How to Cure Laziness
In the first part of this series, we learnt about the definition of laziness and the different faces of laziness in our lives. Today, we’ll attempt to list a prescriptive cure to laziness that would help us attack this diease once and for all.
1. Turning to Allah (swt) often and asking Him for protection from laziness and lethargy. Repeat this dua often:
‘O Allaah, I take refuge in You from anxiety and sorrow, weakness and laziness, miserliness and cowardice, the burden of debts and from being over powered by men.’ [For Arabic click here]
Sometimes when I feel lazy and bored/tired, I simply make this dua sincerely and I immediately feel a dose of energy enter into me. Seek refuge in Allah 
from laziness just like you seek refuge from Shaytaan and bad things happening to you because if Allah blesses you with an active lifestyle, you’ll achieve so much insha Allah.
2. Seek help with patience and salah: Allah says in the Qur’an: [And seek help in patience and as-salat (the prayer) and truly it is extremely heavy and hard except for al-khashi’un [i.e. the true believers in Allah – those who obey Allah with full submission, fear much from His Punishment, and believe in His Promise (Paradise) and in His Warnings (Hell)]. [2:45]
Start your day with Fajr salah in the masjid and adhere to all the five daily prayers. Manage your time around your salah times and not the other way around. Make salah your energy boosting pit stops of the day.
3. Keep remembering Allah often as this is the best of deeds and it dispels anxiety, worry, boredom and laziness. Know that might, power and help is from Allah alone. So continuously say “La hawla wa la quota illa billa”. Ibn Al-Qayim says about this specific remembrance: ”It has a powerful effect on difficult tasks and being able to bear difficult assignments…”
4. Have high aspirations and noble intentions and think BIG. If you have high goals, you’ll be charged towards achieving them and you won’t feel lazy.
5. Read the biographies of great men and women of history (Muslim and Non-Muslim) as this will increase your determination and set your aspirations high and charge you.
6. Spend time with those who have high aspirations and not with time wasterswho want you to be like them. Be careful of who you befriend and choose your friends wisely.
7. Feel responsible for your self, your body, your mind, your family, your work, your community and your Ummah. When you feel responsible and feel that you’ll be taken to account for what you do, this will increase your purposefulness and decrease your laziness.
8. Fill your idle time as much as possible with activities such as reading, watching beneficial documentaries, exercise, spending time in the countryside. etc. Don’t sit bored with nothing to do; that’s a trap of Shaytaan.
9. Find out what excites you and what you enjoy doing and work hard at it. If you love starting a business or running a blog or any hobby that you enjoy doing, spend your time on this activity and excel in it until you become an expert in your field.
And one last tip, keep visiting ProductiveMuslim.com or, even better, sign up to our mailing list below. We’ll always keep you on your toes with our weekly productivity tips!
We value your thoughts! Tell us how you tackle laziness or if any of the above tips worked with you. Share below on how you fight off laziness. As always, let us help and learn from one another.
