Here are 5 Easy Steps I Take to Be Lazy and Productive Everyday
If you want to be productive and lazy, this is your manual.
I am a lazy and productive person.
You would never think to see lazy and productive in one sentence. But if you want to become productive and still be lazy, here are 5 steps I take daily.
1. Plan for laziness
Nobody plans to be lazy.
People lay out grand plans to be super productive, and the next thing, they are doom-scrolling TikTok, because of overlooking one thing.
Lack of a plan.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
If you are going to overcome laziness, you have to plan for it.
For me, I know, I start getting antsy and reaching for my phone to scroll YouTube around 10 am, some days, it’s more like 12.
This means I will not be productive if I don’t wake up before 5 and work till 10 or 12 pm.
So when you see me scrolling on YouTube by 10 am, it might be early for you, but that’s part of my plan.
2. Use the 20-minute rule for unpleasant tasks
Newton’s second law states that an object at rest continues at rest until an external force acts on it. Conversely, an object in motion continues in motion until another object acts upon it.
You can use this principle to start any hard task you are avoiding. Focus on working on the task for 30 minutes.
If after 30 minutes, you still don’t want to work on it, abandon it and do something else.
3. Plan your work beforehand.
If you don’t have a work plan, it will be easy not to start working. And the next thing would be you reaching out to your familiar place for comfort.
Sometimes, for me, it’s getting to inbox zero. And with all the copywriting lists I’m subscribed to, that can take a while.
And while it feels productive to read emails, it doesn’t move the needle for me, so it is a useless task.
While most of the time, I plan my work before time, the few times, I forget and try to wing it, I am less productive.
4. Use the second-day principle
When planned out well, you can add more hours to your working time using the second-day principle.
I coined this term because you can have a second working day after working for the first 4 hours.
After working for 4 hours from my waking hours till 10 am, I stop working for the rest of the day.
But some days, I get a second burst of energy around 2 pm and can work for an extra 2–4 hours.
This doesn’t happen every day and I don’t even want it to, but whenever I feel some energy after reading emails and/or watching YouTube, I sit down and crank out 2 more hours of work.
This could be work I wanted to do, but never planned, because by the previous point, you should plan out your work.
It could also be work that was inspired by ideas from the emails I get. I don’t plan for this, but it is a great addition to an already productive day.
5. Plan your energy
You can plan your time, but your energy is the most important thing to plan. That is why using a second day is necessary. You have all the energy early in the morning, from 10–2 pm, work is easy, you can coast.
By taking a 4-hour break from work and engaging in your lazy pleasure, you can start a new work day from 2 till 5 or 6 p.m.
With this second day, you can do more than you would have from a straight 8-hour work day.
If you want to have better energy, watching what you eat is also essential.
Conclusion
You can be productive and lazy.
You don’t have to give up one for the other.
If you are interested in making the most of your day and still taking life easy, you can have the best of both worlds.
Try out these steps and tell me what you think.
