I Was Lost, Lazy, & Unmotivated — Until I Did This.

Summary

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Podcast Summary

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Episode: I Was Lost, Lazy, & Unmotivated — Until I Did This.
Date: November 7, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this solo episode, Jay Shetty shares a deeply personal journey about overcoming feelings of being lost, lazy, and unmotivated. Drawing from his own struggles and insights from behavioral science, he offers a practical, actionable framework for breaking the cycle of procrastination and activating a more purposeful, consistent life. Jay outlines step-by-step habits and mindset shifts—lowering the bar, creating rituals, detoxing from cheap dopamine, and more—to help listeners transform inertia into momentum, and self-doubt into self-trust.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jay’s Personal Struggle with Laziness and Lack of Motivation

• Jay describes feeling "tired, scrolling for hours, lying to myself about tomorrow, and still wondering why nothing in my life was changing,” emphasizing that it’s not about being broken, but about misusing potential. (01:51–02:15)
• He warns: "I almost let it all slip away. My purpose, my drive, the people I love." (02:29)

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2. Step-by-Step Formula for Change

Step 1: Lower the Bar — Way Lower!

• “The hardest part isn’t doing the thing. It’s starting the thing.” (01:52–02:15)
• Core Insight: We set bars so high that we never start. Instead, start with the smallest, almost laughably easy action.
  • Examples:
    • Don’t work out for an hour; just put on your shoes.
    • Don’t write 10 pages; just open the document.
    • Don’t diet forever; just drink one glass of water. (03:57–04:08)
• Behavioral Science: Activation barrier—starting is the hardest part.
• Quote: “Momentum, not motivation, is what actually changes your life.” (03:11)
• Referencing BJ Fogg’s “tiny habits” — “Habits stick when they start smaller than your resistance.” (05:00)
• "Lowering the bar isn’t giving up. It’s giving yourself a chance to show up." (05:31)
• Notable Moment: “We raise the bar to impress others. We lower the bar to take care of ourselves. One is performance, the other is peace.” (06:17)

Step 2: Build Rituals, Not Routines

• Routines rely on willpower. Rituals rely on association and cues.
• “I know that if I listen to meditation music from the moment I wake up, I can now lock into my meditation quicker.” (07:50)
• Create simple cues to trigger desired behavior:
  • Candle before writing
  • Jazz music when coming home
  • Yoga mat beside bed (08:27–09:02)
• Analogy: “It’s Pavlov’s dog, but you’re the dog and the bell.” (08:12)

Step 3: Break the Dopamine Addiction Cycle

• "Laziness often isn’t lack of motivation. It’s dopamine burnout from cheap rewards: scrolling, snacking, streaming." (09:27)
• Reference to the Bhagavad Gita: "In the mode of passion, things feel amazing at the start but like poison in the end." (09:58)
• Solution: 24-hour dopamine detox (no endless scrolling, no junk food, no background noise). (10:25)
  • “The reason these are cheap rewards is that they feel good in the beginning, but they feel terrible afterwards.” (10:00)
• “Delete the apps for a day. Not your accounts. Just delete the apps.” (11:26)
• “You have to replace the quick hits with real ones.” After detox, engage in rewarding behaviors that give you energy—moving, cooking, socializing. (11:57–12:13)
• “Do activities that feel good after, not the ones that feel good before. Cheap dopamine numbs you now and drains you later. Real dopamine costs you effort but gives you energy.” (12:16)

Step 4: Add Friction to Bad Habits

• Make bad habits harder and good habits easier:
  • “Keep your phone in another room while you work. This has worked wonders for me.” (17:10)
  • "Don’t look at your phone first thing in the morning. You would never let 100 people walk into your bedroom before brushing your teeth, but you let them into your mind every morning." (17:51–17:54)
• The algorithm isn’t designed for your happiness but your continued engagement—distance, not willpower, is the key to breaking the cycle. (18:28)

Step 5: Relearn Boredom (The Power of Doing Nothing)

• "Let yourself be bored for 10 minutes a day… No phone, no music, just quiet. That's where your brain remembers how to focus again." (19:31–20:13)
• Progression over a week: Discomfort → alertness → ideas → feeling reset. (20:24–20:51)
• Analogy: Like resetting an overworked device, humans need downtime to truly reset their minds. (20:51–21:33)

Step 6: Reward Effort, Not Outcomes

• Focus on and celebrate small wins to reinforce self-trust and momentum.
• The brain’s negativity bias makes us remember struggles, but not successes.
• “You'll remember the stress before you work out, but not the good feeling after.” (21:57)
• “We’re so quick to blame ourselves, quick to guilt ourselves, quick to shame ourselves. But notice we’re not as quick to credit ourselves." (22:34)

