How To Become More Disciplined – 8 Ways To Overcome Laziness And Procrastination
- Aug 26, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 18, 2024
Expert Panelists are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within the areas of Business, Mindset, Leadership, Lifestyle, and Sustainability. Members of The Brainz Magazine community of experts will share their best tips, advice, ideas, and hacks on different topics.
Expert Panelists
1. Introduce clarity on the final results
There is no way to reach goals and create new success stories without being productive and disciplined. However, many times great plans and ideas remain unapplied and never hit the ground in real life. Laziness and procrastination often explain delays or inability to take action and are sometimes wrongly interconnected. There is even a common assumption that procrastination is caused by laziness, which is rarely true. On one hand, introducing discipline and engagement in thoughts and processes can help overcome laziness. Procrastination, on the other hand, can be reduced by introducing more clarity on the final results, defining tasks that are going to make a real difference – needle movers – and reviewing emotional wellbeing and engagement levels.
2. Plan, act, be guided, and celebrate
Being disciplined gives you more freedom. Have a plan to follow with clarity and focus. Block time for mission-critical action steps and avoid wasting time on "shiny object activities". Have an accountability partner, a coach or mentor who guides you, inspires, and empowers you to get things done. Last but not least, celebrate your wins, big or small.
3. Commit to a timeline
Put yourself on your calendar, commit to 1 to 2 hours to complete the project, and set up a finish date that makes you accountable.
4. Take small steps
No one wants to think that they are lazy. No one wants to procrastinate. People have lazy times, usually in response to times when they have reached exhaustion. People have times when they procrastinate that occur because they avoid dealing with something emotionally hard for them. In both cases, ask yourself, "What's possible now? What can I do to move the needle forward in some way?" Don't think of taking a gargantuan step unless you are ready to take one. Instead, do something. Small steps forward will help you achieve what you want. Do it again. And again. You will find if you keep doing this, you will have moved your mind and accomplished what you need to do.
5. Change your point of view
To overcome your tendencies toward procrastination, you have to find ways to change your point of view that it’s tedious or that you don’t like it/don’t want to do it and make the work more fun for you. Ask yourself: What would make this task more enjoyable? Can you put on some music? Do some physical activity or dance around your house to get you pumped up? Call in a friend for assistance? What if getting things done doesn’t have to be hard or tedious?
6. Treat time with respect
Timing is everything! It's about having an action plan that warrants careful deliberation in taking steps to complete a task. Procrastination creeps up when time is too open. Nothing breeds laziness more than time not invested in completing a task or project. When time is treated with respect, the individual begins to treat it as a valuable asset. The best advice is to create a task list and add a time to start and complete it. Adding the tasks to an electronic device is helpful to keep on hand when on the go. Having a written agenda with the items on a calendar schedule is helpful to keep organized and stay on target. If a task is incomplete, reassign it to another day with extra priority for buffer. Having a quick glance at the end of the week to ensure all have been completed or re-evaluated will help stay in the flow of getting things done. Time buffers should be added to move things around that are flexible with due dates. Finally, have an accountability partner that will help you.
7. Schedule everything
One way to conquer laziness and procrastination is to get a schedule and calendar. You should schedule the things you need to accomplish throughout the day. Schedule your meetings, phone calls and even your lunch. This way, you're not working around the clock, and you're getting things done and now burned out at the end of the day.
Pixie Lee, Business Coach
8. Visualize the end result
From cleaning up the storage room to finishing an important project – amidst all other noisy and joyful distractions – there are some techniques I love to use:
Visualize the end result! Imagine the storage room clean and empty, getting your grandma's table fixed and ready to use in that charming space in your home. With your work project, write the first draft, feel as if it is already done, ready, and recognized as excellent at the office!
Schedule it all, hour by hour; use soft colors for things you may allow yourself to cancel, by order of importance, and stronger colors for things you must tackle no matter what.
Remember that being lazy wears off your self-love, so take a mini action step immediately. You will feel happier after you visualize, schedule, and love yourself more!
