Cure For Laziness Step 1: Admit Your Problem
The first step to solving any problem in your life is to admit you have one. This concept was made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous and has helped millions of people recover from alcoholism.
However, laziness is different from substance abuse because, while AA says you’re powerless to get over your alcoholism, you can become motivated and overcome your sloth. My life is proof of that, and your life will be too as you keep coming back to this site to work through the program.
Recognizing your laziness is crucial. You cannot recover from a problem unless you first realize it exists.
This is the toughest step for everybody who tries to improve themselves. You see, psychologically there’s a natural inclination for people to think they’re special.
So it’s time to drop the ego and realize the pain that laziness has caused for you. Once you’ve pinpointed the problem, you can get moving and get results!
Here’s another good quote from Ben Franklin from The Way to Wealth (1758) that shows how bad of a problem it is to be lazy…
“…sloth, by bringing on diseases, absolutely shortens life. Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears; while the used key is always bright, as Poor Richard says. But dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of, as Poor Richard says. How much more than is necessary do we spend in sleep, forgetting, that The sleeping fox catches no poultry, and that There will be sleeping enough in the grave, as Poor Richard says.”
Question: What specific failure has laziness caused in your life? What goals has it prevented you from reaching? For example, did it cause you to lose a job? Did it cause you to gain weight? To keep smoking? In my own life, laziness caused me to flunk out of school, then start a business that failed because of my lack of motivation.
Comment by Bobby in Austin
I’m engaged to a lazy person, I didn’t know it before but now that we live together - he barely gets out of bed, perfectly happy, hasn’t worked in 6 months. Didn’t like working before then but had to. Now that it’s a “we” working, effort, perfectly enjoying not doing one thing. I’ve tried to jokingly bring the point home. Help.
Posted on April 3, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Comment by Leeasa
You may have already solved this problem together but here goes.
This person seems to feel entitled to your paying the bills. Speculate on this question: Why might they feel this way? Does he have dreams of being the stay at home partner (ie. if you adopte children)? Or what?
Be delicate but be firm. He seems happy being lazy so he will fight you about the idea that it is a problem. Be prepared. Kindly tell him that you feel that he may be taking advantage of you. That you work very hard and would that you need to work out what the miscommunication may be.
Thats what I would do if I had so much already invested in the relationship. And then its real simple: A - he loves you and gets a job or contributes his share to your life style (Ie. car maintenence, grocery shopping, laundry)
Or B - he’s a moocher and wants to get as much out of you as he can before you put your foot down.
Posted on April 25, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Comment by hrezan
This has been incredibly helpful to me, and the part where i read that “..we have a natural tendency to think that we are special…” really hit home. i think when we think that way we think we are excempt from the normal rules of the general populace, which is a skewered way of looking at the world. unfortunatly, i have subcousciously been thinking that way due to some depressive issues i’ve recently had and also due to my high position at work. it never really hits home sometimes until someone solidifies the idea, either in writing or verbally.
Posted on May 23, 2007 at 2:12 am
Comment by darrell
hay my name is Darrell …..my problem began as a child im now 38 years old.
ive never been a motivated person ive always been lazy.
but im ready to change ….see ive got two kids that r mine and two step kids,i work all the time but im not motivated after work i wont to eather sit at the computer or watch t.v. or sleep.
i would like to be a regular dad and loose my laziness,but i dont know how to start.
i dont know if i can get motivated to do any thing, im always tired and dont wont to be doing any thing but relaxing. what can i do r take to give me the extra energy to be a good father and husband and a better person … ty for your help .
Posted on June 16, 2007 at 3:27 am
Comment by Torko
I admited that I’m lazy. 2 or 3 years ago. Since than, I can’t do anything with my laziness. I droped university 1 year before finishing it.
As Darrel, I work maybe 12 hours a day. I thought that I have been working. But the work allway stayed undone because lack of focus.
I have tried several self-invented-methods of geting rid of laziness. Some worked partialy. Some didn’t worked at all.
The bigest problem is I know what is to be ambisious…not lazy. And I miss it.
It’s fu**ed up situation.
