We’re all a little lazy from time to time, but does your laziness feel almost chronic? Learn how to stop being lazy by learning more about WHY you’re lazy.
Most of the human population would definitely spend all of their waking moments just lying around watching Netflix and eating their favorite snacks if they could get away with it. Some of them even try really hard to do just that. But if you want to learn how to stop being lazy, we’ll help you figure out why you are and how to make positive changes.
Laziness is something to disclude from your lifestyle. Laziness leads to procrastination. Procrastination leads to things not getting done. And if things don’t get done, it ultimately leads to a myriad of unpleasant events, including losing money, opportunities, and time.
Analyzing laziness
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. [Read: Stop being lazy – how to confront and overcome your excuses]
That’s all well and good if done on occasion, but laziness should not be a habit. Excessive laziness is detrimental to many different areas of your life. It affects work, relationships, and your physical and mental health.
Your laziness might stem from a few different areas, and figuring out the root cause will help you find effective solutions.
1. Boredom
It’s not uncommon for people to confuse laziness with boredom, but it’s possible to be lazy because you’d rather do something else more enjoyable or interesting than the task at hand. [Read: I’m so bored with life – 20 ways to bring the spark back when life is boring]
2. Fatigue
Being fatigued is a huge contributor to laziness. After all, if you’re too tired to do anything, you’re probably not going to do anything.
3. Lack of motivation
Some of us just have a hard time getting started. It takes a lot to talk yourself into getting a move on it, and sometimes it doesn’t even work.
If you’re unmotivated, it’s easier to just give up and do nothing instead.
4. You’re overwhelmed
Similar to being unmotivated, you’re likely to avoid a task altogether if you’re feeling overwhelmed by it.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed in general, it’s even worse because you’re more prone to neglecting everything you’re overwhelmed by. Your answer is to just hang out and act like none of it exists. [Read: 19 life quotes to motivate you to live a better life]
How to deal with laziness
Laziness is comfortable. It feels safe. It requires no effort. But you know that you want to do more. You want to learn how to stop being lazy.
To do that, you need to figure out what you’re really avoiding by being lazy and what those things say about your laziness.
1. Make a list of the activities you’re too lazy to do
The first step to understanding your laziness problem is recognizing and acknowledging that you are, in fact, lazy.
Make a list of all the things you never start or always find difficult to accomplish because of laziness. Include everything from work-related activities to personal errands and even the most mundane things at home.
Your list serves as a guide to pinpoint why you’re lazy in the first place. [Read: Simple things you do that make your life much worse]
2. Find the underlying cause for your laziness
Take your list of tasks and think about why you’re too lazy to do them. Is there a running theme among these tasks? Do they take too much time? Are there too many steps? Do they require too much energy? Are they things that you’re simply uninterested in?
Noting the reasoning next to each task helps you see any prominent patterns.
You’ll have a better grip on where your laziness comes from. Are you lazy because you’re uninterested, fatigued, unmotivated, or overwhelmed? From there, you can formulate a plan of action to fight your laziness pangs.
Laziness from fatigue
Fatigue is the constant feeling of extreme tiredness or weakness. Fatigue is often a side effect of an underlying issue, but sometimes it has more to do with your daily habits, exercise, and sleep cycle. [Read: 28 self-improvement secrets to transform into your best self]
If you address some of the more obvious and fixable mishaps, you’ll start to feel your fatigue lessen.
1. Get enough rest
In all aspects of your life, you accomplish things better when you’re well-rested. It’s known that going through the day without proper rest has a negative effect on your productivity, decision-making, creativity, and other mental functions.
Without enough sleep, you’re left with low energy, and you can’t really get things done and combat laziness with low energy.
2. Get PROPER rest and relaxation
Being well-rested is not just about the body and the amount of sleep it gets. It’s about giving your mind a break from stress.
Take a vacation once in a while.
If you’re not a vacation type of person, do something equally enjoyable and fulfilling. Take some time to do your favorite hobby. Being overworked and stressed leads to feeling burned out, which leads to being lazy. [Read: Inspiring ways to bring out the best in yourself]
3. Re-evaluate and reorganize your daily activities
Altering your daily schedule helps decrease the urge to be lazy.
