If you’ve been thinking lately “I could be healthier if only I wasn’t so lazy,” we’ve got just the guide for you. Below you will find a relatable story and the 3 steps to transform you from a lazy person to someone with momentum and healthier habits.
Recently, while talking with a busy small business owner, Kat Reher of Synergy Fitness for Her in Durham, Kat explained she would like to cook at home more consistently and states “but I’m just too lazy.”
To put things in perspective, this fun-loving, independent, and strong woman is not only running a fabulous fitness gym for women, but also is regularly adopting young kittens and helping find good homes for (or keeping) her furry friends. She may be up as early as 5 AM to help open the gym or cover a group fitness class then go to bed at 11 PM after wrapping up emails or other work tasks.
The point is, she is anything but lazy! We suspect the same is true for you.
Unless you’re living a life where you can lay on the sofa all day, not working, not making food for yourself or your family, and not cleaning up around the house you are probably quite busy and productive.
3 Steps To Overcome Lazy Vibes and Build Momentum
Stop calling yourself lazy.
It’s not helping you. As explained by Dr. Rick Hanson the author of Resilient, we all have an inner critic and an inner nurturer (or helper). Your inner critic is often louder than the nurturing voice. This critic is kind of mean and may sometimes call you fat, ugly, or lazy. It would be nice if we could just turn that voice off, but often the critic is stubborn and insists that if she was not there you’d be even worse. The key is to turn the volume down on this critical inner dialogue. Some find it helpful to say “cancel, cancel, cancel,” when the voice creeps in. Others, have a saying or mantra that turns the internal conversation around.
Find out why you’re *really* not doing what you say you want to do.
For instance, with our example above, Kat wants to prepare her own meals at home; however, she hates grocery shopping. The crowds and the abundance of choices are overwhelming and causes her to retreat to old habits like mac and cheese and chocolate ice cream. What is the biggest speed-bump or hurdle standing in the way of you making this change?
Identify how you prioritize.
If cooking dinner at home is important to you; however, you keep winding up in the fast food lane on the way home, convenience is driving your decision. Perhaps you haven’t yet mastered making quick and easy dinners at home and you don’t know where to start. It may also mean you are letting other things become a higher priority without stopping to think about it. We tend to do what we must do first, such as going to work, paying bills, feeding the kids, etc. The calendar then gets filled up with several other things squeezed in between. This often zaps our bandwidth or energy leaving us too drained to do the healthy habits we know are good for us.
Is it time to make a shift in your priorities or schedule? Are the things on your calendar truly what you want to prioritze? Are there new habits you could put on the calendar by first taking something off or breaking it down into baby steps?
Sometimes, we are in a season that doesn’t allow for all the healthy habits that we want to have. If that is the case for you right now, become OK with good enough. Before your inner critic chimes in to say good enough is not enough, what if you were to cook dinner at least two times a week instead of once a month? Wouldn’t that be better? Focus on progress, not perfection.
How to stop being lazy and gain some momentum toward healthy habits
To sumarize, first, stop calling yourself lazy! Every time you catch yourself saying that, make an intentional shift to listen to your nurturing voice instead. Thinking of what you would say to your best friend if she came to you with the same issue that you’re having. What would you say to her?
Then, get to the bottom of what is really preventing you from the habit you want to create and brainstorm how to overcome that barrier. Lastly, take a look at what you prioritize in your life. Is it time to take ownership and control of how you spend your days? What if even a small shift in your priorities could make a big impact in your health?
Need more guidance or accountability with making that shift? We can help. Contact us today for your free complimentary coaching session 🙂
