How to Overcome Laziness and Start Taking Action
An 8-Step Guide
Everyone’s lazy to a certain extent.
And sometimes, laziness is a good thing: after all, efficiency is just intelligent laziness.
But that’s not the kind of laziness we’re talking about today.
Today, we’re focusing on the other kind of laziness…
The traditional, original brand of laziness.
The “sit on your ass when you know you need to work” type of laziness.
How to overcome laziness of this variety is what you’re about to learn how to do.
Let’s dive in.
1. Set goals.
You cannot hit a target that you cannot see.
If you take a magnifying glass outside on a sunny day and start waving it around, you won’t accomplish anything.
But if you take that same magnifying glass and hold it still, you’ll be able to harness the sun’s rays such that you could cook an egg if you wanted to.
That’s what goals can do for you…
And I’m not talking about cooking your eggs.
I’m talking about how to overcome laziness and start inspiring action.
When you set a goal, you tell your mind that THIS is what your focus and energy should be dedicated to. And when you do this, your mind will fall in line and help you make it happen. It’ll be easier to take action and harder to let laziness get the best of you.
When you set a goal, you set an intention.
And a well-set, powerful goal will do more to combat laziness than anything else. Why? Because goals have the power to harness your focus.
If you’re lazy in any area of your life, it’s likely because you haven’t decided in detail what you want in that area.
And you cannot hit a target that you cannot see.
The solution to this is simple:
Keep in mind that you cannot hit a target that you cannot see.
That said, identify some compelling, exciting goals for yourself in each of the major areas of your life – physical, financial, emotional, spiritual, etc. – and write them down.
When you have a plan of action, you’ll be less likely to procrastinate and give-in to laziness—and more likely to get going and take action.
2. Create strong routines.
Routines are one of the best ways to overcome laziness because anything you do on a daily basis eventually sets itself into stone.
Funny thing is, creating routines is actually your brain’s way of being lazy.
How so? Well, your brain wants to conserve energy as much as possible, and every time you THINK about doing (or not doing) something, your brain uses up a bit of energy.
And if your brain recognizes a routine, it puts it on autopilot by creating a habit…
This way, it doesn’t need to use up any extra energy and processing-power to execute. The upside to this is, that eventually, you don’t need to think about certain things you need to do because they’ve become natural and automatic.
When you leverage them properly, routines can kill your laziness.
The fastest and most effective way to create routines is to do them at the same time every day.
Some examples:
Exercise at the same time every day
Time-block three hours to work on your most important goal at the same time every morning
Read for 30 minutes at the same time every day
3. Exercise to reduce laziness.
I didn’t start taking exercise seriously until I was around 19-ish years old. I still remember my first day in the gym. I walked into the campus recreation facility with my fraternity brother, Sam, who promised to show me the ropes.
I approached the dumbbell section. There was a fella there busting out one-armed tricep extensions with a 20 lb. dumbbell. I decided to do the same thing. I took a dumbbell off the rack, sat down on a bench, and hoisted it over my head—before realizing I wasn’t strong enough to hold that weight as gravity sent it directly toward my forehead. (In case you’re wondering: yes—it hurt, yes—it left a bruise, and yes—it was embarrassing as heck.)
Thankfully, I got myself to go back the next day. It’s a good thing I did, because once I learned the basics, I was hooked. And once I started seeing results, I became straight-up addicted (in the best way possible).
Eventually, I started to notice the peripheral benefits of working out:
My confidence improved
My energy and focus went up
I felt more calm and less anxious
It seemed like the more I hit the weights, the better my life became.
Not all habits are created equal.
Exercise is a high-leverage habit – which is a habit that, once developed, can have a positive impact on every area of your life.
People who exercise don’t just look better and live longer…
They’re more punctual.
They have more confidence.
They’re more productive and energetic.
And yes—people who exercise are a heck of a lot less lazy than those who neglect to do so.
So, if you want to beat laziness, start exercising. You don’t have to go crazy. Just get started.
4. Find motivated accountability partners.
Laziness is contagious.
If you surround yourself with lazy people, you’ll fall to their level.
Find someone with the willingness and capability to hold you accountable.
This might be a motivated co-worker, a friend, or a family member.
Find someone who will give you that stiff kick in the ass whenever you need it—someone who won’t let you miss a day no matter what.
Someone who won’t tell you “it’s okay” or “it’s “fine.”
Someone who will call you out when you’re being lazy because they genuinely care and want to see you succeed.
5. Make fewer decisions.
Every decision you make has an energy consequence.
Just like your phone’s battery gets drained when you use it a lot and when you have tons of apps running in the background; your willpower gets drained when you use it a lot and have tons of unresolved decisions running in the background of your brain.
Each morning, you wake up with your willpower on full-charge…
