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Think you’re ready to quit being lazy for once and all? Check out these 15 solid tips to overcome laziness and discover some hands-on tricks to stay active throughout the day.
We all have days when we turn into couch potatoes. There is something relaxing about letting go of your daily routine and doing nothing at all.
But doing anything in excess is always unhealthy.
Your body is meant to rest, recharge, and then get back to the game of life. Leave it resting for too long, and it forgets how to love the act of living.
If you can relate to that, I get your pain, my pal. It’s not easy making yourself love your routine life when your body and mind don’t want to cooperate.
Maybe you struggle to finish your chores on time and hate dragging yourself to work every morning.
Perhaps you manage to finish some tasks on your to-do list but go to bed with a lot of the items unchecked.
Whatever your pain points are, I want you to know you’re not alone.
We all get bitten by the laziness bug at some point or another in life, but thankfully, there are ways to rid yourself of this annoying habit.
In this post, we’ll look at 15 superb tips to overcome laziness.
You’ll learn how to ditch your lazy habits for good, and slowly build your way up to a more productive and active lifestyle.
Let’s dive in.
How To Overcome Laziness – 15 Tips That Work
1. Set Clear Daily Goals
Every morning when you wake up, make a habit of setting daily goals for yourself. Your mind is an amazing thing, but it needs goals to stay excited about doing routine tasks.
Goals help you stay accountable and raise your productivity to a great extent. Keep your targets simple, realistic, and achievable to avoid getting overwhelmed.
Also, don’t set your goals mentally. Writing your goals down is more likely to bring you results, and it will also make the task of goal-setting more interesting.
Use a spare notebook to pen down your daily goals, or better yet, get yourself a to-do notepad. I’m obsessed with these spiral thingies and can’t go a single day without them.
These notepads come in 8 pretty colors, and I’m currently using the violet one. Make sure you check out all the options before making the purchase.
2. Break Down Your Tasks
Here’s something you probably didn’t know about your mind – it loves receiving simplified orders.
Tell it to help you make a boat and it’ll say ‘Heck no.’ But if you ask it to simply look up ‘how to make a boat’, it’ll be curious enough to do as you ask.
So, please, for the sake of your ease-loving brain, break down your tasks into shorter goals.
For example, if you want to write a blog post, set a goal to write the title and the headlines for the next half hour. When you are done with that, tell yourself to write the intro.
Keeping your instructions short and simple like this will help you beat laziness and stay interested in finishing your tasks on time.
3. Minimize Your Distractions
This might or might not be an unpopular opinion, but I fully believe that we live in an age of distractions.
From the tiny screen of your mobile phone to your alluring bed, you are surrounded by things that distract you from your tasks and make you lazy.
The only straightforward way to overcome this problem is to minimize your distractions, especially the ones that are major causes of your laziness.
When you are in work mode, tuck away your phone, stay away from the vicinity of the TV, don’t go to your bedroom (unless it is to rest),
Be mindful of the things that induce your laziness, and ditch them during your focus hours to be more productive.
4. Fix Your Bedtime
Having a distorted bedtime is one of the unproductive habits that impact your wellness, performance, and mental health.
10 pm is an ideal time to hit the bed. You can spend some time reading a book, listening to a podcast, and doing a mindful breathing exercise.
But by 11 pm, your lights should be out.
If you sleep on time, you will find it easier to wake up early and start your day on a fresh note.
You’ll also have plenty of sleeping hours to rest and recharge your body, which will help you stay sharp and alert the next day.
Read: 12 Amazing Ideas For The Best Self-Care Night Routine
5. Follow Healthy Eating Practices
No food is good or bad, but your food habits do impact your overall well-being.
If you eat heavy meals during the day, you’ll most certainly feel sleepy, which would lead to afternoon slumping and a dizzying wave of laziness.
The kind of food you eat matters too!
A healthy, protein-filled breakfast will keep your body healthy throughout the day, keeping you up and running on your feet.
Balanced eating is key to keeping your gut happy enough to support your body.
Eat quality food in moderation, don’t skip your meals, and keep yourself hydrated to avoid slacking off (super important.)
6. Beautify Your Workspace
If your laziness is coming from a lack of inspiration, then it might be time to spice things up by giving your workspace a new look.
Create a mini vision board to stick up on the wall, get a picture of your favorite artist framed for your desk, or buy a new planner to
I got the prettiest desk pad last month and it completely changed the vibe of my writing desk.
Small investments like these can be game-changing for your productivity. Plus, you can never have a desk that’s aesthetically too pleasing. Agreed?
Some stuff I love and highly recommend:
7. Take Healthy Breaks
If you set a goal to work for 2 hours straight with no breaks at all, you’ll be demotivated to start your work and end up procrastinating your tasks.
That’s why it’s important to schedule breaks throughout your routine. You should also focus on taking quality breaks instead of doing something that makes you lazy.
During your breaks, take a stroll, do meditation, stretch your body, or get some sunlight instead of turning to your phone to kill time.
Healthy breaks will help you avoid mental and physical burnout, and will also ensure you don’t end up resting for too long.
Related post: How To Take A Mental Break From Life – 13 Simple Ways
8. Get Yourself To Workout
I’m feeling lazy and you’re asking me to work out? What the-
I know, I know! I have some gal to be asking you to do this.
But it’s no secret that exercise is the best cure for a slow body. It’s impossible to feel like a lazy bee while flailing your arms to jumping jacks.
