How to overcome Laziness
Laziness, everyone knows what the word means but still there are some people who deliberately introduce this word in their own character. If you find that you’re taking lazy days more often than not, and you’re having trouble getting things done, it could be a sign that there’s something going on. There are many big & small and direct and indirect reasons for the same. It’s not a normal or small thing that get develop within a day or within a week, but long term day to day life habits, living environments are responsible to make someone lazy.
But not to worry now, today we are here to discuss about the whole family members of laziness and also how to say good bye to such members (laziness) who are the symbol of negativity.
What is Laziness?
A person is being lazy if he is able to carry out some activity that he ought to carry out, but is disinclined to do so because of the effort involved. Instead, he carries out the activity perfunctorily; or engages in some other, less strenuous or less boring activity; or remains idle. In short, he is being lazy if his motivation to spare himself effort trumps his motivation to do the right or expected thing.
Synonyms for laziness are indolence and sloth. Indolence derives from the Latin indolentia, ‘without pain’ or ‘without taking trouble’. Sloth has more moral and spiritual overtones than laziness or indolence. In the Christian tradition, sloth is one of the seven deadly sins because it undermines society and God’s plan, and because it invites sin. The Bible inveighs against slothfulness, for example, in the Book of Ecclesiastes: ‘By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through. A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.’
Cause of Laziness
It’s a little bit difficult to understand the scientific cause of laziness but not so much that we the mind full people can’t understand, so let’s take a look.
Laziness may reflect a lack of self-esteem, a lack of positive recognition by others, a lack of discipline stemming from low self-confidence, or a lack of interest in the activity or belief in its efficacy. Laziness may manifest as procrastination or vacillation. Studies of motivation suggest that laziness may be caused by a decreased level of motivation, which in turn can be caused by over-stimulation or excessive impulses or distractions. These increase the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for reward and pleasure. The more dopamine that is released, the greater intolerance one has for valuing and accepting productive and rewarding action. This desensitization leads to dulling of the neural patterns and affects negatively the anterior insula of the brain responsible for risk perception.
Now let’s understand the cause in detail and in simple words by relating them to daily happenings in our life.
Laziness Cause 1: Comfort Orientation
A few days before, I tried turning on my laptop and was faced with a blank screen. It wouldn’t turn on. I Googled solutions on my phone, which resulted in repeatedly hitting the Enter and Power keys.
So I gave up and laid right down on the floor. Watched a motivational YouTube video and polished off a bag of chips. This sounds like a nice break, but I had four deadlines. I was being lazy, not proactive.
It is instigator of laziness comfort orientation, and it’s based on “our tendency to avoid inconvenience.” We are constantly soothing ourselves, whether that’s cranking the AC if we’re a teensy bit warm or buying ourselves a treat if we’ve had a bad day, but if something stops working—stops being comfortable—we can get angry and “outraged at inconvenience.” Cue us laying on the floor.
Laziness Cause 2: Loss of Heart
This one’s a little rough—and possibly even more relatable. Loss of heart communicates a sense of hopelessness, or “poor me.” We feel so poverty-stricken that we aren’t up to dealing with the world. We sit in front of the television, eating, drinking, and smoking, mindlessly watching show after show. We can’t bring ourselves to do anything to ventilate our loss of heart.
Laziness Cause 3: Couldn’t Care Less
Finally, there’s the feeling of “I couldn’t care less.” As in: “I’m not gonna do it, because I really couldn’t care less.”
This type of lazy has a bit of a harder edge and is aggressive and defiant. It might be characterized by picking fights or getting mad if someone tries to cheer us up. We wallow in feeling undervalued and put down. We don’t want to find any outlet. We just want to sit around, feeling weighed down with gloom, and it can be a gateway into depression. This is anger mixed with laziness.
How to get rid of laziness?
Learning how to overcome laziness requires you to actually want to overcome it. Sure, we can all say that we don’t enjoy lazing around the house and not doing much of anything, but in order for you to truly learn how to stop being lazy for good you have to mean it.
“How can I stop laziness?” The answer may not be as cut and dry as you’d expect. While some people may be more prone to being lazy than others, even highly productive people can find it challenging to get things done sometimes.
Here are some tips to help you get rid of laziness and get a grasp on your productivity.
1. Get a Morning Routine
The way you spend your morning has an outsized effect on the rest of your day. The choices we make during the first hour or so of our morning determines whether we have productivity and peace of mind for the rest of the day, or whether it will clobber us over the head. The same could be achieved through the daily practice of Yoga in the morning, so must include it in yours.
