Sometimes you just don’t feel like doing stuff. You sit on the couch and your body doesn’t seem to respond to your thoughts. No matter how hard you try to think yourself into action, you just sit there. Watching television, wasting time, idling along. How do you snap out of it?
If you don’t recognize this state of mind (or body), you’re lucky! I talked to quite a few people and this seems to happen to the most of us once in a while, and a lot to some. There are a lot of reasons why this might happen to you. In this article I’m making a list of helpful tips that have helped me overcome this phenomenon. The tips are both short term (immediate) hacks and habits that prevent it from happening.
Drink a glass of water (or two)
Mild dehydration takes away your energy to a great extent. To quote the Wikipedia page on Dehydration:
Symptoms of mild dehydration include thirst, decreased urine volume, abnormally dark urine, unexplained tiredness, lack of tears when crying, headache, dry mouth, and dizziness when standing due to orthostatic hypotension.
Recognize some of these? The solution is simple, drink a glass of water or maybe two. Wait for 10 more minutes while you’re body rehydrates, refreshing you and releasing energy to go do stuff.
Since a couple of weeks I adopted the habit of drinking a big glass of water first thing in the morning. And about two hours later, when I have my first coffee I drink another glass. It really works.
Take a short nap
Another cause of inertia may be that you’re just tired, or even edging on sleep deprivation. The cure for this is simple, take a short nap. You can try a meditation nap, a power nap or use the salesman trick.
The latter you can use when you don’t have the time to take a long nap, but do have a spare moment. Just sit in a chair and take a your keys in one hand, now let the hand with the keys dangle over the side of the chair and doze off. When you get to deeper stages of sleep, your muscles will relax and you will drop the keys. That in turn will wake you up again. A simple yet effective way of taking a short nap. But it’s best to avoid the need for napping altogether.
Exercise in the morning
Doing a workout in the morning is very satisfying and helpful to maintain energized throughout the day. Even having done the exercise makes you feel good about yourself the rest of the day, but your body is also powered up and ready to go (that is, if you don’t overexert yourself).
Be sure to replenish your body after the workout, drink water, eat some fruit (if the exercise was cardiovascular) or eat some protein (if it was about building muscle mass).
(I really should do this more often…I’m no star on this habit)
Tell others
Make a public commitment of the things that you’re going to do (like your goals). This makes sure that you have an external and internal motivation to get going.
Avoid sugar rushes
When you’re feeling low on energy it’s tempting to take a dose of sugar, often in the form of a candy bar, or a high energy ’sports’ drink. It helps, but the effect is only temporary and aggravates matters mostly. Since they are ‘fast’ sugars it will result in a sugar rush. It will release a lot of energy in your body, and it will induce a spike in insulin to transport that sugar throughout your body. But as fast as the supply of sugar appeared, it disappears. This short spike leaves a surplus of insulin that needs to be fed with sugar.
Avoid this by eating foods with the right carbs: the ones with a low Glycemic Index. One of the ideal snacks in my opinion is a banana.
Just take the first step
Sometimes getting started is as simple as taking the first step. Stuck behind the television, just decide to turn it off (and do it!). It’s a small step, but it breaks the cycle in which you’re stuck. Stuck playing games on internet? Just hit that little red cross in the upper red corner, or the red dot in the upper left corner (if you’re on a Mac). Nobody cares about that high score anyway.
Have some tips of your own?
These are just six tips that I use regularly, but there are plenty other possibilities. What do you do to break out of idle mode? Please share in the comments.
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You can be an Original too!
Ryan
Tue 2008.01.29
Exercising in the morning is a tough one for me. I have to leave the house by 6am to get to work on time so getting up even earlier would be hard. Since my wife and I started walking most nights I’ve found that exercising in the evenings has a definite effect on the next day. I can tell the next morning on the days I didn’t exercise the night before. I’m sluggish, have a hard time getting out of bed, and generally head straight for the coffee maker. Mornings after I do exercise I wake up much more easily and am more awake during the day - even without coffee.
On weekends though I do try to exercise before doing anything else. I agree with what you wrote about it helping through the rest of the day. Plus, even if I sit and watch TV the rest of the day at least I have something accomplished.
Water is a good tip too. When I’m feeling like not working I fill up a glass of water. It gives me an excuse to get up and move around for a couple of minutes, helps me with the dehydration problems you mention, and helps me fight off the urge to grab a snack.
K Stone
Tue 2008.01.29
These are all great tips! Thanks for the mention of my meditation nap idea! It really does work! I find it especially helpful when I “hit the wall” in the late afternoon or right before dinner.
K Stone
Tue 2008.01.29
Beautiful redesign of your blog, by the way!!
Beth
Wed 2008.01.30
I do some of those things, and also I listen to music (I wrote about this on my blog lately), or I take a shower to feel fresh and alert. Nice list!
Prosediva
Thu 2008.01.31
Something I’ve been trying to tell myself to do is BREATHE. Honestly - I think many of us get so tense during the day that we do not breathe properly. Especially at bedtime, I make a habit of breathing in and out very slowly and deeply. It really helps me relax.
Music Site
Thu 2008.01.31
Can I keep the sugar thing, please? lol,
this is the only thing that I can’t avoid, I drink pepsi a lot and eat chocolate a lot too,
Don’t worry, I am still not fatty!
Thank you for the tips,
Regards.
Lilavati
Fri 2008.02.01
I use a bit of long-term visualisation. I love what I study but by the end of the semester, studying becomes just an obligation.
So I say to myself:
“What do you REALLY want? Fail the exam or pass it? Regret the time you’ve wasted or feel you’ve done your best?”
The choice is obvious, so the next throught is:
“Well, you’ve made your choice, now you know what you have to do.”
Lodewijkvdb
Sun 2008.02.03
@Ryan: The feeling of accomplishment when exercising in the morning is half of the effect I guess. That’s the mental benefit, besides the physical aspect.
@K Stone: I haven’t really tried your meditation nap often, but I’m learning more about sleep and rest these days. Thanks for the redesign compliment
@Beth: Good tips too! Although these days I take showers to warm up again…winter days can be chilly.
@Prosediva: Breathing is a good tip too. I used to do slow and cleansing breathing before sleeping, but I don’t anymore. Thanks for the reminder!
@Music Site: LOL, you can do whatever you want, don’t let me stop ya. And if you’re on a sugar high all day, it’s hardly a rush now is it? Although I must say that it doesn’t sound very appealing to me.
@Lilavati: Good one too. I use that quite often too actually. When I don’t feel like doing stuff, especially while doing it, I take a moment to “see” the finished work. Works like a charm (except when your physical energy is really low).
Good stuff all! Thanks so much…
Rolf F. Katzenberger
Sun 2008.02.03
For freelancers: dress like you’re an employee heading for the office.
It works for me, every time. My wife tends to frown upon it, but I pick a good business shirt and trousers suitable for a Fortune-500-office, and there I go. It may feel weird at first, but trust me: it works.
Stephan
Thu 2008.02.07
Rolf’s remark is spot on. I don’t do this every day myself. This really depends on what I want to accomplish that day. If I want to feel business-like and focussed, wearing a business attire helps!
Another thing: when I find myself procrastinating on something important I now start doing simple household chores to get in the mood of doing stuff. Just by being active doing _something_ the step towards doing the thing you really wanted/needed to do becomees smaller.