It’s a very common thing that we and all the creatures in this world experience. Laziness is more like a universal thing. We might be too lazy to walk, go for a run, to study, to do our house chores or even to bend down to pick up things from the floor. This can be seen in anyone from time to time right? There is a proverb which says lazy people will carry a mountain which is completely true. They tend to pile up things and at the last moment it turns into a heap. Without even releasing this laziness cause us problems, missing out on opportunities and also serve as a hindrance to our victory that we are bound to achieve in life. Procrastination is also a part of laziness. Let’s get into this article to know ways to get rid of this little but not so little foe.
Image Source: Pexel
KAIZEN STRATEGY
This is a Japanese technique. The word “kaizen” means continuous incremental change. “Kai” means change and “Zen” means good. We bring in small changes, follow it consistently and after a very long time a big change can be seen when we look back. When we start doing something, it may seem like we are not getting anywhere with it but if we keep on doing and after, maybe, say 1 or 2 or even after 7 or 8 weeks to months, when we look at where we have come it will be shocking to us.
A doctor explains this with his life events. While studying for emergency medicine, the textbooks were huge and needed both hands to pick it up. Medical students know this fact. He stated that the textbooks were so heavy that he couldn’t even think of carrying it around. He decided to divide the textbook based on the chapters. Cardiology being one text, endocrinology being another text and likewise he divided the entire text into small books. This made it easy to carry and also while looking at the book there were only lesser pages which made him read it faster and effectively. When we look at the things to be done as a whole, it might feel as a big task and laziness automatically kicks in. Instead we can set small goals in between to reach the final goal.
Image Source: https://trevallog.com/badaling-great-wall-of-china/
BREAK DOWN THE TASK ALONG WITH LAZINESS
You can’t get up in the morning and demand for a big change in one day. The faster you understand this the closer you are to your goal. Everything that is happening in life needs time. No disease develops within a fraction of second; it takes its own time in your body to manifest as disease. The thing is, we are oblivious to it. No businessman or body builder or anyone who became successful or at the very least, people who managed to escape from their miseries claims that they did it in one night. They were patient enough with themselves and the situations that they were put in, resilient enough to get up after hitting the ground hard.
A SIMPLE EXAMPLE
Today, beauty is very valued and uplifted. Receiving criticism for not matching the beauty standards or body shaming has become very common, like a natural thing to do. Let me share an experience that happened to my close one. She was fat and she knew it. So she never wore any dress, jeans or anything that hugged her nor did her parents allow her to. One day she was motivated by her friend to wear jeans, not too tight, with a baggy t-shirt. As soon as she walked past some lady and held eye contact with her she was embarrassed to walk anymore.
“The way she looked at my legs was like blaming me with her eyes for something very shameful that I did.” This is how she quoted it to me. She was always body shamed by her friends, calling her a pig, but it didn’t hit her until this happened. She thought it was normal to tease within the friend circle. That’s when she decides to exercise. All these happened during the lockdown period of covid.
It was extremely hard for her to exercise, so hard that it took her eight months to twist her body to touch her left knee with her right elbow. She looked in the mirror, every single day. Nothing changed, yet she refused to give up due to the embarrassment she felt that day. She believed in herself and kept going. Attending her college post an year of lockdown still remain as a memorable moment. Leaving the mouth of her friends hanging. She went from 85 kg to 75 kg.
SOME EFFECTIVE METHODS TO FIGHT LAZINESS
- Understand that nothing happens overnight. Break down your tasks into smaller actions that seem simple to do.
- The 321 method: When you feel like you can’t get yourself to do something use this method. Count loudly, 3….2….1 and get into motion quickly. If you were laying down sit up straight, if you were sitting then stand up and if you were standing then walk towards the place where your task lies.
- Make it fun: Tasks like cleaning your house or wardrobe can be fun with music or cleaning together with your partner and betting on things like who cleans better will get a reward by the other person.
- Setting a timer: You can set a timer to do things and give yourself a rest time and then start again. The thought of getting rest will motivate you to do your work faster.
- Recognise your effort. When you feel like your small increments are nothing, just look back and reflect on how far you have come.
- Stop comparing yourself with others. Every small change that you make matters. Life hits differently for different people. Never look at somebody’s progress and say that you are worthless because we never know what they have been through, what depths they have seen so as to get where they stand right now. The only person you should compare yourself with is yesterday’s you.
- Recognise your distractions. Distractions will be there anywhere you are and what you can do to defend yourself from it is to increase your focus or get away from it rather than blaming.
- From time to time you can set a lazy time for yourself, once in 2 weeks or in a month. Make it less frequent and don’t make it a habit.
- You can also reward yourself or set a goal of buying something or visiting a place for sticking strictly to your plan.
- Start to exercising regularly or develop some habits demands discipline.
Written by Gayathri Gopinadh