Step 7: Protect Your First and Last Hour

• No phone for 60 minutes in the morning and before bed.
• Use mornings and evenings for movement, stretching, going outside, and allowing your brain a break from digital input. (23:15–23:44)
• “You’re not lazy. Social media is truly addictive. You’re not unmotivated. The algorithm controls you. You’re not broken. You’re being manipulated. You’re not failing to focus. Your attention is being farmed. You’re not the problem; you’re the product.” (23:50–24:18)

Step 8: Use the Five Minute Rule

• Commit to five minutes of any task, and you can quit after.
• “The brain resists starting, not continuing.” (25:27)
• “If you convince yourself to do a five minute workout, you might do a ten minute workout. But if you convince yourself to do a 60 minute workout, you might not even show up.” (25:29–25:37)
• Steps:
  1. Pick a task you’re resisting
  2. Set a five-minute timer
  3. Give yourself full permission to quit after five minutes
  4. Start—usually, momentum keeps you going (26:01–26:31)
• Quote: “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” (Zig Ziglar, 25:52)*

Step 9: Create Social Accountability

• “We overestimate self-discipline and underestimate social friction... Make doing nothing painful. Bet $20 with a friend as to who gets to the gym.” (26:39–27:03)
• Leverage loss aversion: “Loss aversion is 2.5x more powerful than reward seeking.” (27:03)

Step 10: End Each Day With a Three-Minute Review

• “Write down three things you did right, no matter how small.” (27:50)
• “So many of us will end the day and think of all the things we did wrong... this rewires us to notice what we did right.” (27:49–28:13)
• “Progress equals dopamine. Dopamine equals momentum. Momentum equals motivation. Celebrate consistency, not perfection.” (28:17–28:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jay Shetty:
  • “Momentum, not motivation, is what actually changes your life.” (03:11)
  • “Lowering the bar isn’t giving up. It’s giving yourself a chance to show up.” (05:31)
  • “We raise the bar to impress others. We lower the bar to take care of ourselves. One is performance, the other is peace.” (06:17)
  • “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” (25:52, quoting Zig Ziglar)
  • “You’re not the problem; you’re the product.” (24:18)
• Radhi Devlukia-Shetty:
  • “We have a negativity bias because, as you know, back in the day, if you missed a berry, it didn’t matter. But if you missed a tiger, that meant life or death.” (22:05)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:44 — Jay introduces his personal struggle and episode theme.
• 02:57–04:56 — Explanation and examples of lowering the bar and the power of starting small.
• 06:51–07:27 — BJ Fogg’s tiny habits research.
• 07:27–09:27 — Rituals, cues, and associations for building consistent habits.
• 09:27–12:16 — Breaking the dopamine addiction cycle and the importance of “real dopamine.”
• 17:08–18:28 — The importance of adding friction to bad habits; algorithm vs. willpower.
• 19:31–21:33 — Boredom as a reset for creativity and focus.
• 21:55–23:15 — Rewarding effort, overcoming the brain’s negativity bias.
• 23:44–24:18 — Reclaiming control from manipulation by algorithms.
• 24:20–26:00 — The “Five Minute Rule” in detail.
• 26:39–27:50 — Using social friction and accountability.
• 27:50–28:33 — End-of-day review and celebrating small wins.

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Episode Tone & Language

• Encouraging, compassionate, and relatable—Jay consolidates science, wisdom, and his own journey without jargon, addressing the listener directly.
• Empathetic: “I’m forever in your corner and I’m always rooting for you.” (28:33)
• Practical and actionable throughout, with specific steps and visual analogies.
• Minimalist approach: Focus on “the next small thing” rather than big, overwhelming changes.

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Takeaway

Jay Shetty’s episode demystifies laziness and lack of motivation, showing they stem from systemic modern challenges, not personal flaws. By lowering the bar, embracing rituals, combating dopamine burnout, rewarding effort, and making use of practical tools like the five-minute rule and social accountability, listeners are empowered to escape the inertia spiral and build authentic, sustainable momentum.

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If you found this episode helpful, check out Jay’s conversation with Adam Grant for more on discomfort, growth, and unlocking potential. (28:36–28:51)

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Jay Shetty]

Radhi.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

We're always talking about being intentional with.

[Jay Shetty]

Our time and energy, right? What about gifting with intention?

[Apple Gift Card Advertiser]

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[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Exactly.

[Jay Shetty]

It's a gift of possibilities aligned with their personal growth journey.

[Apple Gift Card Advertiser]

Visit applegiftcard.apple.com to learn more and gift with purpose Today.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

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[Jay Shetty]

Same tee from the same tour. The things you love have a way of finding their way back to you.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Especially on ebay. Where else can you find that mint trading card you searched everywhere for? Or your first car, the one you wish you never sold? It has to be ebay. Shop ebay for millions of finds, each with a story. Ebay.

