The Cure for Lazy

I know a lot of lazy people…people who would rather spend the day planted on their couch than anywhere else…who choose take-out over home cooked, every night of the week… who would rather have a root canal than go to the gym.

Sure, I know that we all have our occasional lazy day on the couch, but lately it seems that more and more people are turning laziness into a career.

What about you? Check if the following describe you (or someone you know):

• You are habitually inactive.
• You’d rather be a passive observer than an active participant.
• You’re a master excuse-maker.
• You find shortcuts in order to avoid the long haul.

If that’s you, don’t get down on yourself. There are many legitimate causes of laziness. Here are just a few…

1. Sleep Deprivation: When you’re short on sleep it’s easy to become unmotivated, which quickly turns into laziness. Get a minimum of eight hours of sleep each night in order to maintain enough energy to get you through the day. Some experts even say that ten hours of sleep each night is what you need to function at your best.

2. Caffeine Abuse: Starting your day with a jolt of java may help with your initial alertness, but the dip in energy that takes place a few hours later could be the reason that you become lazy later in the day. Avoid the rush and crash of caffeine and instead rely on your steady supply of natural energy.

3. Bad Habit: At some point being lazy simply becomes a habit. If every night after work you head straight to the couch, it soon becomes automatic and not a conscious decision. Breaking the habit of laziness is actually quite easy. Simply take yourself off of autopilot and make the conscious decision to do something productive instead—like heading to the gym rather than the couch.

4. Inactivity: If your job keeps you in a chair for hours at a time, and you don’t exercise when off the clock, then your body is just accustomed to inactivity. It’s time to wake up your under-used muscles and to reacquaint yourself with the joy of motion. A simple way to get back into the swing of things is to go on a 30 to 60 minute walk either before work or after you return home.

Laziness begins when you ignore that little nagging voice in your head. You know, the one that reminds you when you should take action on something rather than sit by and let the opportunity slip away. Is today the day that you will kick laziness to the curb…the day that you will take action toward achieving your goals…the day that you will listen to that little voice of reason?