Article 020

Laziness is one negative habit which can take away all the good things from you. It goes against the basic law of success which says that in order to achieve success, you need three things; strong desire, effort and luck or positive energy. With laziness, the factor of effort goes away directly whereas the other two factors are weakened indirectly.

Laziness lies in direct opposition to effort. Lazier you are, less effort you put in and accordingly, less are the chances of success. Without effort, it is difficult to achieve anything in life. All your positive energy can only ensure that if you try a thing, you may succeed. However, you have to try first. As laziness increases, you tend to try less, thereby reducing your chances to achieve success.

Even the ones who are blessed with luck factor have to engage in continuous efforts in order to make the most of their positive energy. For example, a champion player may not remain a champion if he becomes lazy and starts performing poorly. Though luck may help him when he needs it, luck can’t play for him and he has to do so by himself. Likewise, all other successful people also have to engage in efforts in order to achieve and maintain success. Without effort, they may not even be successful despite all the luck they may have.

Looking at the other two essential factors needed for success, laziness affects the desire factor. As laziness increases, you may stop developing strong desires for various things. Through laziness, your conscious writes a script on the subconscious that you’re incapable of achieving anything significant since you’re not willing to put in required effort. Accordingly, your subconscious mind may start preventing you from having strong desires also, as it knows that there is no point in having such desires when you can’t put due effort to fulfill them.

The next important factor required for success is luck or positive energy; and it is also affected by laziness. A lazy person engages in fewer karmas, whether good or bad, as he doesn’t want to do much of anything. Accordingly, the amount of positive energy that he can add to his aura through good karmas decreases.

On the other hand, whatever positive energy he already has in his aura is continuously being spent by him to live his life. This is because even if he doesn’t do much, he needs basic things like food and other things of daily need to survive. A part of his positive energy is spent each time he achieves one such thing. Hence the positivity of his aura may start decreasing and accordingly, his chances of achieving success decrease too.

Therefore, you simply can’t afford the luxury of laziness as you may stop adding more positive energy to your aura and you may keep spending the already collected positive energy. If this keeps happening, your aura may become less and less positive at first and then; it may become more and more negative. Even if you live with the help of your parents or siblings, your aura passes on positive energy to them; each time they do something for you, which you should do instead. This way, you may run out of required positive energy at a point. This is when they may refuse to help you any longer. Hence you need to start working on this problem at the earliest.

Let’s see how this problem can be rectified. Through conscious acts of being lazy, your conscious mind has written a script on your subconscious. This script says you don’t want to do much physical work. Accordingly, you subconscious starts discouraging you whenever you wish to engage in efforts because this is not who you are according to your subconscious.

In order to rectify this problem, you need to send repeated conscious messages to your subconscious; that you wish to engage in more and more efforts. With time and efforts, you may rewrite the script and your problem may go away.

Let’s look at some important points which may help in rectifying this problem. Don’t try to take big steps in the beginning and take small steps. Big things require a lot from your side and you may not have much due to being lazy. Though you may have the enthusiasm, your body and subconscious are working against you; since they are not accustomed to such efforts from you side. Hence you may witness physical as well as mental discomfort of high quantum. Such discomfort may not let you continue and you may end up discontinuing.

The subconscious can play various types of tricks on you due to which you may hear voices from inside. Such voices may try to discourage you or distract you. Some of them may go like, “this activity is not going to help much”, “you’re not capable of doing it, hence don’t try” and “you should quit this activity and try another one which is more productive”.

The last one is especially tricky since it is trying to distract you. It says though you’re capable, the activity you chose is not right for you. Hence it may make you quit. Once you find a new activity, it may do the same and this may continue. Your subconscious may not let you engage in anything big since it stands in opposition to big efforts.

Basically, it stands in opposition to all types of efforts, whether small or big; due to the script you wrote on it. The subconscious poses resistance to all the things which go against the script written on it. As a rule, smaller are the changes, less is the resistance whereas bigger changes attract strong resistance. Since you’re trying to achieve big things in the beginning, the subconscious may oppose you with great strength and you may not succeed because the subconscious is much stronger than the conscious.

Hence you should not use force to win over your subconscious and you should use tricks. Despite all the power that your subconscious has; the source of such power is your conscious mind. It means your conscious wrote a specific script on your subconscious and only your conscious can change this script. Hence you have two jobs at hand. The first one is to change the script and the second one is not to fight hard with your subconscious, while you’re in the process of changing it. It means you need skill and patience to change the script of being lazy; and aggression alone is a bad idea.

People who want to be educated start from the first class and then they move ahead. Likewise, on your first day at a gym, you only try light exercises and you don’t lift heavy weights. With time, your body may learn to do heavy lifting also. A baby learns to sit first, then it tries to stand, then walk and then run; where running may take years. It means you should start slow and then build up from there.

