The Difference Between Laziness, Procrastination & Lack of Motivation

I believe many people get laziness & procrastination confused with 'lack of motivation'. In my opinion all these behaviors are inter-connected at a deeper level emotionally and mentally. I believe they occur when there is a disconnection within one element of 'you'. Let me expand upon this statement in regards to human characteristics...

The Different Aspects of Our Psyche

There are many parts to us all. These parts are what makes us who we are based on our experiences, our associations to these experiences, what importance they play in our lives, our understanding of them, and whether we have accepted them to be true. All of these factors combined create our opinions, points of view, beliefs and perceptions. In turn this creates our conscious circumstance which is basically the result of millions of pieces of data in the subconscious which molds who we are.

Lack of Motivation – Lack of Passion

Looking at all these parts of our self, a lack of motivation is essentially connected to a lack of passion. Passion is something that inspires us towards a goal or vision which we look forward to achieving or having in our life. This fuels the search for self-satisfaction. However, when we have been picked on, put down, always told what to do, and not living up to expectations of others etc., we begin to lose passion for whatever we are doing. Over time this leads to a general lack of motivation because the 'spark' has been put out by all the negativity around us. Funny how this works within a society which seems to always be there to put us down and feel insignificant making people wonder why we have lost our passion and become unmotivated! The part which is affected most by this is our 'Heart' because as the old saying goes... “whatever the heart feels the mind will see”.

Procrastination – Fear Within the Decision Making Processes

Procrastination is connected our decision making process. This is attached to a fear of making the wrong decision which has consequences like not meeting the expectations of others or ourselves. From this stems our belief systems which are formed over time and attached to future decision processes. Procrastination I believe is simply the result of fear which clouds our decision making to the point where we fail to take action and hence procrastinate on things. At first this would have been a conscious decision, but over time turned into a subconscious pattern of inactivity fueled by the fear of failure... “why even bother right”?

Laziness – A Coping Mechanism for Other Issues

Laziness is 'putting off' action, generally typified by a "I don't care" attitude. This is simply a coping mechanism. The lazy person is often intelligent, a great strategist, and works well under pressure. However with this, the lazy person often uses their intelligence to find a loop hole or shortcut to get something done in half the time. Although this can be a good thing for productivity, often it results in a job not being done properly or finding ways of getting out of it altogether. Essentially lazy people have emotional issues they have not dealt with and have 'put off' dealing with. Doing this creates a subconscious pattern of 'I don't care' which begins to flow across all areas of their life in general.

Each Part of Our Psyche Affects the Whole

So as you can see above, there are different parts of our psyche which form the basis for laziness, lack of motivation and procrastination. If one part is out of unison with the others, a disconnection occurs which eventually leads to these negative patterns. This is much like playing in a team sport where a few players don't turn up on the day and let the team down. If the whole team is not there playing together obviously there will be shortfalls. Either the remainder of the team has to really step up because they are under pressure, or they simply fall apart and accept they have lost. This is exactly the same when looking at all the different emotions and mental processes that affect our daily actions. If one part is out of alignment it will eventually affect the rest and begin to create a pattern. This is how people generally become lazy, unmotivated or procrastinate – thus forming their personality so to speak. When looking at fixing these traits, we must go back to the source to really make the changes a permanent fixture otherwise we are simply sweeping the problem under the rug.

Is Laziness Linked to Depression?

I believe that the same patterns that cause laziness/procrastination are also stepping stones over time to mild forms of depression. They manifest in a loss of identity, self-judgment, and not knowing who or where one fits. Obviously these are all key traits to depression and at the same time laziness and lack of motivation are also key traits of depression. I believe there is a strong link between the two that goes well beyond the obvious. In saying this, next time you make a joke at someone else (or yourself) about being lazy, maybe look a little deeper and try to see what is really going on that is causing this.

An Over-Protective Subconscious

One of the main things that causes patterns of inactivity is an over-protective subconscious. By this I mean the development of automated thought patterns in the subconscious part of our mind (usually driven by fear) that limits basically everything we do. This is just like an over-protective parent who is scared of letting the child 'experience' the world for fear of something going wrong. Being like this at a deeper level will make us lazy, unmotivated, always procrastinating, and even lead to weight gain. This is because the subconscious processes are inherently trying to protect us from the outside world and it's pain, thus stop creating new ideas and living life to it's fullest. Being like this can also lead to excessive over-thinking, 'switching off', always playing the victim role, and even creating addictive patterns as well. It is important to note that the role of the subconscious is primarily to protect. However over years of conditioning, experiences, fear and how we were raised, this level of protection can become a hindrance and is certainly responsible for deep-seated patterns of inactivity also.

Some Advice to Help Become More Proactive

Some have said that we can't have a feeling without first having a thought. However I believe that our sensory system first collects and stores all the billions of pieces of information from what we experience, and then calculates from this information our feelings and thoughts. Sometimes I believe we have a feeling before the thought and vice avers. It is the way we question ourselves that affects the actions we make. If we forget to always be assuring and encouraging in how we ask questions of ourselves (and the people around us doing this too), we begin working 'outside-in', which is not good. On the other hand, when we work from the 'inside-out' we are happy, inspired, motivated and proactive. By this I mean always ask positive questions and surround yourselves with positive people and you will be much better off. Being aware of this you will develop harmony and balance.

Every part of you must be engaged and aligned to really see the best results. Your body needs good food and exercise to keep your system flowing. Feeding it with the right fuel and doing exercise then helps clears your mind and energy field. Your mind needs this to make good decisions, set goals, take responsibility, and to be proactive. Your heart (passion) needs your mind to be like this so it can be heard, be happy, have it's desires met, and live a purposeful passionate life. In my opinion if one part of you is out of balance then the rest if you is too. When looking at becoming a really motivated driven person, it is not as simple as just touching the surface. You need to look deeper and make life changes that will create new patterns to sustain a new way of life.