P.s. Sorry for my English…
Posted on August 19, 2007 at 5:11 am
Comment by alec
hi, am alec… am 24 and a private pilot. it took me 5 months to get my private pilot license, while my pals got it in 2-3 months. and i’ve blaming my flying school for all the delay but inside i knew it was me… i was not at all focussed on my goals.. i’d come back from a flying lesson and switch on the t.v. or play games on my computer. because of my stupidness, i’m already in 500$ debt. not that its a very dire situation (i’ve been through worse).. i’ll get outta this one.. but my real frustration is the fact that every time i f**ked up something or the other.. i never changed my ways.. my mindset. but as i woke up today.. something hit me.. i’ve been like this for the last 8 years.. games, tv, music, movies… everything else but study. i always kept searching for some short-cuts to success.. never found one.. and still kept on trying..
am gonna start a new schedule from tomm. coz my new course starts tomm. am gonna study like any normal dedicated student.. but most importantly, am gonna stop watching t.v. and uninstall all games from my P.C.
i loved all the articles in this site and the comments too.. i hope all of you get rid of this damn laziness.. am gonna give it my best shot.. lets see… i guess the key is not being afraid to try loving my work.. will surely get back to you guys.. peace!
Posted on August 25, 2007 at 11:35 am
Comment by leila
i have become very lazy and unmotivated these past few years. it has gotten worse these past couple of months due to the fact i became ill with many different and unusual diseases. i have three girls to take care of and i am getting behind with everything:housework,my girls’ activities and i have become very annoyed with my husband because he doesn’t understand what i am going through. i feel overwhelmed with everyday chores, such as bathing my girls and cooking. please give me some advice on how to overcome this rot i have gotten myself into.
Posted on October 5, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Comment by pumpyy
i’m lazy coz i’v been grown with this life style now i want my kids and people workin under me are not very active
and smart i cant make them i’m giving them the same environment i have had
my company is not coming up to my expectations my children are not working hard so not showing good results
Posted on November 16, 2007 at 5:25 am
Comment by Britany
A specific failure laziness has caused in my life is my lack of motivation. When I begin a task I often wont finish it completely or I will rush to get the job done. My laziness is the cause of this for a many of reasons and you can tell it stresses me out! Because I will tend to do this in natural occurances, my low self-esteem and because of my lack of self-interest I am scared to take my learning ability and relationships with people to the next level. Often times I am doing everything without thinking and that interfers with my whole go about’s with life and the people I love. Goals my laziness has prevented me from acheiving is my whole life and my will to learn! Because of my laziness I missed out on a great education and great opprotunities to make something of myself. In the past I decided to block out all things that I went through and was ashamed of rather than learning and improving from it the situation right away! In most cases I struggle when I am in a relationship. I will put whoever it is that I’m dating first on a 24-hour basis which means I spend no time by myself or with friends because I am busy “trying to make him happy”. I spend my days trying to figure out what is it that I can’t get past and get my life together. Why can’t I get started or move forward? Why am I unhappy all of the time? Laziness and my lack of motivation have caused me to be in a series of a “search for self” and a ton of “starting overs”.
Posted on December 10, 2007 at 3:13 am
Comment by Jensen
wake up people!
that may not sound to nice, but it’s the truth!
1. re-read what all of you said, sure it’s over exaggerated, but you are all working, having family, looking for ways to cure your problem, and taking time to type out extremely long stories about it… thats not laziness!!!
2. what are you not lazy about? apparently you all like to sit and watch tv, so get rid of it, if your drug of choice is the PC use it in a fun way to get you motivated! I.e. my backround says step one, make a list! this helps me to make a small list of things i need to do!
3. if you have kids, or a spouse, and they becoming lazy because your lazy your a Dick Annd you need to use your PC time, or whatever, to look up fun things to do to get your blood pumping!
4. fat and lazy? the child obesity rate in america is growing bigger every day (no pun intended) so, find an annoying fat kid! say what? thats right find an annoying fat kid, and pay him a semi large amount of money to come by everyday and walk you! give him, lets say, 15 dollars a day, but only if he walks you! walk for an hour and run for 15. increase your running by five minutes(staying in that hour and 15 minute range) every week!
