How to distinguish between laziness and fatigue and understand what’s holding back your progress

Laziness and fatigue – what is the difference? In both cases, it can be difficult to continue to follow your desire and pursue your dreams. How to fix it?

Yulia Ivleva

practicing psychologist, family psychologist, Gestalt therapist

Both laziness and fatigue are important mechanisms by which the body signals that resources are running out, it’s time to replenish. Here’s how to do it.

Where do laziness and fatigue come from? Here’s how to distinguish them

The main point of any human activity is to satisfy needs. And everyone is more willing to do what allows him to make up for what he lacks, what he feels the deficit. If a person is insensitive to his body and spends more resources than he has and does not replenish them in time, he feels tired.

Business psychologist and transformational coach

The reason for this can be daily stress, information noise and insufficient rest. And if after a full rest we still feel fatigue, it can speak of emotional burnout, depression and even anemia and thyroid disease.

But boredom, laziness and apathy signal that a person does not just waste resources, but spends them on things that he is not interested in and does not need, i.e. not to satisfy needs, but on things in which he has no deficit, i.e. meaningless things.

Olga: Laziness is a useful defense of our organism, which helps to save energy. It manifests itself when we force ourselves to do things that hold no interest or simply don’t lead to our true goals. When laziness is absolutely everything, it’s often the body’s attempt, against the backdrop of current fatigue, to prevent even more burnout.

How to overcome fatigue and laziness?

Olga: First of all, you need to minimize the amount of stress, sleep more, rest and do things that you enjoy and fill with energy. It is important to eliminate bad habits and follow a healthy diet. If the state of fatigue does not pass and after rest, it is better to consult a psychologist and therapist for counseling.

If you are full of energy and face laziness, then it is important to realize that people who are on fire with their work never face it. Therefore, you need to set the right goal and follow it. And the following questions will help with that:

• Do I always experience laziness or only to certain things? What kind of things?
• Do I need to do it from the position of “want” or “need”?
• How can I motivate myself to do what I need to do?
• What do I really want right here and now?
• What can I do today to stop feeling lazy?

5 tips to help you follow your desires

Make a habit of resting before fatigue sets in. For example, an hour of work – 10 minutes of rest. Doing something, ask yourself the question “why do I need it personally, for what?”. If you cannot answer this question, most likely, this action is meaningless for you. Maybe it makes sense to give it up? To avoid this in the future, search for the source of fatigue. Where does your energy go, what situations do you get tired of?

Look for a balance. Between satisfying your own interests and satisfying the interests of others. You can also get tired of your own, but it will be a different, pleasant fatigue. If you have to do something, think about how necessary it is to do it now. Adjust deadlines, prioritize and schedule energy-consuming chores for when you are in resource.

Take into account that only sleeping to rest is not enough. There must be a time when you are neither sleeping nor working, and it must be occupied by something interesting, such as a hobby. The most ideal hobby – complementary to the main activity. That is, if your labor is intellectual, then hobbies should be creative and physical. For example, fitness and painting.

Introduce variety into your routine. When tired, you often want to hide from everything, but actually socializing and variety is the best thing to do. Negative socializing is better to cut down, but interesting socializing is better to diversify. Introduce interesting activities and in the daily routine. Try new things – food, movies, routes.