I think everyone suffers from laziness at some point in their life. Whether it's just for a few hours, a few days, months or years, everyone gets hit with the slothfulness from time to time.

So how do you become less so? This question was posed on Reddit recently and there were some very insightful responses.

1.) The fake-it-til-you-make-it approach, by u/Bewilderme

"You know how you sometimes have to pretend to be sleeping in order to fall asleep? I started pretending I wasn’t lazy, and then I wasn’t lazy anymore." (7244 points)

2.) The mindset change, by u/zazzlekdazzle

"About the big stuff, I realised I wasn't really lazy, I was just afraid of failure and lacked confidence. I think my subconscious logic was that I shouldn't bother to try because I was likely to fail and end up in the same place anyway, so why put in the effort?

As cliché as it sounds, what got me out of that was to start to think of "failures" as just practice runs for whatever I wanted, so I could learn to do it again differently until I got it right. I also tried to train myself to feel excited about the potentially positive outcomes, rather than dwelling of the dispiriting nature of the possible negative ones.

Another simple thing that keeps me trying is thinking about what my PhD adviser said about applying for grants, which are so much work and competitive now it sometimes can feel like it's not worth the effort: 'There is only one way I know to guarantee that you won't get a grant, and that's not to apply for it at all'. It's a pretty good counter to my old argument of why try if I am going to fail anyway?" (11.2k points)

3.) Solution by association,  by u/black_fire

"Being around driven and accomplished people.

I realised the joy they felt after they accomplished a milestone was far greater than any happiness I felt by doing nothing. When they rested they rested, and when they partied they partied hard. It was amazing to see people living edge-to-edge on life and pushing themselves to their limits because they can.

And I've always wondered what can I do? It may not be as great as them, but it's better than if I'd done nothing. And I can build on successes." (2528 points)

4.) Just get it done, by u/Sevg

"The philosophy of 'íf a task takes less than two minutes, DO IT!'.

If things pile up then you'll never be motivated to finish your chores, let alone do anything else than procrastinate. Seriously, if something takes less than 2 or even 5 minutes, do it! You'll realise how much shit gets done and you will definitely be less lazy." (6764 points)

5.) The 3,2,1, go approach, by u/docturmishii

"The 3, 2, 1 philosophy has changed the game for me.

"3...2....1....go."

gets out of bed

"3...2....1....go."

goes to work

"3...2....1....go."

tries not to U-turn and call off sick" (9452 points)

What are your tips for avoiding laziness? Can you motivate yourself enough to share them in the comments below?