We really are living through a historical moment. It’s extreme but it can be a moment to get some things you wouldn’t have had the chance to do done. Although if you are fundamentally lazy like I am this can be a challenge. I have managed to do a lot more than I thought I would by remembering that I am the way I am and I accept that, but you and I can both work around these laziness blocks that get in the way.

I like to use the tools out there to make it easier. It’s fun knowing how to do everything yourself but you only have so much attention space and we want to get working on our big goals

1. “Discipline equals freedom!”

As Jocko Willink says with the title of his book discipline is freedom, what does this mean for a lazy person? First of all be honest. If you have to get up at 5am to workout and you go to bed at 1/2 in the morning after a heavy night of Apex Legends, this isn’t going to be sustainable. Get up early, but be realistic, 8/9 is good 7 is great, anything after 10 might mean you need some kind of help with your PS4 addiction. Get up at a reasonable time and have three things you do straight away. Mine are:

  1. meditation

  2. journal

  3. exercise

  4. Read

  5. BJJ

I don’t pressure myself into a ridiculous regime of these, all of these can just be 5 mins or less each so 25mins in total (usually I end up doing way more than this 5 mins, but if my goal is super short and easy, then my lazy mind doesn’t get scared of starting to do it). Also keep it fun and simple. 

Meditation

For meditation you can download a free app like Oak https://www.oakmeditation.com if you have an AppleWatch you can use the breath app for a couple of minutes, or you can use Headspace which I like as it guides you through different options. click here for headspace

Again, no pressure at all with this, just sit and try and do it for as long or little as you want. It is both super hard and super easy.

Journal

I use the Best Self Journal, I like writing with a pen because I am a masochist, as I have terrible handwriting that sometimes even I can’t read, but I think it’s getting better. you can download a free pdf version here or buy yourself a journal here it combines gratitude journaling, goal setting and a diary to help you get over yourself and get things done. It has been good for keeping me moving in the right direction and sharpening my goal setting. It is hard to set up but once you decide on your goals it takes 5 mins a day. I use it in the morning and evening.

Exercise

This one is the most important out of the three, I find that when I don’t do this I might as well not do anything else. Again keep it fun and simple, I love BJJ but hate gym work and exercise, I have learnt to get over myself and do HIIT classes, but they have to be varied as hell and challenging enough to push me but not crazy hard to follow. Options for this:

    • Got a kettlebell? Swing it 100 times a day, I started with this one, it’s quick and if you do it right, it covers a lot of areas. Here is a video on how to do this by TIm Ferriss, it’s the video I used when I first did these. Can’t do 100? do 50 not less, and start with a 16kg kettlebell, 12kg is pointless, if you can lift it with your arms easily, why bother using your hips?

    • Do 100 push ups, you can do it! Shouldn’t take long and you will feel better.

    • Plank for as long as you can. 

    • Do an online live class… oh wait! We have those :) here is a free week of Wave Online push the button below. Or here is a free video of Ian’s conditioning class, it’s 30 minutes, do it! You will thank me :)

So many options here that will help you. Again start slow and make it fun. 

Read

This is one I am catching up with, I gave myself a goal of one a week, but now it’s one every two weeks, a lot easier to stick too and I still end up basically doing one a week. I like self help and business books. I am going to also write a cheat sheet of each book, and send it out every couple of weeks. More for me, but if it gets you interested in the book, all the better. I recommend turning off your phone and trying to focus on reading a book. It is great for the mind really. All those cliches are true.

Here is my first cheat sheet

BJJ

Well this is a BJJ website so this has to be one of my daily rituals. I either watch and instructional and take notes, or try sh*t out on my girlfriend, or I count my BJJ drills class on Wave Online that I teach three times a week

2. Stay connected with friends and family

Are you at home alone? I think this is the time you need to reconnect with friends, old friends and make new friends. The good thing about having a BJJ club to train at is that we get pretty close and make good friendships that last, but if you aren’t a member of a club there are plenty of other options. With apps like House Party and Zoom there are lots of events out there you can join. 

