How To Stop Being Lazy
What's up guys? It's Graham here. So here's a problem that pretty much all of us suffer from at one point or another, and that would be laziness. It's that feeling of literally not wanting to do anything, even though you know you should, for no other reason than that you just don't feel like it. I guarantee everyone watching this right now has felt like this many times in their life, except if Gary Vee is watching this because he doesn't ever feel lazy, ever.
And when it comes to me, I purposely chose to make this video today because right now I am suffering from a very severe case of the laziness. That's right, before filming this video, I felt like doing absolutely nothing, and the thought of doing any amount of work whatsoever to get ahead just seemed daunting. To be honest, today is one of those days I feel burnt out. I do not have any motivation whatsoever to get anything done. I am frustrated that I feel so out of my element, and because of that, I even doubt that this would be a good video that people would actually want to watch. But I have a sneaking suspicion where if I feel this way from time to time, then chances are everyone else does too.
I didn't know this sounds hard to believe, but I have found a cure for laziness, which is just a few self-taught tricks, and so far it's worked. After all, if it didn't work, you wouldn't even be seeing this video because I would probably just be watching Stranger Things 3. So with that said, here are the five ways to instantly stop being lazy. If you can actually do this, you're gonna become way more productive. You're gonna make way more money, you're gonna end up on a Forbes article, and maybe, just maybe, one day you too can have your own garage to make YouTube videos in.
So with that said, let's get into the video. First, it's important to recognize that feeling lazy is completely normal. Being lazy is something that happens to absolutely everyone, and I'm sure it happens more than most people would like to admit. Like for me, I have to fight laziness most days, and even though I try my best to be as productive as I can, that is not always how I am naturally just wired to be. Deep down, for me, I'm the type of person who likes to take it easy. I don't like a lot of pressure; I don't want a lot of obligation, and from that, I really just like to take my time, do the things at my own pace, at my own leisure.
Unfortunately though, that doesn't really bode well with real estate investing and making money, so I knew I had to find a way to overcome all of these things so that I could not be lazy and actually get things done. So really, part of the way to overcome this is just to realize that it is okay to feel lazy, and no one is immune to this. In fact, I think it would be weird if you never felt lazy. Like that's just strange; I kind of think you're lying. So either you're lazy, or you're lying about being lazy—you gotta pick one.
Anyway, recognizing that this happens from time to time and that it's totally normal is the first step in overcoming this, and just not wallowing in self-pity or thinking that you're not good enough for something or thinking to yourself, "Well, I've already wasted so much time; what's just a little bit more time now?" Because honestly, that just makes things so much worse. So just accept that it's normal; it doesn't make you weird. It happens to absolutely everyone, it's totally okay, and that helps you move on to then the next step.
Now secondly, if you want to become insanely motivated, all you need to do is drink lots of my $0.20 iced coffee. This stuff gets you so hyped up that it makes it impossible not to do something; otherwise, you just go crazy. Just kidding on this part, but seriously though, the coffee does help.
Okay, no, but for real though, the second trick to overcoming laziness is not to overthink things. This is probably the biggest hurdle for most people to overcome when they're presented with something that they should be doing but they just don't feel like doing it. So instead, they just overthink about everything. It's easy to imagine how long something is going to take, or how difficult it might be, or how many problems you might encounter along the way in getting it done, and it's a lot easier just to think about how easy it would be just to postpone it a little bit longer, and that way you can worry about it just a little bit later.
Meanwhile though, your subconscious slowly ruminates on it and slowly transforms it from a task that would have been pretty easy to do into the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest while not having gotten off your couch in years. Your mind can do crazy things when you think about something for too long without actually doing it, and that makes it much harder to actually get anything done. So when it comes to being lazy, honestly, the less you think about it, the better.
As soon as you catch yourself thinking about how much you don't want to do something, just cut that out immediately. It does absolutely nothing productive, and it just wastes the mental energy that you could have spent getting it done in the first place. So don't think about it.
The third one of the best ways is not to think about something like this. It's just to start doing what you need to do immediately. Like if you want to know the main trick that's helped me keep consistent with this YouTube channel for two-and-a-half years without missing an upload—that's helped keep me on top of everything I need to do so that I can get everything done without driving myself crazy—is just that one trick: starting to do something immediately. It is one of those easy tricks that so many people just never do.
Just try this one trick out anytime you feel lazy, or there's something you need to do that you're finding yourself thinking about. Don't think about it; just immediately go and start doing it. You just gotta start so quick that your mind can't even process what you're doing, and then by the time you're actually doing it, you're gonna feel way more motivated to finish now that you've actually started. Doing something immediately just prevents you from getting in your head, from overthinking things, and then distracting you from doing what you actually need to do.
Like for me today, that was getting this video done. I just felt so unmotivated; it was just one of those days I just didn't want to do anything. But instead of overthinking things, I just cut that out. I got on my computer, I sipped on some coffee, I thought of video ideas, and then I felt like, of all the video ideas today, why don't I just make a video about what I'm going through and what I'm dealing with, and maybe that might help somebody else? Plus something really amazing happens as soon as you start, and that is you just start to feel motivated because now you could see the end result of finishing what you started.
Like I'm slowly getting more and more hyped on this video now that I know I'm almost done finishing it, and that means I can go and watch Stranger Things 3. The fourth, it really helps that once you begin doing something immediately, you could break it down into much smaller tasks that seem a lot more manageable.
