How to stop being lazy and start projects: 5 tips
Many times, what makes it difficult for us to advance is not so much the lack of time, resources or skills, but rather simply laziness . Those moments in which we know that there are certain responsibilities that we must attend to and that we end up leaving for later are perfect examples of the extent to which we are capable of self-sabotage.
We know we must do something, we also know that not doing so will have negative consequences, and yet we choose the second option. What happened?
- Related article: "Procrastination or the syndrome of" I'll do it tomorrow ": what it is and how to prevent it"
Several tips to stop being lazy
There are certain projects in which everything is a matter of beginning. Unfortunately, the discomfort involved in getting into it during the first moments can become such an unpleasant idea that we never decided to get down to business. In these cases, we often look for excuses of all kinds in order not to recognize where the real problem lies: laziness.
Next we will review a series of tips to be clear about how to stop being lazy and take care once and for all those projects and responsibilities that require our work. For this, we will modify both our objective habits and our belief systems.
1. Sleep well
This is a fundamental step. No one can work on projects that are seen as an "extra" job If the quality of sleep has been bad or if you have not slept enough . In these cases, it is normal to do the minimum to get rid of the obligations that must be taken care of immediately, and then go to rest or to sleep.
So, even if you think that sleeping is a waste of time, think that doing it often can be the difference between losing the whole day or not losing it.
- Maybe you're interested: "10 basic principles for good sleep hygiene"
2. Determine what exactly you should do
There are times when we rationalize our desire to do nothing by constructing a fiction in which what we must do is a difficult and convoluted task that deserves to be addressed at a more appropriate time, and not in the present. We take advantage of the ambiguity about what we have to do to inventing that is very complicated .
For example, if I need to go to buy some speakers, I can imagine that before I spend several hours informing me about the operation of these devices, then go to compare the products, choose the store where they give the best offer, and find a moment to go buy them to go well enough to buy other things.
This can be avoided if we determine from the start what it is that we should do . The essential, the main thing, with very specific limits. In the case of the previous example, this would be, in case we do not want to spend a lot, research a small number of speaker models, read their characteristics and consumer opinions, and go buy them at a nearby store.
3. Divide your goal into several sub-objectives
Something fundamental when it comes to overcoming laziness is to eliminate any possibility that we look for excuses. For it, the best thing is to pose very simple tasks that, in chain, form the way towards the general objective to which we want to arrive. In this way, we get two things.
On the one hand, the feeling of "obligation" will be much more powerful, given that the perceived cost of making such an insignificant action will be much less. On the other, when starting a project or work, we naturally tend to want to complete it. This phenomenon is known as the Zeigarnik effect.
4. Stay away from distractions
Turn off the TV, leave the Smartphone hidden and get to work away from the refrigerator. If you have to work with the computer, it is not a bad idea to ask someone to change your Facebook password or any social network that you use a lot, so that you only have it once you have finished what you want to accomplish.
In short, you must do what is right for that there is nothing around you that may tempt you with the idea of giving you a reason to disregard your responsibilities. If these distractors can have that effect on your mind, you can also counterattack by making those "powers" disappear, at least for a while.
5. Look back and look at your progress
This is one of the most rewarding parts of beating laziness, and it consists of stop and think about the fruits of your effort , what you did not have before and what you now enjoy. Of course, any effort also has a negative part, but at this moment you should look only at the positive, given that in normal situations we tend to let the bad eclipse the good by the mere fact of being (although objectively less important).
This is an important stage, because it allows you to associate those actions and thoughts that have led you to advance, on the one hand, and the positive results of those initiatives, on the other. It is thanks to this that although at the beginning it was more progress, as we get results it costs less.
