Building good habits for lazy people
Sometime in 2022, in the midst of a hectic tech job, life became an endless loop of getting up, working to pay bills, cooking dinner, scrolling mindlessly until I fell asleep — only to wake up and do it all over again. I struggled to feel a semblance of control and felt stuck on an endless autopilot mode without any meaningful direction.
Desperate to gain back some sense of direction, I tried to fit in any form of self-improvement in my day. Doing one productive task out of the ordinary mindless grind felt like taking back some control.
And so, I started with the lowest hanging fruit — going to the gym!
This May, as I turned 30, I hit another milestone — over 6 months of going to the gym every morning*. Rain or shine, no matter how stressful the day before or the day ahead looked like, I managed not to skip a single day. Now to some this might not look like a big achievement. After all, there are thousands and thousands of athletes, sportspeople, etc. who work out regularly. However, for someone who always struggled with self-discipline and achieving any meaningful change in life, sticking to a self-improvement routine for 180 days consistently was a herculean task.
Now if you are like me — struggling with motivation to do basic tasks, no focus, shot attention span, and doom-scrolling mindlessly into the ether — here's how I tricked my lazy brain into being more productive.
*Every weekday. Weekends are rest days. Ended up continuing the unbroken streak throughout 2024
1. Gamification
Initially, when I decided to work out, I made it to the gym 2–3 times a week. Every additional day that I was able to make it to the gym built more confidence, but many days were still a struggle. One week I realized I had made it to the gym almost every day. Not wanting to break the streak, I went to the gym all week next week — and then the next. By week 4, the pain of skipping gym and breaking my streak record was greater than the pain of waking up for the gym. And so, 6 months later, here I am!
The streak effect is real! Sticking to a goal is actually a motivator in itself. But more importantly, our brains are wired to be more motivated the longer we adhere to a goal.
The trick is to get started and keep track. Keep your initial goals simple and achievable to build a habit of adherence.
Celebrate the small wins — a day of no junk food, 15 minutes of reduced screen time, a week of working out. Sticking to goals (no matter how small) reinforces that you will stick to future commitments, and every bigger shift after becomes that much less challenging.
2. Pebbles, Not Mountains
One of the biggest obstacles to building any long-term habits is that the associated effort often seems overwhelming — most often resulting in procrastination.
Instead of mapping out a big goal, aim for smaller, achievable goals that require low effort. For example, if you want to find a new job but can't find the time to prep for interviews, first list down all the prep work you would need to do and your preferred timeline. Work backwards to break the prep first into monthly chunks, those further into weekly chunks, until you have 30-minute daily chunks you can fit into your schedule. Now your goal is not studying 10 different research papers — it's just reading two paragraphs for 30 minutes every day. A much less overwhelming endeavor for your brain to resist.
Showing up is often the hardest part! And sometimes you simply have to trick your brain by giving it the path of least resistance. When I started my fitness journey, I gave myself the goal that I would simply step into the gym for a minimum of 5 minutes every day. Not only did this seem easy to achieve, it also seemed like way less effort to resist. It was surprising how even on the days with the least motivation, 5 minutes turned to 30 minutes!
3. No Exceptions
This is by far my biggest and most effective rule. One of the biggest obstacles in building an effective long-term habit is lack of consistency. Earlier in my fitness journey, because of no fixed rules or plan, it was very easy to react to the stresses of the day and fall off the plan. If I had a particularly stressful day, I skipped the gym — since I could always "make up" another day.
Once you make an exception to your routine for one reason, it's funny how quickly reasons add up and you are off track. Which is why it is important to have a clear framework of rules with no exceptions.
It is important to build a realistic routine with enough flexibility that allows you to sustain the daily routine without burning out. For example, I reserve weekends for complete rest and do not schedule any self-improvement tasks. However, weekdays are strictly no exceptions, and I have a self-inflicted mandate to not skip the gym no matter my schedule.
When you mandate your brain to stick to a particular task, you mentally also prioritize your day differently. When you force a no-exception rule, it means that particular task is top priority and you force yourself to operate around it. It's funny how things are just noise and drop off when you force yourself to prioritize.
4. Automate Your Daily Routine
I detest working hard and want to achieve the most with the least possible effort. This inherently isn't a bad thing — I have realized this is actually one of my superpowers. For any given task, my brain is incentivized to figure out the most optimal, efficient path that requires the least effort.
I realized doing mindless tasks is my most preferred comfort zone, and so I decided to eliminate as many decisions from my daily routine as possible. Instead of cooking every day and having to bear the mental load of deciding what to cook, I spent two days collecting easy-to-make recipes and built a sustainable meal plan, which I use to meal prep once during the week. This not only eliminates the labor of cooking every day but frees up the mental bandwidth of deciding what to eat each day. Now, after a long day of grueling meetings at work, I simply have to grab something from the fridge — freeing up more time to relax and reset.
To eliminate decision fatigue, identify as many repeatable tasks as possible from your schedule and invest a small, one-time effort to scale these into repeatable systems you can fit into your daily routine. Now these long-term habits just become part of your daily routine vs. needing dedicated mental bandwidth to make progress.
Closing Thoughts
In the world of social media and a sea of distractions, finding motivation is a real challenge. You are fighting against entire systems designed to hijack your senses. Lack of motivation and lost focus is not just an individual problem anymore — it is a real global challenge.
Remember to give yourself grace if you find yourself falling off track from your goals. The most important thing is to make progress, no matter how small.