I've struggled with some level of laziness all my life, as have you, I'm sure. I've woken up for class only to sleep in and almost miss class. I've found myself lying on the couch watching YouTube videos on my phone until my battery nearly dies. I've played video games after class only to rush through my homework in 75 minutes. I've rushed assignments in 15 minutes too. Or 15 seconds.
Laziness is a very common problem, and countless books and videos in countless languages have been made on how to unlazy-ify your life. And countless reviews and videos have been made about how those methods don't work. And almost any adult over the age of 30 has some advice on how to be more productive, despite them still calling themselves lazy. Same goes for me of course. Here's my advice: stop calling yourself lazy.
"Lazy", according to Merriam-Webster, is defined as "disinclined to activity or exertion : not energetic or vigorous". Their example sentence is "The lazy child tried to avoid household chores." The exact origins of the word are disputed, but it's often argued that the word is of Germanic origin. This is a perfectly fine definition, and it probably encompasses what you would think of as lazy.
But the problem with the word is that it's a blanket term used to describe not wanting to do something. Moreover, it's a blanket term that is used by someone else to describe a person, not the person themselves. Sometimes you might call yourself lazy, but like in the example sentence, it's much more common for a parent to call their child lazy. A boss might call their workers lazy because productivity targets aren't being met, and finance gurus or motivational speakers will often speak on the importance of not being lazy. And many of the rich and powerful will feel that they were successful based on their own work-ethic, and that the poors are poor because they're lazy and unmotivated. Whether or not these labels are actually correct is irrelevant: the point is that the term is broad and undescriptive.
"Lazy" is as much a connotative term as it is a descriptive term; it's an insult, not a diagnosis. A doctor would never end your checkup telling you you have a heart problem or a stomach problem. A computer technician would never return your computer saying your computer doesn't work. A teacher would never call you stupid for asking for help. You don't have a heart problem: you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, heart cancer, or any number of other specific diagnoses. You don't have a computer problem: you have a hard drive failure, a burnt out LCD, a dirty charging port, or any number of other specific diagnoses. You aren't stupid: you misunderstood the instructions, you didn't brush up on older topics, you underestimated how much time your assignment was going to take, or any number of other specific diagnoses. If you want to actually solve a problem, one of the first steps is to diagnose the actual problem. And laziness is not a diagnosis. Laziness is an insult.
You weren't on your phone during work because you're lazy, you were on your phone because you were distracted. You pulled it out to pull out your 2FA code and ten seconds later you opened up Instagram. You weren't on your phone during work because you're lazy, you were on your phone because you were overwhelmed. You were about to get to the bulk of your project and sit down and finally write it all up and before you knew it, suddenly you were on Discord and you'd already forgotten about the project until your boss walked in and asked how it was going. You weren't on your phone because you're lazy, you were on your phone because you were exhausted. You had been working diligently in the zone for a good 30 or 45 minutes until you ran out of steam and before you knew it, suddenly you were scrolling through TikTok watching a man explain to you the etymology of the word "sigma". You weren't on your phone during work because you're lazy, you were on your phone because you work for a job where you clock in at 9am and finally come home at 11pm five days a week. You weren't on your phone during work because you're lazy, you were distracted, overwhelmed, exhausted, unmotivated, uninterested, stressed, depressed, anxious, worried, hungry, annoyed, angered, or all of the above. Your boss might have called you lazy on your performance review, but laziness is not a diagnosis. Laziness is an insult.
You didn't spend all morning watching YouTube in bed because you're lazy, you spent all morning in bed because you were exhausted from all your classes for the week. You didn't spend 8 hours playing Civ 5 until 4am because you're lazy, you spent 8 hours playing video games because you were exhausted from coming home at 1am three times this week. You didn't spend your entire Saturday on the couch watching reruns of The Office because you're lazy, you spent your entire Saturday on the couch because you're stressed because you've been on call 80 of the past 120 hours and you haven't had any uninterrupted time for yourself. Your mom or your partner might have yelled at you and called you lazy, but laziness is not a diagnosis. Laziness is an insult.
One key fact about this approach is that if you do it enough, you're going to notice that it's not actually one problem. You might have slept in because you were drained from yesterday or excited about your dream. You might have been on your phone at work because you were distracted by TikTok or worried about your family. You might have forgotten to wash the dishes because you were excited about the game or too exhausted to get up from your chair. You might have procrastinated on sleeping because you didn't get to do anything fun today or didn't have time to finish your responsibilities. All these problems may seem daunting, but it can be much easier to solve them one at a time. Distractions can be mitigated, removed, or focused on, sleepiness can be alleviated by napping or coffee, exhaustion can be managed with taking fewer responsibilities, or with sleep, diet, and exercise.
Every problem-solving textbook in every discipline starts with the first step, describing the problem in as much detail as possible. It's only by narrowing down exactly what your problem is that you can begin to solve it. And laziness is not a diagnosis. Laziness is an insult. You can't fix chest pain, but you can fix heart attack with CPR or a hospital stay. You can't fix computer not working, but you can fix a broken hard drive by replacing it. You can't fix stupid, but you can fix misremembering how to do something by taking more time to practice the material. You can't fix lazy, but you can fix distracted by locking your phone in a drawer, separating your work and home life, having a good meal, taking a nap, or any number of other fixes that may or may not work for you. It is not enough to know that there is a problem if you don't properly diagnose it, and dignosis is the very first step. So if you want to solve laziness, take that first step.