How to Overcome Procrastination and Laziness (+ Guided Meditation)

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Here’s how to overcome procrastination and laziness — like, actually, and for good.

I’ve been struggling with procrastination for years.

Little did I know that it was coming from my childhood trauma and thinking patterns that were based on my anxiety and unpleasant past experiences.

Even though I haven’t got rid of it completely, through therapy, deep self-reflection, and journaling, I’ve figured out some ways that actually help me get to work.

I’d like to add a disclaimer here that I am not a licensed therapist so the tips below are just some things that work for me.

Alright, let’s jump right in!

This post is all about how to overcome procrastination and laziness.

Table of Contents

🙇🏻‍♀️ Why does procrastination happen?
💭 Does this sound like you?
🌱 How to overcome procrastination and laziness?

🙇🏻‍♀️ Why does procrastination happen?

That uncomfortable urge to drop everything and scroll on your phone, check what’s in your desk drawer (you haven’t checked what’s in there in a while), and go to the fridge to get a snack is actually caused by anxiety.

Something about the task that you wanted to accomplish stresses you out. So your body tries to cope with that stress by avoiding the task + doing something that brings immediate satisfaction or comfort.

If you’re trying to get something done right now (and are procrastinating by reading this post 😜), you can jump right into my favorite procrastination meditation:

Otherwise, keep reading for instructions on how to overcome procrastination and laziness for good!

I am not going to list all the specific reasons humankind knows of just because I want to focus on the ones that I know most about. The ones I discovered for myself (and from what I know, so many people did as well).

Here are some big factors that caused OR strengthened my procrastination:

Fear of imperfect results or no results at all. Attachment to the result. Perfectionists, this is about you. “A few hours doesn’t seem enough for the amount of work that needs to be done — what’s the point in starting then?”
The unconscious decision to take a childish position as if there was someone else who could take responsibility for the things that need to be done. That might happen with someone who lacks self-discipline or has weak self-parenting skills due to inadequate childhood experiences.
Guilt. That might be your case if, for example, you are trying to work on your new business that doesn’t bring you money yet. You keep telling yourself that you should be more responsible and spend your time on more obvious things like your job that pays your bills, your errands, etc. A voice pops up in your head saying things like “Stop acting like a child, this is just a waste of time, get up and go do something adequate that actually needs to be done like mopping the floor. Or get a normal job finally!”

Now, if you checked all of the above boxes… don’t get discouraged. There are ways to work with it. The key thing here is to be willing to do the work.

If you haven’t figured out your procrastination reasons yet, I highly recommend journaling about it. Ask yourself:

Why do I procrastinate?

How do I feel when I procrastinate?

What feeling pushes me to put off my work?

When was the last time I accomplished my tasks with ease?

What happened before that that made me productive?

💭 Does this sound like you?

Procrastination is basically cornering yourself and forcing yourself to run in the exhausting cycle of thoughts while also not doing anything that you wanted to do.

This is the thinking process I would go through before sitting down to write a blog post:

“I don’t know if doing this for the next few hours will bring the result that I’m looking for. I’m scared it will be another post no one will ever read. Why am I scared of it? Because it’s MY post. It would mean that no one is interested in ME and what I have to say. When someone appreciates my post (or video, work, etc.), it means I exist and I am valued. If no one pays attention to it, it means I am not talented and not worthy of love or attention.”

(When I first wrote this down, I was like, “Wow. This is how I talk to myself.”)

I also get anxious when I take the time away from my career that pays my bills. I feel guilty doing what I truly want!

The voice in my head keeps telling me “You are doing something stupid instead of being normal and doing what other adults are doing. It’s not serious. Stop being childish and go work at your job that brings you money.”

When I finally sit down and get to my research, the following happens:

At first, I think that no one‘s gonna read my post because it only makes sense to me. I’ve never read anything similar anywhere on the Internet, so I feel doubtful about writing it. Then I finally find something similar and I think: “Well, someone has said that already. What’s the point in writing about it?”

