No.1 Dispelling Your Assumptions
Are you a naturally lazy person? Well, you’d be surprised how many people claim laziness is one of their core personality traits. They resign themselves to a lethargic lifestyle, assuming it’s a fundamental part of who they are, but they’re looking at laziness the wrong way. In fact, intrinsic laziness is not nearly as common as people think, very few people are as lazy as they say they are. Just imagine you’re struggling to exercise regularly, every night, you say you’re going to go running in the morning, but every morning, you find some reason not to, does that mean you’re a naturally lazy person? No, not at all. There are all kinds of reasons why people have trouble accomplishing their goals or creating healthy habits. You might have problems with self-controll or self-discipline. Your fears and insecurities may be trapping you inside your comfort zone. When you assume you’re intrinsically lazy, well, you’re not only ignoring the real problem, but you’re also avoiding your potential. To be productive and efficient, you need to believe in your own ability. You have to have faith that you’re capable of improving yourself and your life. But as long as you make harmful assumptions, now, your work ethic is going to suffer.
dispelling 驱散，驱逐，消除
traits n.特性，特质，性格（trait 的复数）
resign v.辞（职），放弃（工作或职位）；（使）听任，（使）顺从（~ oneself to）；（国际象棋）放弃，投子认输
lethargic adj.无精打采的，懒洋洋的；昏睡的
lifestyle n.生活方式
insecurities 不安全感
trapping 使sb陷入xx
faith n.信任，信心，信念
No.2 The Eight Categories Of Laziness
Since your probably not intrinsically lazy, well, it’s time to understand where your laziness comes from. Laziness is often a byproduct of a deeper issue, but it can be tricky to figure out what’s really going on. Luckily, psychologists have narrow down laziness into eight categories, each category describes a unique underlying problem, they all create negative and unproductive mindsets, but they stem from vastly different emotional states. As we go through these eight categories, pay attention to which one sounds the most like you. The more you know about your laziness, the easier it will be to get past it.
The first category is caused by fatigue. You’re lazy because you don’t have the physical or mental energy to be productive. You might say things like: “I’m too tired to work.” The problem isn’t that you’re lazy, it’s that you’re not taking good enough care of yourself.
The second is regret. You get lazy when you feel like an opportunity is passed you by. You might avoid work by saying: “It’s too late to get started.” But you’re just looking for excuses to stay where you are. Chances are, you don’t believe in your ability to keep up with everyone else.
The third category is internal shame. This can make you incredibly unproductive and ruin your mindset. Most of the time, shame comes from a lack of self-compassion. You get so frustrated with yourself for being lazy that you end up becoming the thing you were trying to avoid.
The next is social fear. You hold yourself back because you’re worried about looking stupid. If you try something and fail, you might be scared it’s going to ruin your image.
The fifth category is neuroticism or anxiety. When you face new challenges, you’re overwhelmed by your fears. You tell yourself you can’t do something because you’re too scared to try.
Number six is laziness created by uncertainty. You might hesitate when something is complicated or confusing, but this confusion is a natural part of any challenge. So, learn to embrace it.
The seventh is apathy. You get lazy because, well, you don’t care. This is often a sign of aimlessness or depression. If you feel apathetic toward everything, you’re not lazy, you just need to discover something that’s important to you.
Finally, the self-definition, which is the issue we talked about in step one. If you identify is lazy, well, then you become lazy. But you can solidify your ambitions by gradually changing the way you define yourself.
intrinsically 天生地
byproduct n.副产品
tricky 棘手的
going on 进行，发生
psychologists n.[心理]心理学家（psychologist 的复数形式）
narrow down 缩小范围，归结
underlying adj.根本的，潜在的
mindsets 心态
stem from 源于
vastly adv.非常，极大地
get past it 克服它
fatigue n.疲乏，厌倦
regret n.遗憾，惋惜
passed you by 与你擦肩而过
shame n.羞耻，羞愧；羞耻心
frustrated adj.懊恼的，沮丧的，失望的；失意的
image 形象
neuroticism n.神经质，神经过敏
overwhelmed v.（情感）难以禁受；使应接不暇；淹没，漫过
embrace 拥抱
apathy n.冷淡，无兴趣
aimlessness n.无目的，盲目性
apathetic adj.冷淡的，无动于衷的
solidify v.（使）凝固，变硬；（使）变可靠，（使）变稳固
No.3 Rediscover Your Direction
What will happen if you leave things the way they are? This is a crucial, albeit uncomfortable question to ask yourself. For people who struggle with laziness, the future may seem a bit unnerving. If you stay the way you are for the next five to ten years, well, you might never achieve your lifelong goals. You might never turn into the person that you dreamt of becoming. These hypotheticals will train you to look into the future, to consider how your current priorities will evolve over time. Realizing that you’re not on the right path can motivate you to correct bad habits and make lasting changes to lifestyle.
