English version of «Легкий способ борьбы с ленью» by DileSoft.

(The title of this article is taken on the analogy of the book by Allen Carr, but the article is written by me not him). :)

I want to tell about my method to fight laziness. To apply it, you do not need the strength of the will, do not require a special mindset, possession of enthusiasm, the absence of depression, or to have ants in your pants, attend NLP courses or Shaolin Monastery. Suffice it to commit acts that are capable of even the laziest person in the world.

Before you begin, I’ll destroy two myths surrounding the notion of «laziness». The two myth that prevent millions of people from stop being lazy.

The first myth is that laziness is considered to be independent of human will, and an integral and unavoidable feature of one’s character. It is complete nonsense. Laziness is only certain patterns of behaviour and habits. And habits can be changed.

The second myth is in the phrase: «Laziness is when I do nothing». It is complete nonsense too. Because when people say «I’m lazy», they don’t do nothing but they are:

1. Eating.

2. Watching TV.

3. Listening to music.

4. Watching cinema.

5. Browsing the Internet.

6. Playing a computer game.

7. Reading books.

8. Resting on the sofa.

9. Chatting, walking or drinking with friends and neighbours.

10. And so forth.

All these — are actions.

Another point is that they begin to take up to 6 hours per day and begin to interfere with life.

Therefore, a true definition of laziness is as follows:
«Laziness is a futile action».

And now the method. It is concentrated in a single phrase:
«To stop being lazy, you should do nothing».

I am not kidding. I use this method for two years. I began to apply it directly in severe depression.

How to apply this method? Let's say you want to do something. You decide (and better — write down on paper), when you start and how long it will take to deal with. Let's say you decide to start doing it at 11:00 and will deal with it next two hours (until 13:00).

At 11:00 you start to struggle with laziness, namely, doing nothing. This means you stop everything listed above. Generally stop doing anything. Just sit or stand in the room. Don’t lie down, it will lead the body into a state of sleep.

Soon (I felt it in a few minutes) you’ll feel that you can get to work. In your head you’ll get a clarification of what is to be done right now. And you will start doing it.

To insure you from possible mistake — it is enough to know just the next action to get to work. There is no need to conceive the whole amount of work. If the first step is to click the “Start” button, click it, even if you don’t know what will be the next step (or don’t want to commit it). Once clicked, you’ll soon remember and want to continue.

If during the work you’ll have an attack of laziness again — stop doing anything for a while. And you would soon return to the operating state.

That’s all. This method can be applied at any time for any affairs. I repeat — you need nothing else to do. You do not need to convince yourself that you must work. There is no need to make an effort. There is no need, moreover, you must not push your thoughts. You must allow your thoughts to run freely in any direction. If the work is interrupted by the stream of consciousness it is not scary. I’ve measured specifically, the longest stream of consciousness lasts 7 minutes. And ends, often giving you a useful idea.

Those who will use this method, please leave your questions about some possible difficulties here in comments. I’ll help you, answer your questions, and make changes to the article to describe and solve your problems. Answers to many questions can already be read in the comments to this post. Finally, note that you can begin to apply this method not only at 11:00, but right now.

Just don't do anything.

P.S. Reprinting this article is allowed anywhere online, indicating that its author is Dmitry Leykin aka DileSoft. This article can be printed offline for non-commercial purposes. For commercial publishing of this article – contact me by e-mail: dilesoft(at)dilesoft(dot)ru.

P.P.S. Translation errors can be reported to Iliagi.

Easy way to fight laziness