So we will go over how to deal with your laziness and your procrastination. This two things can feel like such a detriment to our lives. There so much we wish we could get done in day or in week but it feels so impossible. And by the time we get to it we feel like we have no energy to get those things accomplished. We know we want to get this things done and we have the desire but we end up putting it off more and more and over time this can lead to things simply not getting done. Working on getting past procrastination is definitely a struggle and feeling lazy about it isnt easy either.
In this article we will go over some ideas of how to tackle these struggles to try to help you move forward and make progress so that way you can keep getting the things you want done so you can feel like you are continuing or getting things on track in your life.
Procrastination:
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- Why is it that you are procrastinating
An important step to dealing with your procrastination is figuring out why your doing it. It is figuring out your cause for doing so. What things trigger the desire or feeling of wanting to put something off.
- Sometimes we procrastinate due to feeling uneasy about the task. This can be accompanied by the fact of the task simply feeling to daunting to even approach this task. This can spur anxiety and only gets worse when we dont do the task. By not doing the task is it can amplify the feeling worry and anxiety about doing it the first. One of the toughest challenges about doing a task is getting started with it.
- Another reason why we procrastinate is because we underestimate ourselves due to self esteem issues. We don’t think we are good enough to do a certain task or we will fall short or disappoint someone and that can be ourselves too.
When it comes to bigger tasks or bigger goals these are some of the reasons why we procrastinate on these types of task versus day to day chores:
- We don’t have a specific idea of what we want in mind. Are ideas and goals end up becoming so generalized? It gives us no motivation to want to go for it because we dont know where to start. The goals feel completely inactionable. With no way to virtually make progress.
- We can’t make decisions on what the course of action should be so instead we literally do nothing. This mixed with perfectionism can really hinder doing anything or the desire to do your work. You dont feel like any course of action is right and your actions have to be perfect and so do the results. You end up feeling scared that you will mess up anything. You never think that anything you do will help you get to your goals you never start because you always get stuck looking for the best way to go about things instead of being present taking risks and learning to deal with failure and adapt.
- The biggest reason of all of why the majority of people probably procrastinate is the fear of failure. I am often used to this myself. We get so wrapped up in our heads that we cant succeed or won’t succeed that we never do anything about or even try to begin with. We cant face the reality of failing and the pain and discomfort. Its so ingrained in so many people that failure is bad. When in reality the way you should look at failure is a learning experience and try to be okay with that failure. That is something that can help you get unstuck when you fear failure.
- Break Down Tasks
Reducing the size of tasks is such an important thing we can do to make things feels more manageable. When we reduce the tasks and take them on at a slower pace things wont feel so intimidating when trying to do these things.
- Figure out what you want the end result to look like. Figuring out what you want from this can be a vital element into breaking it down. When you see that you can start to work backwards and see what smaller things can go into accomplishing this.
- Now that you have an idea of want you want the end goal to look lke. You can now start to list out steps. By listing out the steps you can see what needs to go into getting what you want done. Getting yourself that visualie can help you also create a timeline of what needs to get done and when it can realistically be done
- The next thing that can help you is how you prioritize your tasks. What needs the most attention. This is typically the thing that is going to be either the most time dependent whether it be by deadline or how much time it is going to take to get done. Its important though to realize if there is a certain order the task need to be done to stick to that order and not jumping ahead unless there is some sort of flexibility you can have with those tasks.
- Shrink your sessions of work down. This can be done by using the pomodoro technique. You can shrink and expand your sessions of work based on your needs and the time it takes to get those things done.
3.) Change Your Environment
Whether it be changing the physical location or the things in you environment this can be a way to help you stop procrastinating or just being more productive.
- The first thing you should do is to remove the things that trigger you to want to procrastinate. For example taking out games or tv, removing your phone and putting it on do not disturb.
- If there are too many distractions, going to a different place can be useful for getting what you want done.
- Having a clean space is also something that helps keep you more focused and definitely more relaxed. It makes it easier not to be so anxious and it also allows you not to use a messy spaces as a way to procrastinate and not get things done.
4.)Create a Plan
By having something set up ahead of time this will allow you to know what you should be doing at what given time. By creating a plan you might be more likely to stick to it because you have an idea of when you want to get things done. Creating your plan the day before can also help to make sure you don’t try to plan things out at the very last moment. By following tip number two and breaking down each step into smaller actions this will be easier and you will be more likely to give yourself the ability to have actual follow through with your actions.
5.) Reward Yourself
Another important thing we can do is reward ourselves. This can be something that can be a key motivator for us. Its important to take the same things we use to procrastinate with and redirect ourselves with by making it be the reward instead of thing that prevents us or makes more likely not to get the thing we want done. Here are some additional ways to reward yourself if that doesn’t feel like enough and how you should go about it.
How to go about the Reward:
- Don’t pick something that undermines what you have done. Something that might either make it harder to do the work the next time or simply something that makes it as if nothing was ever done.