rediscover vt.重新发现；再发现
direction n.方向，方位
leave things the way they are 让事情保持原样；不改变现状
crucial adj.至关重要的，决定性的；<非正式>极好的
unnerving adj.使人紧张不安的
dreamt v.梦想（dream 的过去式，过去分词）
hypotheticals n．假设，假定情况
No.4 Identifying The Value Of Your Work
Even after they improve their mindset, some people still struggle to see the value in their work. You may become unproductive because nothing seems like a worthwhile use of your time. But there’s an easy way to work around this kind of laziness. Anytime, you set a goal or make a new habit, don’t just write down what you’re doing, write down why it’s an important addition to your life. When you identify the value of your goals, your work will seem worth doing. So, make this simple change to revolutionize your productivity.
mindset 心态
worthwhile adj.重要的，有益的，值得做的
worth prep.价值……；值得
revolutionize v.使发生革命性巨变，使彻底变革
No.5 The Lazy-Work Exchange
Many people think being productive means working uninterrupted for hours on end. They think you’re supposed to get everything done in one sitting, but that’s completely unrealistic. Hardly, anyone works like that, even the most productive people have slow periods or downtime throughout the day. So, don’t hold yourself to this impossible standard, don’t expect yourself to sit down and concentrate for 8 to 12 hour straight. It’s rarely if ever going to happen, but that isn’t something to be ashamed of, there’s nothing wrong with taking breaks. In fact, brakes are an incredibly useful way to stay productive when you’re feeling lazy. If you use them correctly, you can essentially use laziness to your advantage, you’ll create a routine that lets you be lazy, and feel good about it. The key is to exchange downtime for work time. In other words, to get one, you have to do the other. Let’s say you really want to watch an episode of your favorite show, that’s not an issue, but you need to earn that half hour of laziness by doing an equal amount of work. I recommend keeping at least one to three lazy/work ratio. So, for every one minute of downtime, you do three minutes of work. That means you need to work for 90 minutes to earn a half hour for your show. The beauty of this step is that you’re lazyness becomes your motivation, when you can’t shake the urge to slack off, then let that fuel you. You’ll be more productive because you know a fun reward is waiting for you at the end. You may even find yourself working harder when you know there’s a break coming up soon. A lot of people end up over shooting the time they needed to spend working, they get so wrapped up in a project that they end up pushing themselves further. Why? Well, because setting limitations alleviates pressure, it makes your work seem manageable instead of stressful and depressive. Oh, but that’s not all. Exchanging work time for downtime also make sure downtime more enjoyable. Just think about how you feel when you’re avoiding work, are you guilty, restless, and angry with yourself? You know you’re procrastinating, but you just can’t seem to stop. Those negative emotions tend to ruin whatever fun thing you’re doing. So, if you earn your downtime, then you can actually enjoy being lazy. You can watch your show, browse social media or do whatever you want without that frustrating guilt looming over your head. So, don’t worry about working for hours and hours, divide up your day with short breaks to get the most out of your work time and your downtime.
exchange n.交换，互换；短暂的交谈，争吵；交战，交火；兑换，汇兑；交流，互访；交易所；（商品的）调换；电话局，电话交换台；换子，兑子v.调换，更换；交流，交谈；交换，互换；兑换，交易
straight adv.直线地，径直地；竖直地，直立地；立即，马上；诚实地，坦率地；连续地；准确地，清晰地
episode n.一段经历，一段时期；（电视剧或广播剧的）集，一集；疾病的发作，发病；插句，插段；（希腊悲剧中）两段合唱之间的部分
shake sth off 摆脱某事
urge to slack 急于懈怠
wrapped up 结束；包起来；全神贯注于
tend to 倾向于，常常
frustrating adj.令人懊恼的，令人沮丧的
looming adj.（不希望或不愉快的事情）迫近的，逼近的
divide up 分割，分配
get the most out of 充分利用，最大限度地利用
No.6 Measure Your Transformation
As you slowly begin changing your habits and priorities, don’t forget to keep track of your progress, even the smallest improvements can help you down the road. Looking back on your transformation can be a huge motivator, when you’re feeling hopeless and lethargic, those records are there to give you an extra boost of encouragement, they’ll push you through the rough patches, they’ll help you overcome obstacles and persevere through failure. Many people get discouraged and lazy because they don’t feel like their hard work is getting them anywhere. Your investing all this time and energy into improving yourself, maybe you’re hoping to notice changes in your body shape, or feel like you’re getting closer to achieving your goals. But you’re not seeing any results. It’s important to remember that real change happens over time. You can’t actually see it unless you compare where you started and where you are right now. That’s why you track your progress, keeping records will show you how much you’ve accomplished. It’s physical evidence that hard work really does pay off.
Transformation n.改变
lethargic adj.无精打采的，懒洋洋的；昏睡的
rough adj.艰难的
patches n.补丁；斑块
persevere v.锲而不舍，坚持不懈；固执己见
No.7 The Power Of Kindness
If you slip up during any of these steps, well, don’t beat yourself up about it. To continue being productive, you need to maintain a positive attitude about your work and yourself. It’s critical that you learn to forgive yourself when you fail, just because you messed up once or twice doesn’t mean you should throw your goals out the window. You’ll fail plenty of times in your life, hey, everyone does, but don’t let those failures destroy your motivation and self-esteem, be kind to yourself, that way you can continue growing into the person that you want to be.
slip up 犯错误、失误，尤其是看似小的错误
beat yourself up 自责
messed up 搞砸了
esteem n.尊重，敬重v.尊重，敬重；认为，把……看作
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