Don't be lazy

What makes a person lazy? If you're not so sure, try considering these scenarios.

... You finished your dinner a while ago but instead of washing the dishes, you leave them in the sink, promising yourself that you'll do them after your favorite TV show finishes. But after you've finished watching that TV show, the news, and are done playing some video games, the dishes are still lying there. Well, there's always tomorrow!

... Does the appearance of your house or apartment matter much to you? Or are you perfectly content to let the food cycle run its course in your living space? By this, I mean, the dust gathers, the little flies and creepy crawlies accumulate, the spiders run rampant, and along come the mice.

... How often do you wash your clothes? Do you sit back and wait until another family member gets so angry and frustrated - to the point of ripping out his or her hair - that they voluntarily wash your clothes for you?

... Can you find your keys, wallet, remote control, and yesterday's pizza in the disorganized pigsty that you inhabit?

If any of these examples leaves you with an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu, maybe, just maybe, you have a tendency to be lazy.

Laziness occurs when you lose the drive or willingness to actively care about improving yourself or your environment. You don't use energy and therefore don't generate any energy, offering yourself to your worn out couch as a pet potato. Sure, it's easy to sit back and let others do all the work for you but you get very little personal satisfaction from letting people run around after you.

One way of combating laziness is to stay active and fit. If you get into a routine of exercising and keeping your mind and body fit, you'll feel less inclined to act lazy and actually enjoy moving about. Try to keep a schedule so that you know what chores need done when so that you can take them on one by one. It's much better than having the laundry pile overload at the same time as you run out of clean dishes. Most important of all, don't make excuses for not accomplishing your goals on time. By making excuses, we fall into a brutal cycle that is sometimes very difficult to break.

I am also susceptible to the lure of laziness but try hard to hold myself accountable for my actions or lack thereof. After all, we can all lead happier more productive lives if we put just a little bit more effort into them to avoid being lazy. This of course does not include holidays and vacation time!