Friday, October 17, 2008

Overcoming Laziness and Procrastination Tips - Finally Become Active

Laziness Is Your Enemy
The world keeps moving and changing. For people who do nothing, they are as good as dead. If we do not keep improving ourselves with each passing day, it can actually mean we are slipping back.

In time, we will be overtaken and devastated simply because we were lazy to not utilize our time, resources, energy and skills to enhance our knowledge, experience, career, business, relations whatever.

So keep this in mind. We need to constantly monitor and be aware of where we are heading. Laziness can be a great enemy of ours which is not to be taken lightly.

Procrastination can stem out of laziness. Though there may be other reasons why we procrastinate, but many times laziness and procrastination go hand in hand together like childhood friends.

Do you know what are the disadvantages of being lazy?
First of all, you will be condemned to a low quality life. Simply because you didn't study well while in college due to laziness. In your career you don't take the required actions to increase knowledge and expertise and become indispensable part of the company.

If you are in business, laziness can be fatal. You can lose clients or orders if you fail to act on time. You may find excuses not to work hard or work overtime even though your business demands it.

Laziness can also be bad for relationships and friendships. By being lazy, we might not do the things that are needed to be done. Even simple requests by out family members or friends might go unheeded causing them appointment because of us.

Laziness and procrastination are also big time wasters. If you want to be good in time management, then you have to eliminate the habit of procrastinating.

Firstly, you should be aware of when you are feeling lazy. Awareness and acknowledgment of the problem can be the first step towards solving it.


Low Energy Levels, Tiredness and Laziness:
One of the main causes of laziness can be because of low energy. Sometimes we just do not have the physical energy to do a task. We feel tired, bored, sleepy etc.

There can be many reasons why we feel tired. Sometimes we are genuinely tired because of hard work. In that case, the remedy is simple - we need a good rest. Then we should soon be back to our former best.

But in case we feel tired all the time then its an indication of some problem. Either we are suffering from lack of quality sleep, or we are not eating properly. Our dietary habits can also affect our energy levels.

Stress, depression and physical illness or problems can also affect energy levels and make us feel tired. You need to analyze what possible reasons could be contributing to this problem. Maybe you might also need the help of a qualified doctor in such cases.

However there are a few suggestions which can be helpful to you in overcoming your constant fatigue and tiredness. There is 1 such helpful program which you can check out here - End Tiredness Now

You can also check out my articles about healthy sleeping tips, and power naps to improve your energy. You can also call power naps as short energy sleep.

If tiredness is not the cause of your laziness, then continue reading below...

Simple Tips for Overcoming Laziness & Procrastination:
Most of the time laziness occurs because we are not sure of what to do. We lack a clear picture in our minds or do not have a plan of things to do. This can cause confusion and lead to laziness.

One of the ways you can avoid laziness and overcome it to a considerable extent is to have a daily plan of activities.

The day before, make a plan of activities or tasks for the next day. Include those things which are important and have to be done the next day. Spend some time visualizing yourself doing these things tomorrow.

Then when tomorrow comes try your best to finish all the activities on your to-do list. Once you have a plan, it might be easier for you to escape from the pangs of laziness.

At the same time, also make sure that your to-do list does not include too many activities. We might also procrastinate when we feel overwhelmed or tired. Just be easy on yourself and set realistic deadlines for activities and do not try to do too much otherwise you would be setting yourself up for appointments.

This brings us to another reason for laziness. If we feel we have failed in something then it could also cause us to become lazy next time around.

So make sure that you do not overwhelm yourselves. Make your to-do list small. Its better to have just a couple of important activities in your daily plan and do them and then have the rest of the day free than to have tens of activities many of which you fail to do.

When this happens, you will no longer feel like maintaining a to-do list from the next day onwards. You will quit this good habit. So a good strategy is to be easy on yourself and make your to-do list such that all assignments can be easily accomplished the next day.

You should also have some time for relaxation and for unforeseen emergencies which might cause delays. If you have some difficult tasks in that list, break them up into smaller chunks until you no longer feel difficulty or incapable of doing them.

If you have failed in some thing before, and now you are procrastinating in doing that thing again, what you can do is to analyze your past performance. Find out what mistakes you made. Think how you can do it in a better manner this time around.

If you still feel unable to do that thing, ask yourself what strengths or skills do you think you need to accomplish this task. Then you can try to find means of developing those skills and acquiring that necessary knowledge.

All the above tips should be helpful in curbing this weakness called laziness.

Another technique to overcome laziness and procrastination:
There is a very effective technique to overcome procrastination problem.

I call it the 10 minute technique - which can help you to motivate yourselves to do things which you dislike or hate but still cannot escape from them.

You can read about it here - Motivating Yourself

Finally, I recommend this resource to everybody interested in removing bad habits from their life whether it is procrastination, laziness, lack of persistence etc. Bad habits can stand as obstacles in the way of our dreams. Learn how you can eliminate them in 21 days or less than that by changing the way you think about them - Eliminating Bad Habits

The Successful Habit:
Another important suggestion is to start small and improve gradually in any aspect of your life. Do not try to take giant leaps. Usually people who are in a hurry often get late in achieving things they so desperately desire.

It is because they are always trying to take shortcuts or trying to do too much and obviously fail. And it is usually people who are consistent and persistent who are successful.

If you have been lazy all your life, its not wise to all of a sudden try to be the most active person you can dream of. Remember the story of the hare and tortoise you heard in childhood? The moral of the story was - Slow and steady wins the race.

So take small, baby steps towards improvement. Stretch your comfort zones little by little. Expand your horizons and improve your talents one small step at a time.

Consistency is the key and you cannot be consistent if you are too hard on yourself. You can only do those things consistently which do not burn you out.

This resource can help you in eliminating bad habits so that you can become consistent - Habit Busting

Hope you found the article useful. You can leave your feedback below!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I use to be lazy and a procastinator until I realized I have the power within to change. I realized if I don't do it no one else will, and if it's to be it is up to me. I can do it because I rely on the power within me!