- Find something that makes you want to do your work, something that inspires motivation within you. Sometimes bigger rewards over a longer period of time could be something that does this for you, when you do achieve this thing the reward will have a much higher and more meaningful pay off in the long run.
- Also its important to have rewards that are equal to the size of task, by having short term rewards coupled with bigger term rewards this can help bridge the gap to get to bigger rewards but not only that but also help you get the day to day things done. This smaller rewards are useful stepping stone to keep you on track to working on things day in and day out.
Types of Rewards:
The types of rewards should depend on what you are capable of doing yourself and what you desire and would push you forward. These are merely suggestions and finding something on this list that resonates with you could be beneficial but is also recommended you find something to makes sure this is something you really want. Whether this be and experience or a thing.
However people do find experience to be more rewarding and make them happier in the long run.
- Binge a show/ Watch a movie
- Find and read a book
- Go on a small staycation
- Try Yoga
- Meditate
- Try a new restaurant/ make something you have always wanted to try
- Go to an art museum/ museum
- Shopping Day
- Spa Day
- Take the day off of work
- Unwind with friends
- Try a night time class / Dancing / Cooking / Art / Improv / Language
Laziness:
1.)Set Goals That are Realistic
When you set your goals you might have set unrealistic standards for yourself. When we learn overshoot or under estimate our capabilities this can make you feel unmotivated to do the things you set out to do. We either get fed up with what we want and grow bored or get completely burn out from trying to achieve the goal in the first place. Here are a few ways to help you setup a goal that is more realistic.
- Figure out first how much time it will take to achieve your goal. Working through this part can feel frustrating but is a key aspect if you want to ever achieve your goals. Its best to break it down into chunks. How to structure goals.
- Next you should assess how badly you want to achieve your goal, this is essentially is your level of motivation. Getting a feeling of how badly you want it from one to ten can help you see how hard its going to be to achieve the goal. Oftentimes we overestimate how badly we want it. Asking some of these questions can assess where you are at on the one to ten scale.
- What things do you have to get done in a day? Are you willing to make sacrifices for these things?
- Are you willing to adjust your schedule?
- What are you willing to give up in order to achieve your goal? What can you give up to achieve your goal?
- Now that you have done these things you should start to evaluate what you need skillset wise to achieve this goal.
- Do you need education or formal training for this?
- Can you find someone to help you like a mentor?
- Can you read books or watch videos to learn about this? Will you need additional practice for this goal?
This is what you should also be aware of when taking account for how much time it will take to achieve your goals in the process.
- Lastly you should figure out if you’re going to need additional support, and what kind of people that can help. Figuring out which tasks can either be helped with or delegated to move you along. Now it doesn’t mean support has to come in the most formal way but its good to have support when taking on bigger goals. Other ways someone can support you is an example like emotional support.
2.) Dealing With Stress and Anxiety
Sometimes stress gets in the way of us getting things we need to get done. It not only makes not want to do the tasks and hand and it also makes us feel more lethargic and drain over time. By taking time to destress and learning how to manage it better this can make it easier getting things done and gives us more energy to do so.
Here are a few ways to deal with that stress:
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Going for walk outside preferably in nature
- Watch a show or movie
3.)Ask Others for Help
Sometimes when we think that we should take everything on all by ourselves. This can be a cause of feeling drained which ends up making us quite lazy in the long run. By learning to ask for others’ help we can not only feel more motivated but also have more energy to do other things and get things accomplished too. People can also give you morale support when you feel like you need that extra bit of encouragement to push through some more of those difficult tasks.
4.)Start off Small
When things get too hard we typically feel deflated and don’t want to try doing our tasks. But if we choose to start with easier tasks this can be a great way to start off and build momentum and gradually get to doing more difficult tasks. When we take time to work on getting started with something this allows us to feel like we are getting something done as well. When we wont start sometimes we put off until the very last second by accomplishing something we help ourselves to push forward and it allows us to say that we at least accomplished something in the long run.
5.)Take a Short Break
Sometimes the exhaustion gets to us. We want to keep pushing to get things done to hit our deadlines. Sometimes this laziness comes from needing to recouparte on all of the work we had just done and need small break in between doing things. If we keep constantly pushing ourselves we will burnout and then more wont get done in the process. It is really important to remember that were human and we can only push ourselves so far until we crash we arent machines after all. Here is some tips to taking an effective break:
- Go outside for walks in nature
- Unplug from the screen just sit and relax with no distractions
- Taking a short nap to help you recharge
- Make some time to reach out to friends whether in person or over a phone call
- Do some yoga or basic stretching especially if what you’re doing requires a lot of sitting.
In Summary:
We have just gone over 5 ways to deal with procrastination and laziness. Taking the time to gradually implement these things can help you get a lot further with getting things done and not feeling overwhelmed. Learning to recognize when you need to relax and have breaks with creating plans around these things can put you in a better position to move forward. By switching things up and creating more effective plans around these tips you can learn to make progress in things you don’t want to do or simply struggle to get done. I hope this helps you in your journey. Take care.