Lack of energy (and laziness) CAN be cured. If I succeeded with these, anybody can.

I know, I know. Easier said than done. I get it. It wasn’t an overnight thing for me either. I’ve had my ups and downs. I still do.

But after all those years of fighting laziness and procrastination I now finally understand how it could be possible to make a progress right away and be proud of myself and my accomplishments at last. Something I wished for so long.

And the funniest thing is that I didn’t even realize how unsatisfied I was at the time. Until recently. And maybe you don’t quite see it either, you only sense the lack of energy and put off every task you have with the most famous excuse ever – ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’

Tomorrow really is a magical day. It always comes, yet it never does.

   – Average procrastinator

At the moment you say these 5 words – I will do it tomorrow, do you feel good about it? Maybe it feels ok at the moment as it takes away the pressure of doing the task.

But does it really clear your head?

Or is it silently causing you guilt?

And making you more and more unhappy every day?

What does the little voice in your head say?

Listen to it, listen carefully.  I am going to share with you the mistakes I made so you don’t have to make the same ones. My goal is to help you get your results as soon as possible. This is all based on my own experience. I hope that motivates you enough to try. 

Because I succeeded, big time. And today I feel more energized than ever. Hooray for that!

1. Never expect to do everything at once.

The biggest mistake ever and the thing that was in the way of my battle with laziness was…wanting it all at once. Yeah right. What was I thinking?

My most important advice here: Don’t you ever put too much on your plate or you’ll soon find yourself disappointed and discouraged because you ‘failed’ at some point.

Of course, you failed when you decided to do 20 different things all in one day trying to catch up for the whole last month.

It doesn’t work that way. So what should you do then?

Start small.

Two simple words do wonders.

For the beginning, choose one small task to accomplish in the morning and after you do it and it makes you feel good about yourself, add the next one. And so on. There’s a huge power in small things.

Whether it’s getting an answer correct at trivia or catching your favorite song on the radio, indulge in the little “wins” of your day.

Repetition causes things to slowly creep into your system. Don’t give up until they do. I will refer to starting small many times during my post with given examples.

2. Wake up earlier! Have quality sleep.

(And make your bed in the morning, show a little gratitude for having a place to sleep at night.)

Get up, you lazy ass. It’s a new day and we have some work to do.

Why should you make your bed?

Making your bed may seem like a non-important and meaningless task. I know because I used to think so myself.   But when you start your day with that it gives you a tiny feeling of satisfaction and boosts you to make another small accomplishment. It helps you start your day right.

The look on your messy bed doesn’t help you a lot as it clearly makes you think about going back to bed, and I mean subconsciously.   Just try it. It really isn’t much to do. Do it for a week and then decide whether it helps you or not.

Now, what’s with the waking up earlier part?

If you are used to waking up, let’s say at around 8 PM and you are crawling from your bed for a half an hour, you get up at 8.30 PM. Then you don’t have to go in extreme and start waking up at 5 PM. Of course, I don’t want you to do that.

Yes, it’s been proven that the highest energy and creativity level is around 5 PM – 6 PM (around sunrise) but we don’t have to go that far.

Like I said, start small!

Wake up 30 min to one hour earlier than you did before. It’s not a big deal. Yet it has a huge impact on your whole day. And no, you won’t be more sleepy throughout the whole day.  Right the opposite. You may even find yourself less tired and less sleepy if you lower your sleeping time, according to science.

Hey, don’t look at me. Blame science!

There is an optimal amount of hours an average person should sleep, it moves around 7 hours. For me, this is it. The perfect number. Sometimes even 6 can be enough, depends on the quality of your sleep.

Use that extra time to do a few small tasks you would otherwise leave for the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. OK, you know what I mean.

When I say task, I don’t literally mean it should be work. Use that time to prepare yourself a healthy breakfast you usually don’t have. Or time for a 15-minute stretching. (more on that later on). Probably best if you do both.

The point is that you wake up in the morning for yourself! Not for your job, not for others. But for yourself.

How can I make all of this happen if I don’t have a quality sleep?  

Hmm, sounds familiar. Do everything you can to have that quality of sleep.

First, let’s start with your mattress and your pillow. You must have the kind that suits you.