Therefore, start treating your laziness with the help of small activities. There are two advantages in doing so. The first one is that in order to engage in small activities, you don’t need much effort. The second one is that through these small but conscious activities, your conscious mind starts sending more and more signals to your subconscious mind. These signals say that you are not lazy and you like to work. Since the activities are small ones; your subconscious may not pose strong resistance to them. As a result, you may get through.

With time and effort, your subconscious may start posing less resistance and it may then start encouraging you. Once that happens; you should increase the quantum of your efforts. Once your subconscious has adjusted to this level also; you should further increase the intensity. This way, you can build up efforts and rewrite the script on your subconscious, slowly but surely.

Another advantage in doing so is that your body may also have sufficient time to accommodate itself to the changes in your working routines. Since you’re building up gradually, your body may also have no problems in making adjustments.

It is like a video game where the first level is easy and it makes you think that you can play. The next level is comparatively difficult but by the time you reach there, you’re able to adjust since the change is gradual. This way, you keep playing and in a matter of days; you may be able to attempt difficult or very difficult levels.

Imagine what may happen if a game features the most difficult level as its first round? Most people who try such game may not like it as it may be too difficult for them and they may quit it. Hence start with small things and then build up; instead of going for the last round first.

Let’s discuss some day to day activities which are small but which can effectively treat laziness. Some common favourite things for most lazy people are to sit on a chair or sofa; and relax on a sofa or couch while lying. Hence we need to start from here. If lazy people can start moving more and more from these two positions; they may see good results.

In the beginning, simply make a plan that whenever you are sitting or lying except when you are sleeping, you will get up once every 5 or 10 minutes and you will move. You may do so to get a glass of water, to see if the door is locked, to check if the gas stove is turned off or simply to take a round of your house or the place you are at.

It may sound like a small activity but it does its job. Each time you get up and take a round, this conscious activity sends a message to your subconscious mind that you are not lazy anymore and you can get up, move and do anything; anytime you want. This is when you start erasing the old script on your subconscious mind and start writing a new one.

As you master this act of getting up and moving around, in a matter of weeks or even in days, you may start getting feelings or inner voices which may stop you from sitting idle or lying idle. This means that the new script has started taking place of the old script. Accordingly, your subconscious mind may start sending encouraging inner voices to you.

The essence of these voices may be that if you’re supposed to get up every 10 minutes; what is the point of lying in the first place, and why not do something instead? It means your subconscious is encouraging you to quit lying and start engaging in various types of jobs. If you choose to ignore these voices, your subconscious may start making you feel uncomfortable when you try to sit or lie. When that happens; you’re ready for the next level.

At the next level, choose something which is somewhat more difficult but which is not a lot more difficult than your first task.  For instance, you may start engaging in small household chores and spend more and more time in them. One such good practice is that you should take the job of going to the nearby market and get the items of daily need. If you have an option, you should pick a shop or store which is at a walking distance from your house. You should split this job in a way that you visit such store; two, three or four times a day.

As you start moving more and as you start doing more, your body will get accustomed to increased levels of physical performance. Accordingly, laziness decreases. At the same time, your subconscious mind is getting more messages that you like to work. With time and effort, you may get through this level also; and the script on your subconscious may change more in your favour. Once you master the activities in this level, your subconscious mind may start motivating you for the next level; again through the inner voices. It means you’re ready for the next level.

In the third step, start doing more things at work. Start spending more time with your girlfriend or wife and do more to help her out. Start engaging in physical activities like brisk walking, running or any other such activity. Start learning something valuable and start developing a skill or start polishing a skill if you already have one. Engage in whichever one of the above mentioned spheres is the one that you like the most; and you may see significant progress in that sphere. Remember, for the same effort you put in, in different spheres of life, your gains will be the maximum in the sphere that you like the most.

The reason for such gains is simple. When you have a strong desire to do something, you are more likely to succeed in it since strong desire is one of the three essential factors required for success. Hence it is always helpful if you can get your efforts supported by a strong desire. This way, you will have two out of three required factors working in your favour. Accordingly, your chances of success are better. Hence when you reach this level and are ready to work on a practical sphere of your life, don’t just randomly choose any sphere and start with the sphere that you like the most.

Now you have an idea about what types of activities should be there in each level. Based on your choices and circumstances, you may choose different activities. The idea is to start slow and build up gradually. Don’t try to jump any level until you start feeling positively uncomfortable which means the level becomes so easy that you wish to play a harder one. Until that happens; keep playing on the same level. During this practice, speed may be your enemy and patience as well as perseverance may be your best friend.

 

Himanshu Shangari