I am not asking you to hit the gym here (honestly, I don’t like those places, either.) Just do a simple, short, and sweet home workout.
Do some squats, push-ups against the walls, and a few lunges to give your legs some power. If your lazy vibes don’t run to hide in a corner after this, you can leave me a hate comment down below.
Here’s a post that’ll help: How To Motivate Yourself To Workout (8 Simple Ways)
9. Understand The Root Causes Of Your Laziness
It’s easy to judge yourself in the face of frustrations, but it takes patience to understand where your issues are coming from.
If you’re stuck in a rut, why is it so? Do you lack interest in your work, or is your body in dire need of rest?
Could it be that perfectionism is causing you to adopt an all-or-nothing mentality, or is it the fear of failing that’s making you want to not get started at all?
Turn off your self-sabotaging thoughts for a minute, and help yourself gain some clarity.
Once you realize the root cause of your laziness, it’ll be easier for you to analyze your problems and come up with concrete solutions.
10. Turn Your Lazy Hours Into A Self-Care Session
The thing that makes laziness feel so guilt-inducing is the feeling of ‘not doing anything’. Your mind wants you to move, but your body simply doesn’t want to cooperate.
Instead of berating yourself, you need to turn on your faucet of self-love, because that’s just what your body needs!
Allow yourself to be lazy, but bring in a cup of green tea, and grab your favorite romance novel to read in bed.
Take a long bath to relax your mind, body, and soul. Add some colorful bath bombs to romanticize your experience.
Sit on your porch to nourish your body with sunlight, journal your thoughts in a few sentences, and indulge in a hobby that makes you insanely happy.
And that, my friends, is how you make your laziness productive.
11. Keep Your Surroundings Neat And Organized
A messy and disorganized environment acts as a breeding ground for laziness. Believe it or not, you can create good vibes for yourself by cleaning up your space.
Start with your room. Make your bed, clean the dust off your drawers, and organize your cupboard. Keep every item where it belongs, and get rid of anything that sticks out of place.
Your desk at work should be free of dirt and clutter, and all your items should be stacked neatly in the drawers.
Make your work easier by keeping the items you use the most within your reach.
If you want to learn some more organizing hacks, try this 7-day organizing challenge.
It’s easy to complete and will be of tremendous help in shifting your mind space to a more active zone.
12. Make Your Mundane Tasks More Fun
You might dread doing your daily chores or simple tasks because of their boredom factor.
Nobody enjoys cleaning the bathroom or doing the laundry, but you can make these chores more fun by throwing in some fun side activities.
How about listening to a podcast, or playing upbeat songs in the background?
You could put on your fitness band and challenge yourself to raise your step count whilst doing your routine tasks.
These little tricks will make your mundane tasks more fun and help you beat the procrastination bug like a pro.
Don’t miss: How To Be A More Fun Person – 9 Effortless Tips
13. Set Rewards For Yourself
Some people work well under pressure, but that’s not the way to deal with laziness.
I always harp on the importance of using positive reinforcement to stir up your productivity, and setting rewards is the top tip I can recommend for that.
After tackling your daily tasks, reward yourself with a scoop of ice cream or buy one item from your wishlist for a day well spent.
Watch a movie at the end of a super productive day, and celebrate your little achievements by taking yourself out for a cup of coffee.
When you are running low on inner motivation, there’s nothing wrong with turning to external rewards to find your missing drive.
14. Dress Smart
I love my baggy tees and my countless sets of pink PJs, but let’s be honest, wearing them does nothing for my girl boss energies.
Like it or not, what you wear does impact your mind space. That’s why it’s better to assess your to-do list for the day and dress for the part.
If you have a full day of cleaning ahead of you, then put on your old overalls, tie your hair in a cute ponytail, and put on a pair of sneakers to get into your cleaning zone.
If it’s a work-from-home day for you, then put on your best home-wear clothes and clasp a watch onto your wrist to feel smart.
For your work days, wear clothes that make it easy for you to channel your authenticity and confidence.
Don’t hide your cool-looking clothes in the back of your wardrobe. Pull them out and wear them as often as you need to.
This is one of the coolest tips to overcome laziness and raise your productivity bar.
15. Create Some Solid Routines
Routines are amazing for staying grounded in the present moment and practicing mindfulness on a daily basis, which is why you need to create some personalized routines ASAP.
The best place to start would be a morning routine.
Find healthy rituals that make you feel your best and do them every morning without fail (drinking a glass of warm water, doing yoga, watering the plants, or going for a walk.)
Do at least one uplifting activity every afternoon to beat the 2 pm slump. It could be journaling, meditating, stretching, or having a lemon drink to hydrate your body.
Before going to bed, spend a few minutes indulging in some mindful nighttime rituals. I usually read a book, listen to a podcast while doing my skincare, and meditate to the sound of nature.
We are what we do repeatedly.
-Aristotle
If you have healthy routines, you’ll naturally be more inclined toward good habits and less likely to feel lazy.
Try this hack to improve your life and create healthy patterns in your routine life.
It’s Time To Quit Your Lazy Habits For Good
These 15 tips will help you overcome laziness and ditch your lazy habits once and for all.
Whether it’s doing a chore or finishing a daily goal, you’ll be able to motivate yourself to put in your best efforts.
Take it one day at a time, and don’t forget to be gentle to yourself in the process. Growth takes time, but in the end, the results are always worth the wait.
Read next: How To Break A Bad Habit – 7 Smart Ways
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