I started noticing that difference when I was moving from one apartment to other during my student years and now that I am on my own. I slept on various beds. Often I go visit my mom on weekends and I stay for two nights. Whenever I was at my mother’s house I woke up after 6 hours of sleep, fresh and very well rested.

When I came back to my rented apartment, I could sleep for 8 hours or more and still feel tired. Not to mention I felt guilty for sleeping in because I had so much stuff to do. So what did I do?  I placed a thinner quality mattress over the main one. I didn’t want to buy the whole mattress and replace it with this one because it’s wasn’t my own apartment and I didn’t have the money back then. I chose a cheaper but still effective option to improve my sleep.

Another thing you should consider regarding the quality of your sleep is too look where electricity runs through walls. If you have to, move your bed to a place with the least wires in a wall.

Make sure you turn off everything so electricity doesn’t run around. You wouldn’t believe how much of an effect this has until you have made a change.

Turn off mobile data or wi-fi on your smartphone.

And the last thing you have to consider is what do you do before going to bed. If you’re staring in your computer or a TV one moment and the next moment you are trying to sleep, then guess who isn’t getting a good night sleep?

Grab an easy book to read in your last half hour before bedtime.

There was a difficult time in my life when I had trouble sleeping. I slept for 2 hours a night for two whole weeks. I lost 10 pounds in two weeks. I wouldn’t normally complain about losing weight but it wasn’t healthy weight loss I wanted. So how did my sleep go back to normal?

Guided sleeping meditation saved my butt.

3. Drink plenty of water.

Drinking water is healthy, it makes your metabolism work faster. It flushes salt from your body, you feel more energized etc. etc. You already know this! So why aren’t you drinking water instead of soda?

Did I mention that you feel much more energized?

In case you’re like me who is almost never thirsty and most days don’t even have a need for liquid, it can be difficult to drink enough water consistently. Because you simply forget about it. Like I did. All my life.

Sure, there are people who constantly warned me about drinking fluids. I listened and I did. When they told me to and when they were around. As soon as I was all by myself again, the good old ‘habit’ of not drinking marched right back to me.  Not drinking enough water had an awful effect on my skin. I don’t mean to exaggerate but I looked horrible like I don’t sleep. Ever!

And how did I solve this problem for me?  I set an alarm clock on my phone. Every day. Every hour. Starting at 8 PM and ending at 10 AM.

No matter where I was, whether I had tutoring hours in a library or something else, the alarm would start beeping at every full hour. At that moment, I had to drink at least one small glass of water.   It was difficult in the beginning, my body wasn’t used to it.

But eventually drinking 2 gallons of water per day somehow crawled into my system and I didn’t need an alarm anymore. For those of you who aren’t so old-school, you could simply download an app – water drinking reminder. I feel much better now that I drink enough water every day.

4. Exercise

(even if doing sports isn’t your thing).

There is no getting around it. I don’t care how much you hate exercise, there are so many benefits for it (both physically and psychologically) that you should be doing it regularly in some form. I can’t stress this enough.

Yes, starting to exercise may suck at first, but even taking the first step with a 5-minute exercise might be enough. You can find a whole bunch of those on Youtube. Just type in 5-minute workouts, I promise you’ll have plenty of choices.

Another great suggestion I have for you, especially for those of you who need more discipline to stay consistent.

What I recently tried as an experiment (and it helped me lose a few pounds beside running) and just for fun are workout apps. You love apps, don’t you?

Workout apps are an excellent idea. I took a 30-day program (every 4th day is a day-off). Every workout day contains 7 different guided exercises and you simply follow the steps. It takes about 7 minutes to finish one daily round!

I downloaded two of those apps, one is for weight loss in general and the other is mainly a buttocks workout. So for both of these, it takes only about 15 minutes a day! I mean, you can do the workout while waiting for your coffee to cool down in the morning.

And just like that you accomplished something that will elevate your energy and happiness instantly! Your body will thank you.

So why should you exercise?

People who exercise regularly are more energized, relaxed, happier and healthier. Not only that, it is known that those who are just getting started, experience the biggest boost in happiness:

The release of endorphins has an addictive effect, and more exercise is needed to achieve the same level of euphoria over time.

