Move It! Move It!

January 16, 2023

Previous post in this series – Laziness, Procrastination and Stagnation

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So, in my 2023 challenge- KICK OUT LAZINESS, I am trying to watch myself and see what would work best for me. I often watch YouTube’s tips and solutions but won’t follow because it all feels so overwhelming. So, to devise what would work for me is of utmost importance to literally KICK OUT LAZINESS from my mind as well as body. Each lazy person is special in their own way, so, each should see what would work for them. Try, test and implement.

In my last post I had said that I would wake up at 4:30 a.m. for five days owing to a self-inflicted punishment due to poor progress in my mission. I was frustrated with what my lazy-sheet was recording and hence, I took up an impulsive decision to wake up at 4:30 a.m. for five days. Now you may ask me, did I stick to it? Well, no.

My aim is to KICK OUT LAZINESS which means that my days should be productive. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. for two days and with utmost surety I can say that, for now, it was a big failure to my aim. Reasons:

1. I did not sleep early as my body clock isn’t up for it right now.
2. With a sudden disbalance in my sleep cycle, I got way less sleep leading to frustration, anger and eventually reduced productivity and motivation. I was feeling like giving up. Got a head-ache too despite the early mornings being peaceful.

It really made me like this-

I may aim to be an early riser later but for now what I’ve learnt is that adequate sleep is required to make the day productive and KICK OUT LAZINESS. Knee jerk decisions with momentary motivation are quite detrimental in the long run. Working on my mission one step at a time- carefully, not letting myself get discouraged.

When it comes to our bodies, many things are at play at once, so we must listen to what our bodies are telling us. Anger and frustration reduces our productivity. So, the important lessons learnt this week is-

1. Adequate sleep is essential.
2. Exercise!

Sometimes, I become one with my chair. Mind reminds me of some important work pending but somehow, the body resists due to inertia and over comfort causing unnecessary scrolling or daydreaming. And when tasks pile up, my body still doesn’t resist inertia. Soon, a feeling of failure overtakes which prompts me to give up. So laziness makes me give up on things I haven’t even tried! That’s a toxic cycle I am caught into. So, in such a scenario, the challenge is to move in order to break inertia. What helped me is, whenever I catch myself being on a chair/bed/couch for too long resisting because of inertia, at that very point, physical movement helps. Forget about the work pending, forget about the world, just give yourself a few minutes to get up, play a song and exercise or dance. Move. Just move it! I like to move it! Move it! Physical movement at that point shakes me up from my inertia, a little exercise or dance helps to freshen up my brain and then, I can focus on my task.

I choose not to be harsh on myself hence, I give myself a few minutes to get out of my comfort and move (zumba, dance or a walk for me) instead of doing it immediately so that I don’t feel discouraged if I am not able to knock off my inertia in an instant. I know discouragement will make me even more lazy!

Yesterday was a Sunday. Since all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy, I took the leisure to have a lazy-day after so many days of watching myself. It was a good decision as I felt fresh in the morning. But laziness is an addiction and I ended up wasting my time today as well! A big blunder!

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The next post on my KICK OUT LAZINESS journey is- Failing at Time-tables