We have Conversations with Larry on Friday’s at 18:30 for that reason. We have guests, games, even mini adventures like the time we went to a farm in California. You can join us every Friday registration is free through the website www.wavebjjonline.com, just click on the link in the timetable. Everyone is welcome, just be prepared for the occasional conspiracy theory :)

Or you can contact us, we are here for you for a chat. Send me a message anywhere and I will answer. You have support.

3. Create some goals that you want to achieve.

What do you want to do? What big goals do you have? What will you lose trying to get them working?

One thing that I have learned is that goals are great for getting you to do stuff, then a lot of the time they create new goals as you go towards the goal you originally wanted to achieve. 

Not hitting the initial goal is not a bad thing, our goals and ideas are usually very simply painted out in our minds and as we work towards them, we realise the other skills we need to develop to make them a reality. One of mine is improving my writing, hence this blog post.

When I started my gym I had grand ideas of getting my own space straight away and having this huge mat area with a smoothy bar and gym area. This would have crushed me and before I did any of that, I had to test my ideas in a low risk setting. I had to be realistic in terms of where I was and take a few steps back from the big huge gym. This was the best decision I made and this more flexible thinking has been useful in every goal I make. 

Flexible thinking also helped me during this lockdown. As soon as I knew we would have to close the gym I started thinking about all the issues this would cause and try and mitigate these. I didn’t get emotional (well not fully true, but mainly true). I stepped back and looked at the best and worst outcome and planned for those. 

This is not easy to do, it took me a long time to get to this point. I just want to let you know that it’s ok and you can get through things, it doesn’t mean your goal was wrong, but your plan might not have been fully developed yet, and you need to be flexible and not push through with ideas that aren’t working.

Set a big goal, then dump a lot of ideas for this goal on paper, any idea no matter how far fetched, get it out of your head onto paper. Also right down, what steps you need to do to get there from where you are. 

If you don’t have any ideas, write 10 ideas down a day, here are a few I just thought of

  • Write a guide to different routines for training, productivity and BJJ

  • Write down an idea for a habit tracking app that is more than just ticking boxes to say you have done the habit you wanted.

  • Create a digital services website using all the skills I have picked up but with clear packages that are easier to understand for others (have looked at a lot of digital companies and i don’t know how effective they will be or what they will actually do for me).

Just think of problems you come across, you can even start with a list of problems then think of easy solutions for those and there you go. Ideas you can work with :)

4. Daydream lots

I naturally day dream more than I focus. I am trying to sway this balance, but daydreaming shouldn’t be underestimated. I wouldn’t have my gym without daydreaming. 

When I worked in the office doing my boring job that had a lot of tasks I could do in my sleep, this gave me the attentional space to dream about other ideas. I used to do my work then if a new idea came up, I would open a word document and write it down and try and plan it out for real. (I really hated my job it seems :) ). Usually they made no sense, but I was putting together all the blocks I needed for doing another job, I didn’t even imagine opening my own gym at the start. 

If you are daydreaming and get an idea, write it down. Again doesn’t matter how far fetched. The more ideas you have the better they will get and the worst case is your imagination creates some cool fantasies, if they are conspiracy based, that’s cool, just keep them to yourself.

5. Go easy on yourself

This whole lockdown will cause a lot of stress, hopefully not too much suffering, but it won’t be easy. If anything, it can be a time to chill for longer than we are normally allowed to.

You can catch up on all your films, books, games and whatever else, and that’s perfectly fine.

If you can chill, enjoy this time, go for walks, chat to friends and let yourself be, this might be the best thing any of us can do right now. Just go with the flow and let yourself be.

If you manage to do some of the above then that’s great too :)

Conclusion

Do what you can, at the beginning it’s all hard, we are entering a new time with lots of different challenges. Some of us have issues at home or work to deal with, but even with the challenges the more you can do with enjoyment and a clear mind the faster you can come out of this whole thing with a positive new perspective.

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