List everything that you have to do for the day and organize them according to priority.
If you’re spending a lot of time on an activity that isn’t really important and you want to know how to stop being lazy, consider decreasing the time spent on that activity. This way, you allocate more time for important activities and can even add new activities to your daily schedule.
4. Take a nap
If lack of sleep or overall tiredness is really the problem, just take a nap! A little shut-eye doesn’t hurt anything, but be careful not to overdo it. [Read: 20 steps to go from exhausted to effortless]
Taking a two-hour nap is more likely to be counterproductive and make you even more tired. The optimal nap time is between fifteen and thirty minutes.
This is just enough sleep to keep you from going in too deep and increasing your alertness for a few hours afterward.
5. Take a cold shower
Cold showers have numerous beneficial effects on the mind and body.
A quick cold shower provides a burst of energy and reduces general fatigue. The cold water sends signals to your brain to increase your alertness and release extra endorphins.
Laziness from boredom or lack of motivation
For some people, motivating themselves to start is often the hardest part of the task. It’s especially difficult if you have absolutely no interest in whatever it is that you’re trying to start.
This almost always translates into choosing to abandon your task and choose laziness instead.
1. Keep your eyes on the prize
Everyone likes the idea of accomplishing something, but very few enjoy doing the work to claim the accomplishment. [Read: How to succeed in life – all you ever need to know!]
Maybe you daydream of having a ripped body but give in to laziness when it comes to following your training and diet regime. Fighting laziness, in this case, is just a frame of mind. People forget that they need to finish 100 reps and cut down on the carbs if they want those well-cut abs.
If you want to know how to stop being lazy and see results, just be positive! Instead of thinking about how awful and painful your workouts are, focus on the reward you’ll see because of your hard work.
2. The sooner you start, the sooner you’re done
Think of procrastinating as a boomerang. No matter how far you throw it, it’s sure to come back to you.
Being lazy and procrastinating only creates piles of more work than you can handle at one time, and that leads to poor results and stress.
Pushing yourself to fend off laziness and finish your tasks early has better results. 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]
3. Make tedious tasks fun
Nobody wants to do a job that’s boring or tedious.
Everyday chores suck. Mindless tasks at work are atrocious. You don’t want to do these things, but you know you have to.
Why not try to make it more tolerable? Listening to podcasts and audiobooks while you work are great ways to make almost anything more enjoyable.
4. Reward yourself
Sometimes, rewards are the motivators. However, not every task or job is met with a reward at the end, so reward yourself! [Read: The best inspirational movies for when your motivation lags]
It could be as easy as focusing on the end result. Will whatever you’re doing put you in your boss’s good graces and closer to a promotion? Will finishing this project mean that you’re one step closer to finishing your home remodel?
Reward yourself for a job well done by celebrating with friends, buying something you’ve been dying to have, or revisiting your lazy roots and binging a Netflix show for a few hours.
5. Set awareness alarms
Awareness alarms are like regular alarms, but they’re set to go off at different times throughout the day as opposed to only going off when it’s time for you to wake up.
The idea behind awareness alarms is that when one goes off, you stop what you’re doing and take note of what’s happening around you. What were you just doing? Productive work or scrolling Instagram?
After a while, you’ll begin to notice how often you’re distracted by other things when you’re supposed to be working, and you’ll know how to stop being lazy by minimizing your distractions.
6. Switch up your work environment
A change of scenery can do way more than you think. [Read: 40 fun and upbeat songs to groove you out of that funk]
If you feel like your laziness stems from boredom, maybe all you need is a different environment. If you can’t just relocate your current workspace, change up the decor.
7. Get a partner
Have an accountability partner. Choose someone motivated and ambitious who’s willing to kick you into gear if necessary.
Sometimes, having someone to hold you accountable to complete your tasks and meet your deadlines is all it takes to motivate yourself.
