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| 7 steps to stop being lazy #Vitamin G | | | Gagan Sidhu
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” - Karen Lamb
When I was younger, in my early twenties, I was often lazy. Too often actually.
And so I didn’t:
Get my school work done in a good way and had to cram and stress out a few days before an exam.
Work out or cook healthy food because it felt too hard and I gained 15+ Kgs of weight while my fitness levels went down.
Take care of my personal growth and dreams but mostly just let all that slide to “someday” as those things remained daydreams.
10+ years later I still love lazying around and not doing much at all. But I’ve also learned how to keep that lazy time to a moderate and healthy amount instead of letting it hold me back and stuck in the same place of excuses for years like it used to.
In this guide I’d like to share 7 simple steps that have helped me to make that change. To stop being so lazy and get what really matters done by working smarter. While still having room for guilt-free lazy time to spend as I like.
1. BE KIND TO YOURSELF
It starts with taking this perhaps somewhat counter-intuitive step.
When you feel that you’ve perhaps been too lazy lathely it’s common and tempting to beat yourself up about it and to hope that will lead you to start taking action.
Sometimes it does.
But I have found that beating yourself up most often just leads to feeling guiltier and like a failure.
And so you feel less motivated to get going and you procrastinate because there seems to be little point in even trying.
Instead of getting stuck in that self-esteem sucking place I recommend to gently nudge yourself towards the next step in this guide whenever you feel like you want to beat yourself up.
2. START WITH A SMALL STEP FORWARD
The hardest thing is often to simply get started.
So make that as easy as you can to reduce the inner resistance and to actually take action. Start with just taking a small step forward:
Go out running for only 3 minutes.
Do the dishes/gardening/reading for 5 minutes.
Write on that report you’ve been procrastinating on for 10 minutes.
I use this habit almost every day in some way. I’m for example creating a new course and my daily aim over the past months has usually been to write 1 page a day. And now that the writing is done the aim as I start my day is often to edit 1 page.
That’s it. But it has never stopped at only 1 page in these months, I have written or edited a whole bunch more each day.
3. DO SMALL PART OF WHAT MATTERS MOST AS FIRST THING IN YOUR DAY
To feel like you can enjoy your lazy/rest time fully and without guilt it’s important to actually get what truly matters in the long run done each week.
So start your day with that. But make it easy on yourself by breaking down that task into those smaller steps and then focus on just the first one.
Get on it right away to get into an effective and focused mindset.
By doing so you set a good tone for your day. You get that quick 5-10 minute win in first thing and you’ll be a lot more motivated to keep going on that path during the rest of your day.
Instead of starting with busy work like checking emails – this may be vital to do first thing for some but for many it’s probably not – or checking Facebook etc. and then 30 minutes later getting started with today’s work.
4. SHUT DOWN ESCAPE ROUTES
Just sitting down at for example your computer and trying to do fully focused work for 5 or 20 minutes may not result in any work of importance getting done.
Not if you don’t remove those things that you usually use to procrastinate.
So ask yourself: where do I usually escape to instead of doing my work?
For me it’s for example often my smart phone and checking Instagram, Twitter or random internet browsing. So I put my phone in silent mode and I put it at the other end of our home when I work. By setting up that small physical obstacle I avoid the phone trap maybe 95% of the time.
If you:
Have the same issue with gaming then put your controller far away in your home while working.
Escape to Facebook or other websites on your computer then block that for a little while by using for example StayFocusd and other apps which can define the time limits.
Watch TV or addicted to Netflix then pull out the cords to it. Or remove one of the cords completely and put it at the other end of your home.
5. SMALL BREAKS OF REST TO READJUST FOCUS
To lighten up your daily work inject small breaks between doing short but focused bursts of work.
Say to yourself: I’ll do 20 minutes of work on this task now and then I can take 5 or 10 minutes of lazy time.
By breaking down your hours like this the work seems less daunting. And you’ll feel energetic and motivated longer and do work of better quality if you allow yourself these pauses of rest and time to lazy around on Facebook, with a game or with just relaxing in the grass or with a short walk in the park.
Then, after some time, you may want to work for 40 minutes before you take a 10 minute break. But go easy on yourself at first.
And if you have trouble with sticking to your time-limits then use an app on your phone or a simple egg-timer from your kitchen.
6. BREAK UP YOUR TIME
People work more efficiently when they have ample rest time. Working in short, focused bursts is far more effective than trying to slog through the task all at once. (College students: Remember that last term paper that you finished in three hours at 4am, working on caffeine, nicotine, and adrenaline? Yeah. I thought so.) Not only will you be happier with the end product, but you’ll feel better and more energized after completing it.
7. APPRECIATE AND ENJOY YOUR LAZY TIME
Time spent on just lazying around helps me to relax and recharge and it makes me happy.
But if I do it too much then it does become less healthy for me. It:
Starts to frustrate me because I’m not moving forward towards what I want.
Creates stress instead of relaxing me because I’m not getting what’s important done and that could have negative consequences quite soon.
Still, at a moderate amount spending some time on being lazy is truly beneficial for me.
And I’ve found that when you think a little about how you want to spend your lazy time – no matter if it’s a 10 minute break or a lazy Sunday – and use that time on something you really enjoy like reading a book you love rather than aimlessly watching TV-shows you’re just OK with then that time does not only brings more happiness and fulfillment.
I’ve also learned that when I spend my lazy time in this more conscious way I’m more motivated and energized to go back to work again later on.
So I make sure to appreciate and fully enjoy the lazy time I have and create for myself because I know that it will benefit me in several important ways.
Hope this helps !! Just don't read this article and get back to your routine, laziness takes a lot out of our productive time.
We all have 24 hours in a day and only one life so "STOP BEING LAZY AND MAKE YOUR LIFE AWESOME" |
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