I heard a story this morning about a friend who is struggling in their marriage at the moment and how this struggle is impacting across everything else in their life. The obvious impacts include a general lack of buzz for life and a diminishing pipeline of work. Of course there will be other impacts that might not be as obvious such as mental and physical health. I found it interesting that the word lazy cropped up to describe this friend’s approach to life. It made me ponder on what it is that sits underneath laziness. Keeping in mind the brain is a habit machine. It looks for patterns and so it likes to form habits. Our habits then really inform our life and our outcomes. On a side note to ‘laziness’, understanding the brain is habit machine is vital for our self awareness.
FACT: Laziness can become a habit.
This habit might show up in your your your motivational. Or your lack of motivation.
For example, when it comes time to make a choice or a decision, if you are required to step up or to try hard or to face a challenge, or do stretch and do something different, the laziness program will kick in and and make you feel tired, distracted, nervous or disinterested.
WHAT THIS MEANS:
If laziness is a theme for you, a mental program that has become a habit to fall back on, you will have evidence of this throughout your life. Understand you can shape shift that habit or that program if you want to. You can remove that program or that habit. This means you change the impact laziness or procrastination is having on your life.
TIPS TO KICK THE LAZINESS HABIT:
How do you remove the laziness program or habit once you spot it?
1. Pull it apart. Give the laziness program a bit of an autopsy. Try to do this as the observer, like a scientist. No self judgement, just curiosity. Look at how the laziness program seems to be rewarding you at some level. What are the rewards you are gaining by being lazy or by procrastinating or avoiding. Name the rewards, write them down on paper and take a curious look at this pattern you are operating with. The brain learns better when we write things down and see it on paper.
2. Once you name the rewards, then name the costs. What does it cost you to have this laziness program running in your mindset? Ask, what is it costing my health, my career, my happiness, my life?
3. Compare the list of rewards over the list of costs for you. If you decide that the laziness program is actually giving your life more than it is depleting your life, then, you are not going to be very motivated to make any changes.
If you realise the costs of being hijacked by the laziness program are too high for you. You will have more motivation to work on breaking the habit and shape shifting that mental program into a more empowering, better serving mental program.
COULD LAZINESS OR PROCRASTINATION BE A MINDSET BLOCK?
Often when it comes to our procrastination or our laziness program or habit, there is something bigger at play. There is something that holds deeper meaning for us sitting underneath this behaviour. If you are not consciously aware of what sits underneath the laziness or the procrastination, then you probably have a blindspot.
Blindspots are not obvious to us, but, we see the results of them decorating the years of our life in the areas of our life we are not satisfied with.
Again, if you are suspicious that you do have some hidden blindspots at play, you can simply sit with these deeper feelings in your gut and heart and try to name them too.
TIP
Ask yourself… what it is, what sits deeper in my heart that needs my attention? This is why quiet time in nature or in meditation and being mindful are great because they really help you to shut down the white noise and the chatter in your head so that you can better hear what your deeper inner messages are trying to tell you.
If you are procrastinating on a difficult decision or conversation either with a work associate a friend, a neighbour or with your spouse, try checking in on your rewards and your fears or the costs for the laziness or the procrastination and get really clear on the real reasons you might choose laziness, avoidance or procrastination and what you stand to lose if you keep choosing laziness or procrastination over taking mindful action.
All the best.
Teaming with you for your greatest success and happiness.
Brisbane Life Coach | Mindset Coach | Counsellor