Plus, if you surround yourself with motivated and ambitious people, you’re bound to become motivated and ambitious, too.
8. Dress up
Changing your clothes can be just as effective as changing your work environment when it comes to addressing your boredom and laziness. This is especially effective if you work from home and tend to spend your day in sweats. [Read: 40 secrets & easy hacks to look rich & dress like you’re rolling in cash]
Dressing up like you’re actually going into the office can make a huge difference in productivity.
Laziness because you’re overwhelmed
Neglecting necessary tasks because you have too many of them is a sure way to resort to being lazy. It’s so easy to become so overwhelmed that you don’t even know where to begin.
You might feel like everything has piled up on you, and you feel that the best way to handle it is to not handle it at all.
1. Ask for help
If you feel like avoiding doing something because it’s too much for you, the best option is to ask for help.
Doing something with a companion is much more motivating, enjoyable, and less stressful than doing it alone. Not only does it make the task lighter and easier, but it also makes it more fun to do.
Just keep in mind that asking for help does not mean that you can pawn the whole thing off on someone else. [Read: Feeling hopeless – how to stop feeling overwhelmed & see hope again]
2. Organize your activities
If you want to know how to stop being lazy, make a list of what you need to do.
If you have a ton of things to do, it’s easy to be overwhelmed and even forget some of what you’re supposed to do.
Include long-term goals, short-term goals, and even smaller things like chores. Organize them into monthly, weekly, and daily tasks.
When overwhelmed, start with the smallest and easiest ones first. Cross out any tasks that you complete and enjoy a sense of accomplishment. [Read: A helpful reflection – what am I doing with my life?]
3. Find ways to accomplish things efficiently
The simplest solution is the best one. Try not to exhaust yourself by adopting elaborate ways to do a task. Remember that the fastest way from point A to point B is a straight line.
For example, if you have a deadline, keep working without paying any mind to distractions. Finish the task in one sitting instead of leaving it half-finished. The more you leave tasks unfinished, the lazier you become.
4. Make your goals manageable
Don’t set yourself up for failure by creating unrealistic goals.
You’re one person, and you can only accomplish so much in a day. Setting unrealistic and unattainable goals is a recipe for disaster and will leave you feeling unaccomplished and burned out.
Try to aim for smaller and more manageable goals. [Read: How to be present – the guide to find your zone of calm perfection]
5. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect
Remember to give yourself grace. It’s completely okay to fall a little short of your expectations from time to time. Things happen.
Mishaps can cause delays in one project and lead to the incompletion of another. If you want to know how to stop being lazy, you first need to know that perfectionism isn’t the way to go.
It’s important that you don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t able to meet every goal you set for yourself.
6. Create a plan of action
Creating a list of the things you need to do sometimes isn’t enough.
For some, looking at a list of twenty-five different things is daunting, overwhelming, and stressful. Take an extra step and plan HOW you plan to get things done.
This is an extremely helpful tactic if you have a lot of smaller tasks to complete or a couple of larger ones. [Read: How to be confident – 28 life hacks to transform your future forever]
Creating a plan of action and knowing the direction you’re going will give you the confidence and motivation to tackle your day head-on.
7. Recognize your accomplishments along the way
Take note of every single thing that you’re able to accomplish throughout the day. Recognizing a job well done will give you an extra boost of motivation to keep going.
The more you see yourself meeting your goals, the more confident you’ll be in yourself and your abilities.
8. Avoid distraction
If you know that you frequently allow yourself to be distracted by your phone, TV, or your general environment, find a way to make it less of an interference. [Read: Boss bitch – 22 quick-fixes to transform yourself into one]
Consider setting up a content blocker on your phone to keep you from mindless social media scrolling when you should be working.
Leave the TV off instead of just on with an extremely low volume. If you’re distracted by the space you’re in, figure out why. Tidy it up so that you aren’t thinking about the shoes in the corner or the cups on the table.
How to stop being lazy with healthy living
More often than not, the choices that you make daily can contribute to you feeling sluggish and lazy.