5. just do it. it makes you feel crappy, it’s not good for you, you need to stop, etc. etc. etc… look, you are a smart powerful individual.. you got this far in life, right? you made it! maybe not as fast as others, maybe not as well. life has been hard. but honestly. laziness is like, well, laziness… the thing you want to do, isn’t about to go away… just do it now before you have to do laundry and god knows what… yeah… i need to do laundry.. okay… hope i’ve helped… god damn… i’m going to do the laundry! grrrrrr!
see… that easy!
Posted on December 10, 2007 at 9:51 pm
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Posted on December 18, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Comment by dipz
I have never admitted this before but sometimes I do think I am special and think that if I eat junk itll not affect me coz im special. Its all come from ppl who might have been a little jealous of me and said omg! You eat so much and don get fat! Its these kind of things which make u feel special. My usual answer to most things is I cant be bothered or Ill do it later. So in 10 mins or so Ill start some exercise! :p
Posted on December 28, 2007 at 8:08 am
Comment by sergey
i am too lazy to read this
Posted on December 31, 2007 at 11:25 am
Comment by Zak
Man I am so lazy. I started my own business but spend my time playing poker online instead of doing marketing and sales. If I don’t get my act together I’m going to be very, very poor.
Posted on January 27, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Comment by Rachel
I think I’m lazy because of my belief that I am in NO WAY SPECIAL AT ALL! Stay-at-home Mom, 2 kids, nice house, my poor husband works all the time, while I read, write, get on the computer, do some laundry here and there, cook a little, etc. I am pathetic. And the things I want to do, that get me excited, are always shot down by my friends and family. I’ve wanted to get an interior ‘re-design’ idea going, but everyone says forget it, it’d never happen in this town. I want to write, but how can I compete with all the fantastic writers out there?
I’ve been working as a receptionist part-time and I’m on edge constantly, always thinking I’m doing something wrong that’s going to destroy the small business I work for. But I’ve enjoyed that I’m actually doing it and I even feel better and have more energy on the days I go into work. I’m just always stressed while I’m there that I’m messing something up!
I draw house-plans a lot. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told my boys I don’t want to play a board game because I’m doing this. The truth is I’m too lazy to stop and go to another table to play. Disgusting.
No. I’m not depressed. It’s a confidence thing, I think. I’m generally happy and smiling. I just don’t want to DO anything. I might mess up. Even my home. I don’t think I’m special at all.
Posted on February 7, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Comment by steve
ok im lazy. i hate work and cant wait for it to finish. i have a mental illness schitzophreniaive. just read that its because of the illness why i am lazy. i sleep 12 hours aday please tell me of any help i can get.
Posted on March 5, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Comment by Sonia
I’m usually lazy and I think it’s because of the food I eat. Each time I eat unhealthy food, I get super lazy and very unmotivated. I think if we just eat raw foods that could help.
The computer is also a big problem. Maybe just stay away from it and use it for 2 hours a day or something.
Posted on March 15, 2008 at 1:08 pm
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Posted on April 2, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Comment by Isaac
I know that there is no one on this planet lazyer than me, i lay on my back
22 hours a day everyday, sometimes when
im laying down i dont even fell like
breathing, it damn near takes all the
energy in my body to talk or think
and i hate it. and as far as working
i dont see how people do it, im healty
as a horse, but i live like im paralized
from the neck down.there has got to be
a cure for this because it feels like a
desease, damn im lazy. HELP PLEASE
Posted on April 23, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Comment by suji
hi
I really appreciate this website and the members etc for doing good things. And I thank everyone.
Im basically an senior engineering student 22yrs old. I was lazy all these years.And i still procrastinate . Although having worse grades, i can still pick it up if i can study from now on. Every week i would just decide my self to concentrate but once i get on PC, that’s it, it’s the end. It would waste all my time. I dont know what should i do . I think im the laziest person ever.
I work in a restaurant on weekends, for which i have to wake up as early as 4 am. I was there ontime and i was doing perfectly fine even though i merely slept last night sitting on a pc.
Im kinda addicted to the PC.
Please help me??
thanks in advance.
Posted on April 29, 2008 at 11:17 am