Sarah Moore
How Do I Stop Being Lazy? 18 Ways to Stop Being Lazy Right Now.
For the most part, people want to stop being lazy. Everyone always wants to know how to improve their lives, make more money, and how they can be healthier. There is nothing better and being lazy on the weekend but do not make it into a habit. Studies have shown that people actually do not want to be lazy, and we they are, it often ends in guilt because they have got nothing done and wasted their day.
The most important thing to say to yourself, in the beginning, is “I am going to stop this behavior, I am going to stop being lazy.” You have to find strength from within otherwise it will never happen.
Laziness and procrastination are good friends but are not the same things. You should be surprised to know that laziness is a habit, a bad habit that needs to stop. It’s not really a personality flaw or depression, it is a bad habit that has formed over time.
Laziness and procrastination should not be confused. To procrastinate is to postpone a task and replace it with others which are easier and more pleasurable. When we procrastinate we usually do things that are less urgent and not really important. When you put something off and it results in poor planning, poor results, that can result in stress, loss of productivity, anxiety, and extreme guilt.
A person who is lazy and is a procrastinator both lack motivation. But at least the procrastinator is getting something done whereas a lazy person is just existing I’m not doing anything. The procrastinator is productive in some way by doing small tasks that are easy but the lazy person just does nothing.
To stop being lazy we need to carry out an activity that we need to finish, instead of doing nothing, we need to figure out a way to find motivation.
People get frustrated because they can never get anything done and they start to use negative self-talk, putting themselves in a deeper hole by saying things like, “I will never get this done,” or “This is way to hard,” or “I am too lazy for this.”
It is good to know that this lazy thinking and behavior is a habit that can be broken. Laziness feeds off itself, when you are lazy it keeps compounding and builds bigger and bigger. If you’re always taking the shortcut in life when it comes to small things they transfer into to the big things in life.
Recognizing and stopping lazy behaviors.
When you get up in the morning to make your bed? If you skip this you have already failed for the day. Highly successful people, the first thing that they do in the morning is make their bed. This is the first task that they have conquered in the day. When you do not make your bed it is like cutting corners and taking the easy way. Then throughout the rest of the day, you will continue to take the easy way and be lazy.
Being guilty of something that you should be doing not a productive emotion. Stop being guilty, get over yourself and just get things done!
Procrastinating in school is the classic example of being lazy, think about all the times you put off writing a paper or were working on a project the night before.
Being lazy in school sometimes sneaks into our habits as adults. We tend to put off work-related tasks and wait till last minute, this just leads to more stress and anxiety.
If you need help with stress and anxiety you can check out our two articles here: 28 Ways to Reduce Anxiety and 24 Ways to Manage Stress.
Let’s just look at some words that are the opposite of being lazy.
Active.
Industrious.
Energetic.
Diligent
Busy.
Desirous.
Brisk.
Enterprising.
Sprightly
Lively.
Vigorous.
Alert.
Ambitious.
Self-motivated.
Quick.
Spirited.
Peppy.
Workaholic.
Curious.
Agile.
Dynamic.
Frisky.
Nimble.
Springy.
Now that we have looked some words that are antonyms the word lazy. See if you can take one of those words and apply them to what you are doing right now, take a word and let that word become you. Be the opposite of lazy.
Instead of being lazy I am energetic.
Instead of being lazy I am busy.
Instead of being lazy I am self-motivated.
The mind is a very powerful tool and if we visualize we can change our mindset.
Instead of being lazy I am frisky! 🙂
18 ways to stop being lazy.
Stop “being” lazy
You are not your bad habits. Your bad habit right now is being lazy, you have slowly made laziness one of your habits. All you need to do is stop identifying yourself as lazy. Stop saying, “I am lazy.” Stop making yourself become the “lazy person” you envision in your mind.
To do lists.
To do lists are extremely important. To break the habit of laziness you have to write down all the tasks that you want to accomplish during the day. If you made progress on your list, cross out completed tasks. At the end of today go back and look at your to-do list. You will slowly find motivation for the next day because you will see all that you have accomplished today.
Prioritize.
Yes, you should make a to-do list, but you need to prioritize tasks on your to-do list. Accomplish the task that has been hanging over your head for the longest time. The more tasks that have been around the longest, are the ones that cause the most stress. Once you have gotten rid of these things that have been lingering for a long time, it always feels like a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders.
Sacrifice.
Sacrifice when it comes to laziness, it is a lot like investing. If you do something early you can relax later and reap the benefits. Most Americans minds think like this, “Let me relax right now and I will just do what I have to do it later.” When we are in this mindset we do not get anything done, we perpetuate the problem and then feel guilty when nothing gets accomplished.