Now go and do 10 sit-ups and them return to this post.

5. Eat healthy (healthier)

I’m no health expert and I’m not trying to be. But I do have years of my own personal experience.

Trying different things from diets to fasting, cleansing, letting go of certain foods to not eating regularly because of work, living on sandwiches because I ‘didn’t have time‘ for anything else and so on. So many different eating habits.

That is why now I know exactly what works the best (for me). Each of us is unique so I can’t tell you the same things will work out for you, too. But there is a huge chance it will.

For instance, my sister is a vegetarian. I totally respect her decision and I support her. I’m no fan of meat either but I still do eat it a few times a week and I really can’t imagine any other way. I think my body wouldn’t handle it very well.

But it works for her. She claims that she feels much better and has more energy compared to being a non-vegetarian. I believe her because now she is more focused on eating other foods that are healthy. Meals that most of us wouldn’t even think off.

Those who are used to eating meat every day don’t always eat it because they love it that much but because they simply can’t think of anything else. They don’t have ideas about what to prepare other than meat.

I know because I was one of them. Totally unaware and without imagination. Now that I know so much more about food and cooking, I eat so much less meat.

So what works for me and will potentially work for you?

I am all in for consistency. Create the eating habit that suits you the most and be consistent with it. Diets are not a consistent thing after you finish your diet things may get worse than they were before.

Fasting – a brilliant idea but not too often. Maybe once or twice a year for a few days. You can try a water fasting or like I did, liquid fasting for 3 days. For three days I’ve been only drinking water, 100% juices and teas, and liquid soup (with vegetables in it because I didn’t want to go extreme). Hey, I never said I was perfect! 🙂

Let go of bread. Bread is the no.1 food you have to cut off from your meals. You can enjoy it for breakfast but most certainly not three or more times a day. At least replace it with a wholegrain bread.

Try not to eat meat every day. It takes away too much of your energy. Eat it 3-4 times a week. Make sure that most of your food is water-rich.

Make smoothies! It takes only a few minutes to prepare one but gives you energy for the whole day.

Here are some foods you should definitely include in your meal plan: Cucumbers, green salad, walnuts, green beans, carrots, zucchini, parsley, spinach, eggs, broccoli, cauliflower, greek yogurt, fruits, cottage cheese, almonds, rice, fish, chicken breast.

I used to hate most of these foods, didn’t even want to try them. Fortunately, now I absolutely enjoy having them.

6. Create a morning routine

They say ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’.  But what happens in morning, doesn’t stay there! It follows you the whole day long without you even being aware of it.

The energy level is the highest in morning (even if you’re all sleepy and cranky) and our brains are capable to suck in most information right in that time.

The way you wake up and spend your first hour in the day may affect your whole day. Creating a morning routine will make sure you spend your first hour intentionally doing things that make you feel happier about yourself.

Related post – Best Morning Routine Ever & 10 Awesome Ideas to Start your day Right

What is a morning routine and why do you need it for?

To figure out your most important priorities (lack of understanding and not settling your own priorities is one of the main reasons people don’t succeed at what they were ought to).

To give you confidence, motivation, and courage to start your day as positively as possible

I know because it took me a long period of time to organize my own priorities. I used to be a huge multitasker always trying to do 10 things at once in order to be more productive. Haha, indeed I did.

The result I got out of it was the exact opposite of what I expected. Instead of having 10 things done correctly I had nothing. The result I got was the feeling of wanting to fall apart.

What helped me in this struggle was the book my boyfriend gave to me to read it The ONE Thing by Gary W. Keller. It helped me to think clearly about my priorities and to stay focused on one thing only. And as long as you work on that one thing, your number one priority, nothing else matters at that moment.

7. Walk more.

You should try it. It’s really not that hard.  Now don’t get me wrong. I said whenever you can.

If your work is too far away to go by foot, I totally get that. If not, then put on your comfortable shoes and off to work. Or anywhere else.

I say this a lot to people and their reaction is ‘I don’t have that much time.’  Ok, so it’s better to fight traffic every day and be stressed and nervous about it. And what’s even funnier, many people have a 30-minute walk to their work but always go with a car because work is too far away. And with all that traffic, their ride usually takes longer than walking would.  This is coming from my experience.