Your mornings are a blank slate, an opportunity to start again. Sure, you may have been lazy yesterday, but that doesn’t mean that today has to be one and the same. Choosing a morning routine that works for you, one that makes you feel awake, alert, physically and mentally healthy, and psyched up to have a great day, will help you get motivated to study, to exercise, and to generally overcome laziness over the long term.
2. Quit Social Media
Remember the days of old when you were feeling bored and lazy and, as a result, you would read a book, go for a walk, or do something else that was generally seen as productive with your time?
While those days aren’t entirely behind us, they are for some, and social media is at the heart of much of this decline. I truly believe that one of the best things you can do to overcome laziness is to quit—or at least dramatically reduce your usage of—social media.
3. Make your goals manageable
Setting unrealistic goals and taking on too much can lead to burnout. While not an actual clinical diagnosis, the symptoms of burnout are recognized by medical professionals. Job burnout can cause exhaustion, loss of interest and motivation, and a longing to escape.
Avoid overloading by setting smaller, attainable goals that will get you where you want to be without overwhelming you along the way.
4. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect
Perfectionism is on the rise and it’s taking a psychological toll.
One 2017 study that looked at college students between 1989 and 2016 found an increase in perfectionism over the years. Researchers noted “young people [are] now facing more competitive environments, more unrealistic expectations, and more anxious and controlling parents than generations before.”
This rise in perfectionism is causing people to be overly critical of themselves and others. It’s also led to an increase in depression and anxiety.
Another smaller study of college students concluded that expecting perfection was related to avoidant coping, which causes you to avoid dealing with stressors.
5. Use positive instead of negative self-talk
Negative self-talk can derail your efforts to get things done in every aspect of your life. Telling yourself that you’re a lazy person is a form of negative self-talk.
You can stop your negative internal voice by practicing positive self-talk. Instead of saying, “There’s no way I can get this done,” say, “I’ll give it my all to make it happen.”
6. Create a plan of action
Planning how you will get something done can make it easier to get there. Be realistic about how much time, effort, and other factors are needed to meet your goal and create an action plan. Having a plan will provide direction and confidence that can help even if you hit a hurdle along the way.
7. Use your strengths
Take a moment to think about what your strengths are when setting goals or gearing up to tackle a task. Try to apply them to different aspects of a task to help you get things done. Research has shown that focusing on strengths increases productivity, positive feelings, and engagement in work.
8. Recognize your accomplishments along the way
Patting yourself on the back for a job well done can help motivate you to keep going. Consider writing down all of your accomplishments along the way in everything you do, whether at work or home. It’s a great way to boost your confidence and positivity, and fuel you to carry on.
9. Ask for help
Many people believe that asking for help is a sign of weakness. But not asking for help could be setting you up for failure. A 2018 study Trusted Source found that people who don’t ask coworkers for help were more likely to be dissatisfied in their jobs and had lower levels of job performance. They were also perceived less favorably by their employers.
Asking for help improves your chances of success and helps you connect with others who can encourage and motivate you.
10. Avoid distraction
We all have our favorite distractions we turn to when we’re just not feeling like doing a task — whether it’s scrolling through social media or playing with a pet.
Find ways to make your distractions less accessible. This can mean finding a quiet place to work, like the library or an empty room, or using an app to block sites that you scroll mindlessly when you should be on task.
11. Make tedious tasks fun
We tend to avoid jobs that we find boring or tedious. Chores like cleaning the gutters or bathroom will never be loads of fun, but you can make them more enjoyable. Try listening music or a podcast, or put on your fitness tracker to see how many calories you burn or steps you get while performing these tasks.
12. Reward yourself
Getting a job done is a reward in itself, but some people are driven by external rewards. Focus on what you’ll gain from getting something done, like getting closer to a promotion, or reward yourself for a job well done. Celebrate the end of a big project with a night out or invite friends over for drink after a day of cleaning.
13. Be Kind to Yourself
The thing about learning how to be less lazy is you’re going to have setbacks along the way—they’re inevitable. Sometimes it’s hard to crawl ourselves out of bed in the morning. I get it.
Don’t see one solitary missed day as a setback. Embrace non-routine moments and adapt to them. Remember the bigger picture, and get back to your new routine tomorrow.
If you truly want to know how to stop being lazy this is how. While you shouldn’t beat yourself up if you fall back into your lazy ways, make sure it doesn’t happen twice.
Always remember that tomorrow is a new day.
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