Maximize and Manage Laziness to increase Productivity

“Laziness is a human tendency …  and when managed can lead to useful shortcuts and inventions, so find the thing you really want to be lazy about and then come up with a working way to make it easier. Suddenly your laziness is actually productive.”  The following strategies can help manage feeling or being lazy.


Work on dreaded items for designated time.

Set an alarm for 10 minutes to do the task you DREAD and then STOP.  Assess how much gets done in that time.

Make a deal with yourself that even though don’t like doing the task, do it anyway for 10 minutes. Once you are involved, it’s less tempting to quit.  Usually, it can be motivation to keep going after the timer goes off, but if it doesn’t at least you did something.”


Leave yourself an easy task for the following morning

Save an easy task to work on the next morning so you can start your day off with a win.

Don’t get tempted to be distracted with the easy things while working on the dreaded activity.

People are most likely to procrastinate at work when they have a hard problem ahead of them. Even though the problem won’t take much time or effort to solve.


Morning Exercise

Start the day with 20 minutes of exercise each morning.

Research highlights the importance of exercise for beating laziness, particularly when done first thing in the morning. Once you get your blood pumping, you will realize that you feel wakeful and energetic instead of sleepy and lethargic.”



Switch up your work environment

“Procrastination can be caused by staying in same environment or seat for long periods. When feeling stuck modify your space or environment and surround yourself with others who are being productive so they encourage me to do the same.”

Recent research suggests that being around other people who are working hard can motivate us to buckle down, too. That could potentially explain why we’re less inclined to log onto internet while sitting in a group setting full of people who seem super-focused.


Get a partner-Peer colleague

Select a peer at work to check in with you on how you are progressing forward and accomplishing tasks.

Find a colleague to hold you accountable for your non-lazy behavior, this will allow you to have advocate for your progress.  Be sure when selecting your accountability colleague to choose someone with a track record of achieving difficult things and communicate with them frequently.


Write down the problems you’re putting off facing

Take the time to stop and write about your problems, the details, put them on paper, make a list, a graph, whatever you like to describe it.

Turn the overwhelming tasks into small chunks by grouping issues into two or three larger all-encompassing problems.  You realize the problems aren’t as big as you imagined, or that you can break them down into smaller chunks, and it will be easier to get started tackling small first.



Do the thing you’re thinking about 

When you catch yourself thinking about something you should be doing, but aren’t, just get up and do it,”


Follow the ‘two-minute rule’

If it takes less than two minutes, just do it.

Decide whether you can deal with a task in two minutes or less. If so, deal with it right then


Keep a list of Ideas and Exciting things you like to do

Whenever you have an idea for an exciting project that you don’t have time to work on that day, put it on a special IDEA list. Then, on day when you are feeling particularly unmotivated or have a “lazy day, you can pick a project that you actually would enjoy working on instead of ‘wasting’ the day doing nothing,


Dress up

If you dress different, you will act different,”


