I’m a lazy person, I’m willing to admit that. I’d rather be laying on the couch eating Cheetos instead of running around doing errands. But as we all know, that is not how life works. When you become an adult you have to start doing things for yourself – because, for some reason, it’s not socially acceptable for our moms to make our doctors appointments anymore? What am I supposed to say to the doctor when they ask what’s wrong?! Like can’t you call my mom and ask her…
The problem is that once you fall into the habit (or maybe you’ve just always been) of being lazy, it’s so hard to get out. You can read all of the self-help books and motivational Instagram photos in the world, but you will never actually do anything. A few months ago, I really started to dive into blogging. I wanted to make this side activity that I’ve had into my full-time hustle.
The one thing lacking though was my ability to settle down and focus. [If you’re a blogger feeling like this too, you might like my post on BLOGGER BURNOUT, HERE.]. It is so intimidating when you start any kind of work if you don’t know what the size of the workload will be. Going from doing nothing (ish) to doing stuff can pretty much mean an instant failure. I’ve learned a few tricks recently that have turned me from lazy lady on the couch to motivated betty extraordinaire (my new thing is coming up with names for different moods, as you can see in my most recent blog posts, lol). I’ve been so excited to create content for my blog and social channels lately, I am overflowing with ideas. Not to mention, I’ve been working on so many more (meaningful) brand collaborations recently – I could not be happier with the success of my blog! So if you’re a Lazy Susan like me (I’m pretty sure Lazy Susan is that kitchen plate thing that spins around, but who cares), the let us dive into my advice on:
How to Get Motivated if You’re a Lazy Person
Find a mode of Inspiration
Whatever it is that you have to accomplish while you are lazy, you won’t be able to do without some inspiration. I find that inspiration gives me the kind of motivation that I need. There are many different ways to find motivation through inspiration. Some of my favorite Inspirational Things are:
• Books (coming soon book list)
• Podcasts
• Pinterest (of course)
• Magazines
• Talking with Friends
Sometimes, I find just looking at a picture on Pinterest can give me a flood of ideas and in the mood to work. If I’m not feeling creatively inspired, chances are that I’m not going to want to work. When you work as a creative, it’s hard to get motivated if you aren’t in that creative headspace.
Start Learning
Sometimes I feel too lazy to tackle a task because I’m not really familiar with what I’m supposed to be doing. For example, I knew I wanted to start making YouTube videos, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to talk about, how to film them, how to edit – there was so much unknown. I put off doing it for the longest time (literally, years). Finally, I started watching some tutorials on ‘’How to start a Youtube channel’ and ‘how to edit YouTube videos’. Once I learned about what I should be doing, I was more focused. Then I was able to gather myself, stop being lazy and finally start making them.
Keep a notebook/list
Lazy people are often unorganized. That’s a fact that we can all agree with right? Well, have you ever sat down to work and you’re like okay and… Like one of my favorite episodes of Spongebob Square pants, I used to sit down to write a blog post that started with a fancy “THE” and then ended with me going crazy and thinking the delivery man was a serial killer and that the round earth is just one big conspiracy.
A to-do list is the easiest way to start. Personally, I have a little notebook that is always by my side. I’ve created separate tabs for ideas, to-dos, and must-dos. But that’s a whole separate conversation for another blog post.
To get yourself on a to-do list today, let’s start simply. I’ve created 6 pretty calendars for the rest of the 2018 year – DOWNLOAD THEM HERE. Write your immediate and biggest tasks (relating to all aspects of your life: work, family, hobbies) on the calendar. As you go through the months, you will find yourself motivated to get things done and cross them off your list!
Set a Schedule
It’s so important to set yourself a schedule. One of the biggest mistakes I made was thinking that I’ll just find the time to do my work sooner or later. Well, as you guessed it, later never came – and neither did sooner. It wasn’t until I started dissecting each task (that I wrote on my calendar) into smaller to-dos, that I started actually getting work done.
In my notebook, I dedicate a page to each major task from my calendar. On that page, I then break down each specific step (in order of importance) that needs to be completed.
An average break down looks like this:
Post Idea – ‘how to get bleach your hair without damaging it’
1. Buy everything needed to bleach hair
2. Set up camera/lighting for video
3. Film self, bleaching hair
4. Photoshoot with bleached hair (thumbnail for youtube, blog post photos, Instagram photo)
5. Edit photos
6. Write blog content
7. Edit YouTube video
8. Write YouTube description
9. Watch edited video
10. Second edit of YouTube video
11. Edit blog post
12. Upload YouTube video
13. Create Pinterest Image for the blog post
14. Post blog post
15. Pin to Pinterest
16. Post link to Instagram bio
17. Post on Instagram feed
18. Post on Instagram stories
Then, each section gets a date and time in my calendar (plus my reminders on my phone, because I’m so forgetful).
Stick to your schedule
This is an obvious next step – but guess what, now you actually have to do it. Crazy right? Now that you’ve invested all of this time into creating this schedule, you HAVE to stick to it. Granted, that sometimes there are external factors that we can’t always predict. Sometimes we have to spend more time cleaning or taking care of our kids. But that doesn’t mean that your whole schedule gets ruined. You have to learn what to sacrifice and how much times things actually take to do.
Maybe today instead of going for coffee with that friend again, you complete task #6 so that tomorrow numbers 7-10 don’t get forgotten. Prioritize working task over free time tasks is all I’m saying here.
Get Organized
Plan, plan and plan some more. One downfall that all of us lazy’s have is that we don’t like to plan. If we get organized our lives become 1000% easier! So, creating that to-do AND must-do list is of utmost importance right now. A must-do list is all the things that need to be done today. It includes obvious things like: make dinner, give your kids a bath, drive them to school. But it also NEEDS to include those specific tasks that we created to lead us to our larger calendar goals.
On your to-do list, you might have things like wax, make freezer meals, go to the gym – but what exact tasks do you need to do today so that tomorrow is easier (and so that we can start to complete some of our calendar goals?)? Those are must-dos, and they need to be done today before you go to bed, got it?
Make Time to Relax
Yes babe, schedule time to relax. In the midst of having to do all of your tasks, you need to make time to be lazy! Personally, I’m one of those people who believes that you need to do something so that you can get it out of your system. Once a week I schedule ‘mommy’s lazy bath time’ – I throw in a bath bomb, get my face mask on and watch Friends in the tub. Comment below your favorite lazy day activity – I can’t wait to try your lazy day ideas!
I always come out feeling so relaxed and easy to put it, bored. I get out all of my laziness in one sitting that I start to get bored of being lazy. The next day I am always ready to go and get all of those must-dos (and some to-dos) done and off my plate!
For my fellow unmotivated bloggers, I’ve created something special just for you, My 30 Days of Inspirational Content Calendar. Here you will find great ideas for blog posts, Instagram posts, and YouTube ideas. Make the most of it and download it HERE.
Download the pretty Calendar planners that I mentioned earlier HERE.
