You are lazy. Don’t get upset with me for saying that… I am lazy, too. Humans, as a species, are lazy. We weren’t always like that. But as we’ve evolved, and life has gotten easier, it seems we have an eternal quest to see how easy we can make things.
Knowing that we have this tendency toward laziness, we can use it to work for us, rather than against us. We can use it to ensure greater health and success, rather the opposite.
Our brains are constantly looking for excuses to quit, or worse, reasons to not even get started. The human mind seeks out obstacles, difficulties, and problems to justify not taking positive, constructive action, and to make ourselves feel better and justified for being lazy.
Here is a critical tip to help ensure success in all areas of your life… take steps to make that success EASIER! Anything you can do to eliminate stumbling blocks will help.
Let’s take exercise, for example… we let almost anything stop us. The gym is too far away from the house. I have to pay each month for the membership. I get sweaty and don’t want to shower before going back to the office. I have to figure out what to wear each morning. I’m not sure what exercises to do or how to use the equipment. All sound like things you’ve told yourself?
So… lay out your clothes the night before, get your gym bag packed so it’s ready to go. Choose a gym close to your home or office. Work out in the morning before your first shower, which you were going to take anyway. Pay for the whole year in advance, eliminating that monthly decision and process of having to pay. Hire a personal trainer for a month to eliminate any uncertainties about what exercises to do or how to use the equipment.
How about diet? How about washing and cutting up the fruit and veggies right when you bring them home from the grocery store? Put them in clear glass containers and on the shelves right in front of your face, so you see them every time you open the refrigerator door. Have those types of foods ready to eat, in a bowl, on the counter. Buy peppers, onions, celery, and other veggies cut up or diced, and lettuce that is pre-washed. I have experimented with all of these things and proven (as have more elaborate, published studies) that it works.
I buy the organic bananas, the ones with the little white piece of tape around them. I found that my kids are MUCH more likely to eat them if I take that thin, little, miniscule piece of tape off. That is actually what prompted me to write this article. Something as simple as that will improve your outcomes and increase your success.
And just because your friends, family, and co-workers are totally fine with the status quo, mediocre results, and performance falling short of their real potential, that doesn’t make it okay for you to do the same. You may think it’s normal to be twenty, thirty, or fifty pounds overweight. That it’s normal to just get by financially. To have a job that you drag yourself to each day and count the hours until Friday. Or to be in relationships that lack excitement, passion, and connectedness. These are all COMMON in our country and culture… but they are not NORMAL!
Step it up. Commit to being better. Set yourself up for success by anticipating the roadblocks and preventing them, and by taking the little action steps that make whatever it is you want to do EASIER. Capitalize on your brain’s design and desire to make things as easy as possible. It will work. I promise. I’ve experimented and proven it in my own life.