How to Combat Laziness and Prevent Burnout?

Does the title of this article raise any red flags for you? There's actually a contradiction in it.

What is laziness? My definition: laziness is the acute feeling of the meaninglessness of the activity you're being asked to do. In other words, someone tells you: "Don't be lazy! Go do it!" And you respond: "Why do I even need this? No. I don’t want to!" In such a situation, I think you’re right. Why should you put effort into doing something if you don’t see the point? So laziness is a perfectly valid state. You should be lazy. To avoid wasting energy on things that don’t really matter to you.

But preventing burnout is more like the opposite of fighting laziness. If people were a bit lazier, they'd burn out less often. Burnout happens due to high emotional activity. When you’re too “emotionally invested” in something. If burnout is “professional,” it happens from overworking. Or if you worry too much in your relationships, emotional burnout occurs. Essentially, burnout is just burnout—there are just different situations that lead to it.

Now, what about dealing with laziness? First, we talk about “fighting” it. I really don’t like that word here. When you’re at war with yourself (and laziness is a part of you), it won’t end well. Do you know what autoimmune diseases are? They're when the body starts attacking its own tissues. It’s essentially trying to destroy itself. It’s a scary thought! So let’s not fight with ourselves. Next, we need to learn to trust laziness. Laziness means “don’t do it.” And if you don’t need to do something, then there’s no need to force it. So what should we do then? Well, we should figure out: why are we feeling lazy?

This is where the real work begins. Sometimes this is called "finding motivation," but that's oversimplifying the task. You either need to find the reason blocking your activity, understand what you’ll lose if you stop being lazy, or find the reason why taking action will bring you clear benefits. In other words, we might not see something. There’s always something in either of these two categories! And how do you do this? By lying down and thinking. Be lazy and reflect: why is this not happening? What are the benefits of being active in this situation? Either you’ll identify the reason that’s causing the block, and then you’ll be able to explain why you don’t need to do it and how great your laziness is for showing you that. Or you’ll jump off the couch and get moving because you realize what you were overlooking.

Now, how to avoid burnout. Don’t pour too much emotional energy into something that drains you. Do you know what a professional is? A professional is someone who shows up, does what they’ve been trained to do, gets paid, and leaves. Until they’re called again. Calmly, focused, following instructions. But somewhat detached, even a little bored. "Oh, not this again." This is how you avoid burnout. Or, if you feel that something is becoming too difficult or uninspiring, take a break from it. If you used to be passionate about something, but now it makes you sick just thinking about it—burnout is near! And at that point, you should temporarily switch activities, or even take a vacation. You need a break to miss it and eventually feel the desire to return to the same old “rut.”