Every day I worked at a library, tutoring my students. I used to drive there by car. Every day some fool in another car made me angry while driving. There wasn’t a day that I came relaxed to my work. I won’t even mention how problematic it is to find free parking space.

So what did I do? I started walking.  

And you know what? It took me just a 5 minutes more to walk there than by car because traffic gets crazy. In the meantime, I listen to the music or make a few important phone calls while walking. I saved time (otherwise I would have to make those phone calls at home), saved money (on gas) and last but not least it saved me a LOT of nerves.

Whenever you’re in a building with stairs and elevator, choose stairs unless there is a good reason not to. And no, laziness is not a good reason.

The less lazy you are, the less lazy you become.  

Go for a walk in your free time. Instead of watching TV, go for a walk. I can’t believe the lifestyle most people have. Just work and TV and online shopping and pubs. People are simply too tired (lazy, without energy – whatever you call it) to do anything else.

People, you have to start walking more. Even if it’s just a short 30-minute walk every morning or evening. People are dying because of too much work and too much sitting. The more you sit, the less energy you have and the more unhappy you are. Sitting is pretty dangerous, you guys.

They say sitting is a new smoking. I couldn’t agree more.

8. Go out and socialize.

When I mentioned pubs earlier, I don’t mean there is something wrong with going to pub occasionally. It’s great to have people you meet once in a while just to hang out whether you meet at home or a cafe or somewhere in a park. Doesn’t matter.

Go outside. Talk to people.

We are social animals and we need each other to ‘survive.  

Maybe your lack of energy and motivation comes from being isolated from your social life. Staying in the house all day and creeping on other people on social media or watching TV is far from a healthy lifestyle.

It only makes you more demotivated, unhappy and lazy.

The more you sit throughout the day and the less you move, the more you experience the lack of energy. I know I already said that, but saying it twice makes it more effective. The less you talk to other people, the less energy you have.

You know that feeling of tiredness but you’re not entirely sure why since you’ve been resting whole day? And other days you’ve been active for the entire day and didn’t feel a bit of tiredness?

Have you ever noticed that talking to another person or having a good laugh gives you a boost of energy you didn’t even know you had at that moment?  

Or when you feel really lazy and then meet a friend and hang out for a while, you’re a completely different person after? We, people, need other people.

Don’t be afraid to invite someone for a cup of coffee. There are many people out there who can’t wait to be more social. You wouldn’t believe it.

What we see on social media like Facebook is actually pretty far from reality.

If you feel like you don’t have anyone to hang out, let me tell you that you are one of many people who feel the same way. I advise you to join some classes or clubs (dancing, cooking, chess, photography, gardening or recreation). You’ll meet a lot of nice people there and some of them joined for the same reason, to socialize.

9. Stop smoking.

If you don’t smoke then congratulations! You can focus on other points and start making a change.

However, if you’re a smoker and you want to stop because smoking is taking way too much energy from you, then continue. I was a smoker for many years and my parents were consistent smokers for over 30 years.  

Today, none of us is. My father quit three years ago when he turned 60. And my mother quit two years ago. And I quit two years ago.

I wasn’t so surprised about me but my parents?  I thought it’s a mission impossible.

The truth is that smoking takes away all of your energy, makes you tired not to mention unhealthy. I realized that quite soon but my parents waited until they really felt the damaging influence of it.  I am a young woman who wants to do sports, from running to climbing and be active most of the time. When I was smoking, those activities seemed much more difficult. I knew this has to stop. And it did.

I saved a ton of money, gained my energy back. And now I can do sports without coughing and breathing like a great-granny. And the best of all, I feel healthier than ever.

 10. Take time for yourself.

Time to think and reflect.

Ok, so maybe you do have a social life. Too much of it can also be a problem since you have no time to be alone. The thing I learned the most is that the lack of physical energy mostly comes from your mental state.

Maybe you are under a lot of pressure, stressed and worried. What makes it worse, you don’t have any peaceful time to think about solving a problem. All of us need to schedule daily an hour or two just for ourselves.

From my experience, this should help you to win your energy back again. Do you have an experience or situation that I missed and you want to share?  

Welcome to leave a comment. I would love to know what your thoughts on it.

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