It is 8 in the afternoon and you are getting ready to go for a run. The day has been splendid, you have finished the work without leaving things pending and without unforeseen events, which gives you peace of mind.
The last rays of the sun are the prelude to the sunset, which will accompany your strides. You have also met a friend with whom to share your career and chat. Time flies.
However, a week ago, things were very different. They were days of uncertainty with a new professional project to start and with new people to deal with. This made you uneasy. And you didn't sleep well.
At work, you put off the usual day-to-day tasks, prioritizing others that you thought were more important. And you didn't get to everything. Also, your relationship with your colleagues was beginning to suffer. When something unforeseen arose, you reacted with anger. You lacked serenity. And the schedule of your meals was upset and you put anything in your mouth, more to calm your anxiety than to satisfy your hunger.
It was 8 o'clock in the afternoon, time to go for a run, and thoughts like: "leave it for tomorrow, you're too tired, you have to finish the pending work, better stay home." And you didn't go out for a run.
In those moments of laziness you say goodbye to your moment to disconnect from work and connect with you. And you take a step back on the path to your well-being.
They are a KEY seconds in which the inner game between the "I'm going-I'm not going" fights its battle. And we go through zones of motivation and boredom, of action and laziness.
Is there any reason that makes us lazier or more diligent?
Well, it turns out, yes. The answer is found in our brain and, specifically, in a neurotransmitter, the dopamine. Recent investigations have discovered that it is in charge of giving us the jog what we need to take action.
"The tasks for which we have to work hard require high doses of dopamine in the brain," says Mercè Correa, a researcher at the Jaime I University. This neurotransmitter is essential for psychological motivation and to push us to move physically. It is in charge of enhancing the willpower.
It is the element that, in the end, tips the balance towards “I stay on the couch” or “I go for a run”.
Michael treadway, Research psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School (USA) published in the Journal of Neurosciences, the results of a research on what happens in our brain when it is torn between action and laziness.
People with greater capacity for action when faced with tasks that require effort produce more dopamine in the left striated (related to body movement) and in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (involved in decision making)
When laziness becomes habitual, it gives rise to negative spirals where inactivity, lack of creativity and stagnation are the protagonists..
And if this spiral grows, we feel unmotivated, ineffective. We lose confidence in ourselves and in what we do.
However these "lazy moments" are part of our life.
A first step is to become aware of the things that you really find it difficult to do out of laziness. It can be your physical exercise, clearing the table, ironing, reviewing reports, doing accounts, speaking to someone, etc..
They are usually routine activities, little stimulating, mechanical, in which we do not find any motivating element.
Once your lazy moments have been identified, you can resort to one of the following strategies:
Spark your creativity and turn the situation around. Make it something important or fun.
Imagine that your reports decide your professional future, or that your gymnastics exercises are followed on television.
You can afford to be a fictional character. Look for a point of humor and fun. Accompany the moment with motivating elements: music, clothes, change of environment, etc..
This tool works well with children when it comes to discipline and action in the face of laziness in everyday tasks such as setting the table or making the bed..
You can organize a contest for the most original table or make the bed to the sound of a song, even setting up a choreography.
It's about blanking your mind, on autopilot, and taking action. Do not allow yourself the inner game of otherwise more than 30 seconds. As soon as the doubts begin, act! Once up and running, everything is usually easier and there is no going back.
And it turns out that the satisfaction of finishing what you have started is great and leaves an impression on your willpower for the next time..
I apply this strategy in long-term competitions, at a time when the saboteur thought of I can't., how long is this. I limit myself to not thinking and striding, watching how the ground that runs under my feet tells me to move forward.
I even sometimes count steps, curves that remain, in automatic mode, without turning things over. After a few minutes my attention goes to something else and it is usually more positive,
Look beyond the present moment and imagine your finished task, how do you feel? What does it give you?.
Lean on your personal satisfaction from the "after" to take action.
Imagine your shower after sports time, or beer with friends. Put yourself in the shoes of the person who will read your report. Reward yourself with a motivating afterward. You know that when you make those calls that cost you, you will go to have a coffee in that place that you like so much, or you will call a good friend to go to the movies, etc..
One of my best rewards is breakfast after an early morning workout..
If we ask ourselves what positive things laziness brings us, we could say that: protects us from getting tired, from the unknown, from the boring, from the routine.
Laziness leads us to inactivity, to rest. And sometimes this is necessary. The day to day is marked by obligations and schedules that impose a frenetic rhythm to our life.
And there comes a day when we want to be quiet, pause, not look at the clock and perhaps do nothing more than hang around the house. We want to be lazy. And they can be great days. Give them away.
One Sunday in January comes to mind. The day before he had competed in the European Winter Triathlon Championship in Reinosa. It was a complicated trip with heavy snowfall and storm alerts. The competition was about to be suspended.
It was finally celebrated. My performance was excellent: bronze medal, yes, accompanied by large doses of uncertainty, doubts, nerves in the face of very complicated weather with blizzards, ice, snow.
On that trip, my 10-year-old daughter Paula accompanied me. At 12 o'clock that Saturday night we entered the house. At that moment I felt that the goal was at home.
That Sunday was one of the laziest I can remember. And it was great. I just wanted to lie down and feel warm, be with my children, hang around the house in my pajamas, basically do nothing ... Or do the simple things at home slowly, slowly, sharing with others.
Listen to your body and give yourself days like this, from time to time.
As a good daily habit, I encourage you to set aside a few minutes of the day so that that feeling of laziness takes over you. Let thoughts, ideas arise, paralyze your actions and bring your attention to the breath, a landscape, the sounds, the people around you, etc..
Reserve a "lazy" moment a day, a few minutes is enough. Write it down in your agenda as a priority. You will leave recharged with energy and eager for action to continue.
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