If you aren’t taking care of yourself and your body, it doesn’t matter how many lists you make or tactics you use.
Unhealthy bodies lead to unhealthy minds, both of which are giant contributors to a lack of productivity. If you can make healthier choices for yourself, you might see a substantial increase in your energy.
1. Eat high-protein foods
There are certain foods that are proven to help with your lack of energy. Foods that are high in protein break down a lot slower than foods high in carbohydrates, providing you with an extended energy source. Eat protein-rich foods like yogurt, fish, nuts, eggs, and cheese. [Read: Unhealthy habits – steps to help your partner beat them]
2. Avoid sugary and high-fat foods
Protein can build you up, but sugar and fat can slow you down. Eating foods high in sugar or fat are sure ways to weigh your body down and make you feel lazier.
The high amount of sugar in certain foods can cause your blood sugar to rapidly spike and fall just as quickly. The rise and fall of the “sugar high” are what make you feel so tired.
If you eat foods that are higher in fat, you’re setting yourself up for constant lethargy.
3. Exercise
At first thought, it seems counterproductive to assume that exerting physical energy would keep you from feeling lazy. However, regular exercise is one of the best ways to keep yourself feeling more energized.
Exercise releases oxygen and nutrients to your body to increase your overall health and help your body to work more efficiently. [Read: 26 secrets to get motivated to workout & exercise your way to a better life]
4. Sleep and rest
To state the obvious, you’re never going to stop feeling tired and lazy if you don’t get the rest you need.
Make sure that you’re getting a good amount of sleep every night. Go to bed without distractions and extra noise to make sure that you get the best sleep possible.
Create a routine before bed that truly relaxes you and winds you down. You might enjoy taking a nice long bath or reading a good book.
5. Manage stress
Being too stressed can interfere with your sleep AND your appetite, so knowing how to manage your stress is pretty important.
Take care of yourself. Nurture healthy relationships. Take time to do things that you truly enjoy. If you feel like you’re in a neverending state of stress, consider talking to a counselor.
Therapy is an extremely effective way to learn how to manage your stress, which can help in figuring out how to stop being lazy. [Read: Really quick stress busters to recharge your mind]
6. Drink more water
There seem to be a million good reasons to make sure you’re drinking enough water.
Keeping yourself hydrated helps to maximize your performance by increasing your energy levels and brain function.
Aside from that, taking a drink of nice, cold water can give you a little extra pep when you’re feeling sluggish.
7. If you smoke, quit
Smoking robs your body of oxygen. It screws with your circulation. It’s just not healthy.
Smokers have been proven to feel more fatigue and depression than those who do not smoke. They aren’t as physically active as nonsmokers, either.
Quitting smoking can drastically improve your oxygen levels and blood flow, and you’ll have more energy as a byproduct. [Read: Smoking and sex – horrible ways smoking can ruin your sex life]
How to distinguish laziness from medical conditions
As we mentioned earlier, sometimes laziness isn’t just plain laziness. It’s often a side effect of an underlying health issue.
It can be hard to tell if you’re being lazy just to be lazy or if there’s something more serious going on. As a general rule, if you find that you can’t even make yourself do the things you normally enjoy, you might benefit from talking to your doctor about it.
Sometimes, laziness isn’t even laziness.
What feels like laziness can actually be a lack of motivation, chronic fatigue, or social withdrawal. All of these things are symptoms of many medical conditions, both physical and mental.
There are a variety of health issues that just zap your energy. If that’s what you’re facing, it might feel like you don’t even have the ability to do the things you typically would. [Read: 34 steps to stop being sad & break out of misery]
Mental health conditions
1. Depression
2. Anxiety
3. Seasonal Affective Disorder
4. Bipolar Disorder
Medical conditions
1. Anemia
2. Vitamin deficiency
3. Thyroid disorders
4. Low blood sugar
[Read: Don’t stay stuck – 16 strategies to get your shit together]
If you’re able to rule out any underlying health issues, look at your laziness as if it’s nothing more than a state of mind. If you can change your mind, you can figure out how to stop being lazy.