Let’s imagine that luckily, I finally got to writing. My procrastination is still on guard: when I’m stuck with wording, for example, while writing an introduction, this might be my thinking process:

“If I spend a good amount of time coming up with a really good intro it would be a brilliant post… but then instead of writing it for three hours I will be writing it for a whole day, I won’t have any rest, and I will burn out and will drop the whole thing for a few months (happened to me before). So I get anxious and I try to write as fast as possible which makes me even more anxious especially when it seems like I’m not fast enough.”

And here’s the icing on my cake:

I try to have every post or video perfect instead of just getting it done. I doubt my every decision about it. I think I secretly hope that each of my posts or videos will become a huge success overnight which is just pretty toxic… I also try to be everything! Just to show how I’m good at this, and that, and also that.

It’s amazing when someone admires you for an amazing piece of art/writing/music that you created… but you can never guarantee that your next one will be exactly that so just let them admire your resilience and persistence instead 🙂 The rest will follow.

Sooo… How do you overcome laziness and procrastination?

🌱 How to overcome procrastination and laziness?

There are scientific ways to stop procrastinating in the moment. As for the following steps, they take time but are deeply healing and will save you from procrastination for good.

1. Start talking to yourself. Self-parenting is a whole topic that needs to be covered in a separate post, but we can start by gently explaining to our inner child why we are doing all this right now. I like to literally imagine talking to little me. You can even use your childhood photo. Be soft and kind but assertive. Give yourself some choice but set strong boundaries, for example: “It’s a weekday afternoon, some work needs to be done. Do you want to work on your emails or write a blog post?”

2. Work on your guilt. Feeling guilty for choosing to work on what you love? Remind yourself that this guilt is based upon a few people’s opinions that happened to be around you when you were first questioning what you truly want (in your childhood). Those people — caregivers or parents — had their own fears, insecurities, and experience, and they projected them on you. You don’t have to make their opinion your own.

3. Get detached from the result. Define yourself by action and not the result. We don’t always have control over the result. The process, on the other hand, is the only thing we can control.

4. Reduce the importance of the task. Treat it like a task from your household’s daily to-do list (and not something that’s going to make you a success overnight). Needs to be done — done ✅.

5. Learn to manage your emotions in a new way. Since it’s a coping mechanism of our body due to stress, the fastest and most effective way would be to learn to cope with this stress in a different way. Find a better reward than avoidance. It is also one of the hardest steps but it will erase your laziness and procrastination from existence.

6. Remind yourself of your why. Remind yourself why you started doing what you’re doing and why you committed to it in the first place. Always remember your why. Tell yourself: “I know you’d rather read a book or play a game or go for a walk. And you will get that this weekend. But if you want to be able to do all that and more, you want to get things done first!”

7. Put your leisure activities on the calendar. Literally, put “Play a video game” or “Read Harry Potter” in your calendar and time block it. And then get it done when the time comes! It will give you something to look forward to, will become the evidence that your life is not just work-work-work, and will help to build self-trust.

8. Practice self-discipline (because procrastination is the lack of one). Self-discipline is a muscle that needs training. Tony Robbins has used a vegan diet, intense workouts, running marathons, and daily morning ice-cold showers for health benefits but also to train his self-discipline. He says: “I want to train my brain to know that when I say GO!, we GO. There’s never a day I look forward to going in the water but it’s never “Oh I’m not ready yet, let me wait five minutes”.

Here’s a quote from The Path of the Yoga Sutras by Nicolai Bachman that I loved:

Real and permanent change in behavior creates heat from the friction of a new, positive pattern rubbing up against an old, negative one. This priceless heat of discomfort can arise while we are exercising (such as during yoga asana), breaking an old habit, changing our direction in life, or doing any other activity that causes positive change. … Change is an inevitable quality of nature, and stagnation goes against nature’s ebb and flow. In our body, muscles tighten up, opinions become rigid, and habits solidify. … With discipline and effort implement your plan and burn through the negative harmful patterns. The inevitable pain or discomfort will produce the sweet nectar of positive, lasting inner transformation.

I also loved an affirmation that Nicolai Bachman provides for this lesson:

The discomfort I feel during the process of growth and transformation is necessary and beneficial.