Ever find yourself scrolling through cat videos only to realize hours have vanished into thin air? Then you have given in to laziness or procrastination.
To control these powerful beasts, you first need to understand what they are and how they differ.
Are you rrrrrrrrrrrready to rrrrrrrrrumble?
Face the 2 biggest productivity enemies
Before we get to solutions, it’s crucial to fully understand what laziness and procrastination are.
What is laziness?
Laziness is often described as an unwillingness to do anything, even when you have the time and resources. It’s that urge to hit the snooze button repeatedly and avoid tasks altogether.
What is procrastination?
Procrastination is when you delay tasks that need your immediate attention. Unlike laziness, you still want to do it, but you do less important activities instead.
Now you know what beasts are keeping you from being productive.
Let’s have a closer look at how they differ.
What are the key differences between procrastination and laziness?
The lazy dude in me doesn’t want to spill too much words here.
Instead, I made a table with the main differences between being lazy and procrastinating.
| Laziness | Procrastination |
|---|---|
| You don’t want to do it | You want to do it |
| You don’t do it at all | You postpone the task |
| You may do nothing at all | You do other activities instead |
| It can affect your overall productivity | You will do it, just in time (or a bit after the deadline) |
| Everyone has lazy moments | Some people are pro procrastinators |
Wouldn’t it be great if we could transform ourselves by simply telling:
Drop everything and do that important task now!
My inner voice, trying to fight my habit to postpone urgent tasks
Or
Get from the couch and do something useful, dude
My inner voice’s lousy attempt to fight my inner sloth
Alas, that doesn’t move the needle at all.
Why?
The psychology behind productivity killers
Battling procrastination and laziness is a mind game.
The problem is that you are taking it up against yourself.
Even when you win the battle, a part of you loses: the sloth or the master delayer.
Your chances to win this battle increase when you understand what is going on in your head.
Let’s first look at the postponing monster, and then at what drives stops lazy people.
Why do people postpone tasks?
People can postpone tasks for different reasons.
How do I know?
My brain tricked me with endless excuses to not work, as you can read further below. (Spoiler alert: I managed to get myself under control).
- I will do it tomorrow. This is also called “deadline-driven procrastination” and it happens when you only start working when a deadline is near. The extra pressure can give a boost, but it causes stress.
- I hate doing that. The nerdy term for it is “task-aversion procrastination”. It usually kicks in the moment you have to do a task that you dislike.
- It’s not good enough. Some smart people call it “perfectionist procrastination”. If you want something to be perfect, you will waste a lot of time.
Worth reading: Five minutes are enough to kill your procrastinating habit.
Why do people slide into lazy mode?
Unlike what many people believe, laziness is a monster with two faces. It can smile and hiss.
And that makes things more complicated.
- People can get into dangerous lazy mode because they have deeper mental issues triggered by fear or anxiety.
- Occasional lazy moments can be a sign that someone is overwhelmed.
- Laziness can also be a deliberate choice to take a break from stress.
As I said before, I have applied many techniques and strategies to get me started instead of feeling bad or guilty.
And this is what helped me…
Key strategies to battle laziness and procrastination
To combat lazy moments, you can try these tips:
5 tips to combat laziness
These are 5 beginner tips with a high impact:
- Embrace laziness. Yeps. Instead of feeling bad about moments you are not productive, you can treat it as a friend, or a reward.
- Find a partner in crime. Isolation is bad for your mental health. You can try to find a buddy to work together, like we did with the lazy secrets team.
- Create a boring routine. The laziest way to spend your day? If you don’t need to think about what to do next. You can even plan your breaks.
- Reward yourself. You are in the best position to understand what motivates you. That can be as simple as reading a book or daydreaming in the park. Reward yourself after you did what you had to do. And enjoy the guilt-free moments.
- Follow us. We are filling our site with real-life experience, advice, and hacks. You can follow our journey on YouTube.
5 techniques to manage and reduce procrastination
To break the habit of delaying tasks, you can apply these beginner techniques.
