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If you’ve ever given yourself the label of laziness, understand that you’re not doing yourself any favours…
I used to call myself a lazy procrastinator.
Back when I was a university student, doing an honours degree in political science, I had to write a thesis — something that hung around my neck like a rock. Or a stinking fish. I felt ashamed, weighed-down, embarrassed and tired.
Today, I look back at that time in my life and shake my head.
True, I delayed every piece of writing until the day before it was due. But I wasn’t delaying out of laziness. I was doing it out of perfectionism and fear.
Perhaps you’re a writer who also considers yourself lazy. But what if the problem isn’t laziness at all?
Many of us are rather quick to reach for the L-word. It’s almost as if we had a thesaurus dog-eared to the page “doesn’t want to write,” and there’s the synonym — lazy.
But the problem with labels is that they shut down curiosity and stop us from having important insights. And if you think about it, writing actually requires many traits that are the polar opposite to laziness: courage, a willingness to expose yourself to criticism, the ability to make hard decisions.
We may think we’re being brave by daring to call ourselves “lazy,” but self-criticism doesn’t increase writing output — instead, it reduces it. It’s the mental equivalent of trying to start your car by kicking the tires.
Here is what’s really going on when you are not writing:
The five REAL culprits
1-Fear
You’re afraid that your writing won’t be up to scratch. Or that you don’t have anything worthwhile to say. Fear is a terrible burden.
And don’t ever think you can beat fear by ignoring it. Instead, you need to acknowledge your fear and even embrace it.
2-Overwhelm
When jobs feel too big, our minds and bodies want to shut down. Feeling overwhelmed is a natural instinct at the beginning of any big job. Think of it as your brain’s very unhelpful way of trying to protect you. If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, don’t make the situation worse by trying to write and edit at the same time.
3-Perfectionism
Perfectionism often wears the disguise of “high standards,” complete with a blazer and a briefcase, but it carries some heavy costs. Creatively, it can cause you to lose momentum. Emotionally, it can make you suffer from anxiety, self-doubt and low confidence. Professionally, it may cause you to miss deadlines and lose the chance for promotions.
4-Fatigue
When most people are unable to write, their solution is usually to work harder. But odds are high you’re not getting enough sleep. The majority of people average only 6.5 hours of sleep per night, when most of us require seven to 10 hours.
5-Energy mismanagement
You may be dealing with too much stress right now. Or perhaps your workload is genuinely too heavy for a reasonable person. Or maybe you haven’t figured out the best time of day for writing, and you’re writing at one of your inefficient times.
But here’s the really interesting point. Each of these five issues is a human one — not a moral failure.
Reframe the story.
So, let’s reframe the story of laziness.
Instead of asking:
- “Why am I so lazy?”
Ask:
- “What am I protecting myself from?”
- “What decision haven’t I made yet?”
- “What feels unclear?”
- “What life changes [like more sleep] can I make that will help me feel better?”
Serious writers diagnose process problems — they don’t attack their own character. In fact, this is a practice of professional maturity.
Small steps, big results
And here are a few other techniques to use:
- Write for a SHORT amount of time — no more than 15 minutes per day to begin with — and understand that writing for only five minutes is perfectly fine. This isn’t an endurance contest. Your goal is to build a writing habit.
- Embrace the concept of the crappy first draft. If your first draft doesn’t need to be perfect, you’ll be able to write in about half the time you normally take.
- Separate writing time from editing time. If you do only one thing at a time, you’ll do a much better job of both, and you’ll be significantly less stressed as well.
- Give yourself time to think, first. Thinking is the most important step in the writing process. It’s not procrastination — it’s the actual work. Why do so many writers try to omit it?
You’re not lazy. You’re a writer.
Here’s the thing: I wasn’t lazy, and neither are you.
You’re a writer dealing with something that matters to you. And that deserves curiosity — not criticism. You can’t berate yourself into productivity. Believe me, if self-criticism worked, the world’s literary masterpieces would have been written in a shame spiral.
They weren’t.
The next time you sit down to write and nothing comes, don’t reach for the L-word. Instead, get curious. Ask yourself which of the five culprits is at play, then address it — with the same patience and kindness you’d offer a colleague who came to you saying they were stuck.
The truth is, writing is hard. The fact that you care enough to feel bad about not doing it? That’s not laziness. That’s the mark of a writer.
BONUS
The post you’ve just read also arrives in inboxes every Tuesday — and subscribers get something extra. Each week, I include a brief, subscriber-only bonus: a short paragraph featuring a practical tip about a tool, book, video, app or resource I’ve tested and loved. This bonus is never published on my website — only in the email. No fluff. No sales pitch. Just one smart recommendation to make your writing life easier. Subscribe to my newsletter to get next Tuesday’s bonus.
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My video podcast last week addressed which editing software is the most helpful. You can watch the video or read the transcript, and you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.
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Do you see yourself as someone who suffers through laziness? What do you do about it? We can all learn from each other, so please, share your thoughts with my readers and me in the comments section, below. If you comment on today’s post (or any others) by March 31/26, I’ll put you in a draw for a digital copy of my first book, 8 1/2 Steps to Writing Faster, Better. To enter, please scroll down to the comments, directly underneath the related posts links, below. You don’t have to join Disqus to post! Read my tutorial to learn how to post as a guest. (It’s easy!)
