us now through our contact form or discover now our life coaching packages.
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Read this article in other languages
Français : Comment surmonter la paresse ? 7 conseils pour y arriver
Italiano: Come superare la pigrizia: 7 consigli facili e collaudati per agire in modo rapido ed efficace