At some point or the other, we all get lazy. We deliberately allow laziness to get into my mind. Physical laziness is pretty easy to deal with because it will be sorted once you give enough rest to your body. You can sleep, eat right food and drink enough liquids to pump yourself up.
But the mental laziness is a bit tricky to deal with. We need to find some simple hacks to train our brain to cope with mental laziness quickly. In 2023, I learnt loads of things and kept on working to make myself a better person. To get rid off my mental laziness, I internalised the 5 following Japanese techniques.
1. Pomodoro technique
This is my top favourite technique as its very easy to implement. This Japanese time management technique allows us to concentrate on our top priorities for 25 minutes and give our mind a break of 5 minutes and come back to work. You can repeat this technique as many as times you can to increase your productivity. Many Japanese people implement the same at their workplace to address the high priority tasks with deep concentration.
Francesco Cirillo invented this method in 1980s while he was working in his kitchen. His kitchen clock looked like Pomodoro tomatoes and it used to beep after every 25 minutes to remind him for his food. Thus, the technique denotes a concentration break after every 25 minutes.
2. Kakeibo
Typically, in Japanese language ‘kakeibo’ means ‘household financial ledger’. Many of us are not good with money management; hence, we end up spending more money than our requirement. So, this technique says that we need to maintain a money management journal at home, where you can write your weekly expenses and can calculate everything to keep some savings too. It will not only give you a fair expense idea, but also help you to overcome the laziness regarding money.
3. Kanban
Many of the software engineers may know about this technique. It’s a well-known framework used by the agile and DevOps experts at workplace. It includes real time communication within the manpower available for the project and full transparency of work protocol. Some leaders also make a checklist to be followed at work. This increases the efficiency and productivity of the employees. Some high-level experts also use this technique as a performance parameter for the employees.
4. Mono-zukuri
In the world of technology, monozukuri is often described as technical process integration, procurement and production. Intangible parameters like craftsmanship, behaviour and dedication are being assessed to elevate the individual performance and work culture. I focus on my mental health at work and how do I deal with my clients; that’s my monozukuri.
5. Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke (S5)
This is a beautiful technique to sort, shine, set in order, standardise and sustain. Japanese people believe in making their techniques so user friendly, that anyone can implement it in their life. When you set a target for yourself, the above mentioned 5 steps are pretty common. You sort things out, focus on the important parts, set things in order (to not miss out), set a standard for yourself which will bring out the best and lastly, you should know how to be sustainable.
One must implement the techniques in life to eradicate mental laziness to keep it more sustainable. When I turned vegan, sustainability was the biggest challenge I had. I assessed every step and set a standard for myself to sustain this diet for the rest of my life. Thankfully, I addressed my laziness and set that beautiful and life changing tone for myself.