Like for instance, when creating this video, I don't think to myself, "I have 8 hours to get this video done and post it tomorrow, otherwise I miss an upload and no one is ever going to forgive me." I don't think about that. Instead, I just think about this first step is just I gotta think of a topic. The second step is that I need to figure out exactly what I'm going to say on that topic. The third step is I need to film it. The fourth step is I need to figure out where in the video I'm gonna ask people to smash that like button, if you haven't done that already.
The next step after that is I then need to edit the video, and then after that, I need to figure out a thumbnail. And finally, the last step is I could finally watch Stranger Things 3 and eat chocolate-covered popcorn. That's really the only thing I focus on and begin to start immediately is just figuring out what is the topic going to be on today.
I don't think about anything else other than figuring out that one simple thing. Then once I figure it out, I don't think about anything else other than focusing on what the next step is and planning out what I'm going to say. And then I just continue doing that until eventually the entire thing is done.
The same thing could also apply with going to the gym. Instead of thinking to yourself, "I got to go to the gym today because I watched Stranger Things 3 and a chocolate-covered popcorn," don't think about that. Just instead think, "I just need to put on my gym clothes." That's step number one. If I could just put on my gym clothes, I'm done with the first step.
How easy is it, by the way, just to put on gym clothes? Anyone can do it at any time; it's very easy. Then the next step after that is just simply I need to go and drive myself or walk myself to the gym—done. Then the next step, I need to pick up something heavy and then put it down again—done. And then I just need to repeat that a few times, and then all of a sudden, you finished your workout.
By doing it this way, nothing ever really gets overwhelming, and you're less likely to use the excuse of, "I don't feel like it today." Because let's be real, how easy is it to put on gym clothes? Very easy. How easy is it to get in the car and drive to the gym? Very easy. How easy is it to pick up something kind of heavy and put it back down? That could be a little bit difficult, but it depends how heavy it is.
Or like how easy is it to go and smash that like button if you haven't done that already? Because I've asked way too many times now in the video. It's very easy to do. Basically, each and every step by itself is pretty simple, so you should really just use that to your advantage. It's really just the equivalent of focusing on the next small step, just the next ten minutes, the next small task, and then slowly just repeating that, going through the processes, until eventually, you got this video entirely done, it's edited, the thumbnail is done, it's ready to post, and hopefully, it's helpful to other people.
And you got all of that done by starting off by not wanting to do a single thing because you felt lazy. Now fifth, this is a really big one. It takes a lot of commitment to actually go and do this, but it's finding out exactly where you're getting distracted and exactly where the procrastination is coming from, and then making that decision to cut it out entirely.
Like if you're wasting way too much time on Instagram, then maybe it's time to delete the app. Or if you're spending too much time on Facebook, then maybe make an effort to block Facebook during certain hours. Just because nothing good ever comes from Facebook anyway, unless you're in my Facebook group called the Real Estate Millionaire Mastermind, in which case that's okay to join, but everything else, that's a no.
Basically, just do your best to identify your biggest time wasters and then cancel them out entirely so that that way they won't be a distraction. Like for me, a stupid little time waster is just going on Instagram to check things. And even though it might only be for like a minute or two, it's like no big deal there, but it totally takes me away from everything that I'm doing in the moment, and then it takes me even longer to get back into it once I've taken like a three-minute break just to check Instagram.
Another one for me was responding to my emails as soon as they came in, and this is something that chances are all the emails can wait to be responded to until when I'm done doing something. But just to get them going and taking a small break just distracts you from what you're doing and just totally throws you off. So if you can go into this one single thing, I promise you your productivity is going to go through the roof. You're gonna end up making more money, and through this, you're less likely just to feel lazy.
And finally, it's really important to realize that beyond all of this, the motivation to actually go and get something done is always going to be a fleeting feeling, and relying on feeling motivated to get something done is always going to be completely unreliable. Instead, what really makes the biggest difference is just this discipline. It's just the discipline to stick with this without giving up, no matter if you feel lazy, no matter if you're wasting too much time on Instagram, and no matter if you haven't even hit the like button already.
Consistency with this is absolutely everything and is the only way you're ever going to see long-lasting results. Like for me right now, it's just not an option not to post three videos every single week. And sure, I feel lazy a lot of the time, I don't feel motivated a lot of the time, but I just repeat these steps, and I make sure this is a priority, and I do it.
And it's become so ingrained now in what I do that I'm more likely to make a video just to upload on time, even if it means I'm not eating or sleeping to make that happen. And I got to say, the longer you end up doing something, the harder the habit will be to break.
Like if I haven't already posted three videos a week for over two and a half years, it would be a lot easier for me to make the excuse of just, "Yeah, I don't need to upload today." It's almost as though every single day you're building up another string that's holding up a weight. So you do something once, a string gets attached. You do it again, a string gets attached. And you do this for thousands of days or years or decades, and pretty soon you have a huge rope that's holding up pretty much whatever you need it to hold up.
And this is something that starts very small, but slowly builds up over time, and that's what this entire video is about. It's really just about breaking it down on a small level, doing it immediately, not overthinking things, and slowly adding more strings to your rope so that eventually you're never gonna have to worry about how laziness will impact your life because you've built up a lot of strings and you've hit the like button on the video.
So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it. If you guys enjoy videos like this, as always, make sure to subscribe because I do post three videos every single week. And if you want to be a part of that too, subscribe and also hit the notification bell, so YouTube notifies you anytime I post a video.
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Make sure to subscribe to me on the other channel, just The Graham Stephan Show. Link in the description. So again, thank you again for watching, and until next time!