The wind is dry, Sun is burning itself and I just had lunch. No way! it’s not the right time to study but definitely after a good nap. Friend’s on the gate, evening’s gone. Favourite show on the television, dinner time, it’s already late but tomorrow, definitely tomorrow, I am going to complete this whole chapter. Tomorrow is the busiest day on our calendar
Laziness and Procrastination. Hello brothers.
So what to do? Here are three things I would like to present in this video.
- Einstein’s approach towards Laziness.
- 3 Hacks to trick laziness.
- One simple formula to beat laziness.
1.Einstein’s approach towards Laziness
What if I told you that you could just sit in your balcony sipping a cup of tea and that would increase your productivity. You would never believe me right.
While Albert was in college, his professors cast him aside as a lazy student destined for a mediocre career in Physics as he frequently skipped his classes and played his violin in cocktail parties and luncheons. At the age of 21, he was on the verge of giving up on his dream of becoming a physicist. And after graduation, Einstein even got rejected for the job role of Lab assistant and worked as a clerk in the Swiss patent office. Suddenly in 1905, he submitted 4 papers one by one which entirely changed the perception to see the world since then. But How?
You might think that Einstein studied a lot or did many things during the day. You’re wrong.
So, Einstein had a habit of spending a lot of time away from his friends, family or work to do nothing but think. He would regularly go for long walks, wander off to quiet cabins in the mountains or play his violin.
What do we learn here? “Doing nothing” shouldn’t be mistaken as being Lazy. Instead, if we decide to spend some time every day in solitude, doing nothing. Without your phone or music. And just reflect – you can think about something you read earlier or focus and plan for the day or just go over your music lessons or anything, we would become far more focused and productive.
Productivity isn’t about getting more things done, rather it’s about getting the right things done, while doing less.
2.Three Hacks to trick Laziness
15 Minute Rule-
When you sit down to study, set an alarm for 15 minutes and then begin. As soon as the alarm rings, stop studying. This will give you the necessary motivation to start. I tried this and found that I was pushing myself to go beyond the 15 minutes each time, trying to beat my own previous record.
And soon it became a game where I was motivated for the next study session
Co-partner-
You can plan your studies or exercise or any other activity with one of your friends and set a schedule on the calendar. It will prevent you from procrastinating the work. Our monkey mind tends to be lazy but the monkey is a social monkey. So the best way to motivate your inner chimp is to mix social and work. This hack is 100% fail proof. Try it today.
Don’t “break the chain”-
It’s called the “calendar trick”. Actor and comedian Jerry Seinfeld uses to motivate himself to write. The trick is, once you successfully executed your study plan for the day, make a big cross on the calendar on that day. A few days later, you can see a chain formed and your only task is not to break it.
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The Formula
Right Food + Right Time + Right Motivation – Distractions = Lazy Free effective Study
- Food- Food and we. The relation is simply beyond hunger and survival. But when the competition is with studies, we have to maintain a balance. So, here are few tips to achieve that balance and desired study goals.
- Junk Food Vs Protein and Omega Foods- One of the major reasons for being lazy while studying is a lack of physical and mental energy. So, instead of falling upon junk foods which eventually dehydrates and imbalances body chemicals, shift to satisfying yet healthy Protein and Omega-rich foods like sugar-free protein bars, Avocados, oily fish, yogurt, dark chocolate, green tea and many more.
- Light and early Dinner- When we are awake our body works at BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) but when we sleep it slows down to RMR (Resting metabolic Rate) So, earlier we eat our dinner, more the body will get time to burn it at BMR. Also, heavy food involves a high digestion process and the body doesn’t get enough rest while asleep. So, make it a mantra and feel the difference.
- Hydration for Detoxification- Our body fluids help in the proper flow of the waste materials through the digestive system. Lack of hydration could affect this process resulting in an inactive body and mind. So, maintain that level of hydration with at least 5-6 litres of water a day.
- Time- Now comes the relationship between Time and Study. By “Time” we mean, right time, breaks and amount to study. So, here are few tips regarding that,
- Downtime to Work Time Ratio- “I will study for 3 hours continuously and complete my whole project in one go.” It’s a common practice we try to implement for our study goals. Such ambitious goals create demotivation to achieve it and hence, weak focus. Instead, we can follow the Downtime to Work Time Ratio of 1:2 i.e. for every 2 minutes of work or study we can take one minute of a break. So, if you want to watch the half-hour episode of your favourite show, you should earn it by studying for 1 hour.
- Golden Hours- Early in the morning or late at night. No matter what’s your preference, utilize a minimum of 1 hr of that golden time when you are highly focused.
- Avoid Regret wastage of time- We often fell into the trap of “It’s too late to start” or “I have lost the opportunity”. In order to avoid such entanglement, instead of regretting what you have lost, look what you are left with and quickly re-plan a small set of activities like 5 sums, 2 concepts of a chapter, one-page of assignment and you will instantly regain your confidence.
- Time for Re calibration– If we want our mind and body to be performing actively while we study we have to allocate time to re calibrate it every day through activities like Meditation, Exercise and proper sleep.
- Motivation- It’s a very important factor which rules the working of other factors. Better the motivation to achieve your study goals, more the desire to control or manage other factors. So, here are a few positive motivations to fight laziness while studying.
- The Motivation of Achievement: It’s a short term motivation but very powerful. Write your objective very clear whether it’s getting rank, passing an exam, winning an award in the competition and why to achieve it? Such positive competition with an objective will not only keep you active while studying but the “why” element will give you self-confidence and broader purpose.
- The Motivation of Curiosity- Curiosity has the power to keep us going throughout the day. But it’s a thing of practice to keep on asking questions and maintain the level of interest to know. This interest will be a great warrior to fight against the lazy mind. Also, try to teach or discuss with your juniors or friends to get a different perspective from their questions.
- The Motivation of Independence- Good academics not only give us financial independence but also the independence to choose between various careers options.
- Distractions- It could be compared with Newton’s Third Law of Motion i.e. for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you have positive forces to study then there will be an equal force not to study as well called distractions. All we have to do is to reduce it.
- The distraction of Digital Devices- It is one of the most frequent and persistent distractions while studying. Whether it’s the habit of regularly checking your social feeds or any latest episode of your favourite show, it instantly affects our focus over study. In order to avoid that,
o Keep your device out of reach while studying.
o Disconnect your internet connection and keep it on silent mode.
- The distraction of other work- It’s true that study is not the only activity we plan for a day and hence easily get distracted over the other. A simple note of 4-5 activities in priority order every day in the morning could create far more attention and focus of mind while coming to our studies.
The distraction due to Complicated and Difficult task- “This chapter is so tough.” “I am unable to solve this problem.” I will perhaps do it tomorrow. We often easily get distracted whenever faced with some complicated task. Psychiatrists and neurosciences identified it as one of the top 8 categories of laziness and blamed “dopamine”. Dopamine is a Desire chemical released in our body to do any task. More the dopamine released by the activity, the more the desire and urge to do that task. Generally, activities with high rewards like video-games, social media, shows etc releases more of this chemical and the more the brain is used to high-dopamine activities the more it will try to avoid a difficult and complicated task. So, as a solution, we need dopamine detoxification which is to avoid all such high-dopamine activities once or twice a week unless we achieve a better balance of both kinds of activities.
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