- Create fake deadlines. A deadline next Monday? Put a reminder in your agenda that you have to deliver it this Friday. Even if you know it is not the real deadline, it can trigger you to do it now.
- Set a ridiculous short timer. If you know a task usually takes half an hour, challenge yourself to do it in 20 minutes. Put all your attention into it and finish it, even if it’s not perfect.
- Break tasks down. That colossal, daunting project? Chop it up like a salad into bite-sized, manageable pieces. Easier to chew. And digest.
- Make a to-don’t list. Write down everything that distracts you. Switch off notifications, hide your phone or, even better, toss it into another room (gently!).
- Follow us on YouTube. We don’t want to turn into workaholics (again). We just want to have a good time while getting things done.
How I overcame these challenges myself
I was a procrastinator. Then I became a perfectionist. And then I became the king of laziness.
All of that happened during different stages of my life.
It took me effort to beat a monster.
And then the other was already standing in the queue.
But all those battles made me stronger…
Chapter I: Me, the procrastinating student
As a student, I was a textbook example of a procrastinator.
Exams next month? I opened my books the evening before the test.
Of course, my parents and teachers said that I was a lazy dude. (If you read the above, you know they meant “procrastinator”).
But since everything went OKish, I didn’t have any reason or motivation to change my behavior.
Let alone, explore cool studying methods like the Pomodoro technique.
That changed at the end of my first year at the University. I failed. Not miserable, but 2% short.
Ouch.
I was studying English literature, but definitely missed this quote:
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.”
Charles Dickens
Luckily, my parents gave me another chance and sponsored my studies for one more year. The pressure on my shoulders increased.
But since day one of the next college year, I never missed a lecture.
Never.
Party the night before? I was the smelly nerd in the first row at 8 am, taking notes, bringing them home and going through them to plant the seeds of knowledge in my head.
The lesson I learned: do small things every single day. It takes less effort than doing everything last minute.
Now, all of that went well, but then things changed. I found a job, and no longer needed to prove myself.
Yet, I wanted to.
And that got me again into trouble.
Chapter II: Me, the perfectionist
When I started my career, I met a new enemy: perfectionism.
The funny part is that I was not even aware of it.
Perfectionism is great at disguising itself. So you need to keep your eyes open for that sneaky bastard.
It’s easy to see flaws in others, but we are blind to our own shortcomings
With hindsight, it was only appearing when I did things that I truly enjoyed. Like writing an article.
In other moments, I could easily live with the “good is good enough” wisdom.
The lesson I learned: Battling perfectionism is tough. Your ego, pride and sometimes fear of being judged by others can easily trigger the overthink mode. Getting rid of that requires a total shift of mindset.
Chapter III: My ‘couch potato’ transformation
Days of binge-watching. Lounging during the day.
Napping 10 minutes after I woke up. And an hour before I went to bed.
Although that felt good at the beginning, it affected my mood.
And my life. (Which no longer felt like one)
I decided to break the vicious cycle and tried out a bunch of lazy strategies.
But I also didn’t make a U-turn.
I kept laziness in my life but with an ethical twist.
The lesson I learned: laziness is good if you consume it in moderation.
Chapter IV: Lazy Secrets
When I look back, I realize my journey was an ongoing struggle and battle.
And I am sure I will meet many more obstacles on my path.
I don’t want to give anyone false hope.
Laziness, productivity, procrastination and whatnot can be serious issues.
But the thing is, I am also glad I went through it.
And I hope this site can give you some comfort.
Or inspire you to take another direction.
And now what? The couch or the vacuum cleaner?
Laziness and procrastination can put a burden on you. But as I hopefully made clear, they are different things.
Don’t plant yourself on the couch now. Or take your vacuum cleaner to avoid doing what is really important.
Instead, you can give one of the above strategies a try.
I hope they are as useful to you as they were to me. And if they are not immediately, that’s okay too.
Do it step by step. And enjoy the small wins.
And remember, laziness is not always a horrible monster.
You can turn it into your best friend as these famous artists did.
Or keep it close to you, as all your other enemies.
