I almost didn’t get to write an article today. I almost let the laziness get to me.
Heck, I almost didn’t get anything done today.
I felt really heavy, and if I followed what my feelings were telling me, I’d be curled up in bed again, sleeping the day away, or mindlessly browsing Youtube and Facebook, again.
I wouldn’t be productive, and I’d have wasted a lot of time. That could’ve been put towards achieving my dreams, and having more freedom in life.
But I didn’t let laziness get to me. How did I beat it back?
Turn off distractions.
I realized that it was too easy for me to write a few words here and there, and then open up another tab in my browser, and before I knew it, I would’ve wasted 30 minutes watching mindless videos and browsing Facebook.
So what did I do? I had to change my environment to cut out the distractions. From my PC, which was outside my room, I retreated back into my room, and started typing on my laptop, with the internet turned off. Now, I have no alternative on this computer to distract myself, and I can focus on typing out my thoughts.
We humans always look for the avenue of least resistance. It’s how our brains and bodies evolved to survive. So what you have to do, is to change and take control of your environment, so you can make it easier for you to do what you want to do.
Like going to the gym. It’s notoriously easy to just skip going to a workout, especially with busy schedules. I try to take control of my environment, my situation, to make things easier for me to go to the gym.
What does that mean? It means putting the sessions in my schedule. It means I lay out my gym stuff and clothes the night before, so when I wake up the next day, all I have to do is put on my clothes, get my back, and walk out the door.
This also means not stocking the ref with junk food and sweets, and always keeping water handy.
Put up visual reminders of your goals and dreams, and what you want to achieve. A lot of the times we become lazy because we forget what the goal is, and how important it is for us.
Trust in the process.
One way I start to become lazy, is when I begin questioning my actions and their results. When I don’t see results soon, I begin to doubt the effectivity of what I’m doing, which in turn diminishes the motivation I have in the moment to do the required tasks.
And after writing for a year, I wasn’t getting the results I thought I would be getting, and so I began doubting the effectivity and worth of writing two articles every week.
So what kept me writing? It was the trust in the process.
I trusted in the process that by sticking to a posting schedule of two articles per week, I’d show up and write at leas two articles per week, and that writing would help me put more content in my blog, and give me practice in writing, and articulating, my thoughts, ideas, and experiences.
I became lazy when I began judging my own work. And I’m a very harsh critic.
It’s not our job to judge what we do.
It’s our job to show up and do the work.
No excuses. Get the work done.
It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Be honest with myself.
And I wasn’t able to just show up and do the work right away, with a clear head. I remember the first few times, doing any work, that my inner critic would ridicule and judge my work, and find it lacking, unworthy.
That was my head, my feelings, talking to me.
And despite that inner talk, I chose to push on ahead, and keep writing, keep working out, keep sharing and speaking to people.
Because I began to be honest with myself.
The younger me would heeded that criticism, and stopped. He would’ve studied more read more, and be very cautious about the opportunities he would take, to avoid feeling like a failure, and to slowly build up and progress at a pace he felt comfortable with.
He would do that because he was afraid of the inner critic, and afraid that what the inner critic was telling him, would be what other people would tell him. He was afraid of looking and feeling like a failure, and too concerned with what other people would think of him.
The moment I became free of them, was the moment I became totally honest with myself, and accepted those feelings.
Like when writing this article, I admitted to myself that I felt lazy, and that I didn’t feel like writing an article. Why was that? Because I felt frustrated and directionless in the moment, due to some situations I’ve been in.
Was those reasons and feelings good enough to stop me from writing? No. But they would have if I had given in to the feelings, and if I wasn’t honest and accepting of my feelings.
Instead, I used those feelings, and that experience, as fuel to share with you what I’m learning right now.
Do the same with your feelings and experiences, and the laziness will melt away, and give way to energy.
Go through the laziness.
Because if you let laziness stop you, in all its shapes and forms, then that is time and energy that could’ve been used to improving your life, and improving other people’s lives, going to waste.
Accept and be honest with your laziness, and accept and recognize them for what they are: fear, doubt, insecurity, uncertainty, and distraction.
And take control of your environment, to give yourself as few distractions as possible, and give yourself as many enablers and reminders as possible.
Beat back laziness, by going through it instead.
How do you beat back laziness? Please share in the comments below!
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