Ask why?
It is important to understand why you are feeling lazy in this moment. Are you taking on a task that is overwhelming? Do you have to do everything perfectly? Are you not starting the task because you are afraid to fail? Get to the center of why you do not want to do the task it’ll make you more effective and it will help you to stop being lazy.
Do you care?
I think one of the most important things when comes to productivity is being passionate about what you are doing. Do you actually care about what you’re doing? Give the small tasks that you are doing some ‘meaning’. If you do not want to make your bed in the morning, then make a game out of it. Make it a game to see if you can do it perfectly like someone in the military and take a picture of it and send it to your friends. Stop taking everything so seriously.
Efficiency.
If a task that you are doing is hard to complete, take a step back and look at a different way, see if you can achieve the task in a more efficient way. Stop stressing, and stop doing the same things over and over. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over with the same result. Find the most efficient way to get the task done and do it.
Get help.
People are more than willing to help us but we are always afraid to ask. If you are stuck, ask a friend for help or find somebody that is very knowledgeable about what you’re doing. Think about all the times that someone has asked you for help, were you willing to help them out right away? Of course!
Force yourself.
Sometimes you just have to buckle down and force yourself to do it. It’s always hard to start, but if you push through the first 15 minutes of the hardest part of your task, then you can finish it no problem. Try doing the hardest and most annoying part that you don’t want to do right away.
Time.
The most useful method I have found is the Pomodoro Method, with the Pomodoro Timer.
If you’re stuck, or you being extremely lazy, tackle your task anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes at a time and then take a break. There are different methods online and different apps for your phone that set a timer where you work in 15 minutes or 25 minutes intervals and take a 5 to 10-minute break in between. You cannot simply work on the task straight through for an hour or two hours, your brain gets tired and needs a break.
Here are also some good Pomodoro apps:
Forest – Stay focused
Seconds Interval Timer HIIT
Timer+
Consequences.
Usually, when we are dreading the task or have some sort of fear, we are usually doing it last minute. Think about the consequences of not getting this task done. Are we going to get a bad grade because we are lazy? Are we going to get fired from a job? Is someone going to get mad at me because I did not finish what I’m supposed to be doing? When you use fear as motivation it uses a different part of our brain and helps us to get things done.
Deadlines.
Create a deadline for yourself and stick to it. This is one of the most efficient ways to stop being lazy. You have to say to yourself, “I’m only going to work on this for 30 minutes, I’m going to get it done, and after that, I’m done with it.” Make up your mind, set a deadline, and get it done.
Do it now.
Just stop and do what has been bothering you right now. Find out what is most daunting to you and do it right now. If you have an email on your computer and it needs a response, respond right away so you don’t have to worry about it for forget it. If someone calls you and leaves you a voicemail, pick up the phone and called them right back. By doing this your to-do list will not have a lot of small things on it. You have more important things that need to get done, get the small things out of the way.
Small Habits.
Small habits always translate into big things in our life. If you have a habit of not making your bed the morning you have already failed. That is the first thing that you should accomplish for the day. If you put off doing that then you will put off big things when it comes to work and school. This is why people in the military stress making your bed because you have already accomplished one goal now you can tackle bigger ones throughout the day.
2-minute tasks.
I’m sure that on your to-do list you could probably get a lot of those things done within two minutes. A lot of it has to do with you calling somebody, paying a bill, or making plans. Look at your to-do list and see when you can do the quickest and get it off your list. Your stress will be relieved.
15-minute tasks.
In 15 minutes a day, you can do small things that will end up helping you overtime and help to make you feel less overwhelmed. Working 15 minutes time you can clean house, organize desk drawers or your closet, study for an exam, do a little bit of homework, or read a difficult book. If you do a task for 15 minutes every day within the week you can probably have the task accomplished.
Follow through.
If you say something you need to honor your word. If you want to stop being lazy you need to let your ‘yes mean yes’ and your ‘no mean no’. Your word to other people is very important when it comes to integrity. If you tell someone that you are going to complete something, then you should honor your word and do it. If you do not have integrity in this life then you have nothing.
Do not be afraid to fail.
A lot of the times we do not start the task because we are afraid to fail. We need to get this out of our minds because we failed matter what every day. As soon as we get over this we can allow ourselves to fail and forgive ourselves. Stop being lazy and stop fearing failure. Also, give yourself a break when you do fail, it’s not the end of the world, Stop beating yourself up over nothing.