[Jay Shetty]

Things people love.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

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[Jay Shetty]

I was lost, lazy and unmotivated until I did this.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Well, what I'm about to share with.

[Jay Shetty]

You today is a step by step formula for how to not be lazy. To find motivation, to discover discipline and actually make a shift in your life. Now, if you don't, you can often get into the spiral of feeling like you're ruining everything. Let me break it down for you. I'd wake up tired, scroll for hours, lie to myself about tomorrow, and still wonder why nothing in my life was changing. I wasn't broken, but I felt like I was wasting my potential every single day. The truth is, I almost let it all slip away. My purpose, my drive, the people I love. What I'm about to share with. You pulled me out of that spiral. And if any part of this sounds like you, you need to hear it. Step number one, lower the bar. Way lower. The hardest part isn't doing the thing, it's starting the thing. Set the smallest possible action step so small it feels ridiculous not to do it.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Now.

[Jay Shetty]

Why should you lower the bar? Everyone's always telling you to achieve more, to think bigger, to do more. Why is Jay telling me to lower the bar? Well, here's the truth. We don't fail because we're not capable. We fail because we set the bar so high, we never get started. We imagine we need a perfect plan, a perfect morning routine, a perfect burst of motivation. But perfection kills momentum. And momentum, not motivation, is what actually changes your life. Now here's the psychology behind it. It's something known as the activation barrier. Behavioral science shows that the hardest part of any task isn't doing it, it's starting it. That first moment takes the most mental energy. So when you lower the bar, when you make the first step laughably easy, you bypass resistance. Don't work out for an hour, just.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Put on your shoes.

[Jay Shetty]

Don't write 10 pages, just open the document.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Don't eat healthy forever, just drink one glass of water.

[Jay Shetty]

Once you're moving, your dopamine system kicks in. Effort itself becomes rewarding. Action creates motivation, not the other way around. I can't express to you just how big a point this is. The goal is to get started, to do the smallest thing. If you're thinking I need to start a business, well, the first step may actually just be registering a company or getting a trademark on a name, or building the minimum viable product version, which.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

May start with a phone call to.

[Jay Shetty]

A friend who could be a mentor.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

The point is to write down what.

[Jay Shetty]

You want to build and then write down every step to get there, almost thinking of it like a step ladder.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

And just like a stepladder, you'll now.

[Jay Shetty]

Place one foot in front of the other and then the next. Another reason why this works is because it's called the tiny habits effect. BJ Fogg, a Stanford behavioral scientist, found that habits stick when they start smaller than your resistance. When you make the bar low enough to win, even on your worst days, you train your brain to associate action with success, not shame. That's how you rewire self belief. Lowering the bar isn't giving up. It's giving yourself a chance to show up. Now this affects your confidence loop. Every time you follow through on something small, you build self trust and that trust becomes confidence. Confidence isn't built by big wins. It's built by micro promises kept. You start to think, I can rely on me. And that's how you shift from lazy to consistent, from overwhelmed to grounded. And here's the truth. We raise the bar to impress others. We lower the bar to take care of ourselves. One is performance, the other is peace. When you lower the bar, you start winning again. Not in a way that looks good, but in a way that. That feels good.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

And the real result?

[Jay Shetty]

Lowering the bar isn't lowering your potential, it's raising your consistency. And consistency compounds into results that perfection never delivers. One of my favorite quotes is that you should start so small it's impossible to fail, and then repeat it until it's impossible to stop.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

This leverages the Zeigarnik effect.

[Jay Shetty]

Your brain hates unfinished tasks and will naturally want to complete them once you start. Momentum before motivation.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Remember action before enthusiasm.

[Jay Shetty]

Just take one step forward, one small step. Do the easiest thing you can. Do the simplest thing you can do one thing. Not everything, just one thing. Step number two, focus on building a ritual, not a routine. Routines rely on willpower.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

I remember times in my life where.

[Jay Shetty]

I just didn't have any willpower.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

I would just feel like I would.

[Jay Shetty]

Break down even before starting. Rituals are different. They rely on association. You do the same cue before the same task every day, same place, same playlist, same coffee mug.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

For me, I know that if I.

[Jay Shetty]

Listen to meditation music from the moment I wake up, I can now lock into my meditation quicker after brushing my teeth and having a shower. I know that I work out straight after meditating, so my brain and body are already prepared and ready for that. Over time, your brain links that cue to productivity through classical conditioning.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

It's Pavlov's dog, but you're the dog and the bell.

[Jay Shetty]

One creator lights a candle before writing. The brain learns candle equals focus mode. The point is that you're creating a cue that leads you to that activity.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

I'll give you another example.

[Jay Shetty]

You get home from work, you walk in through the door, and you have jazz music playing.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Because jazz music tells your body it's.

[Jay Shetty]

Time to relax and calm down.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Otherwise, you walk into your home and.

[Jay Shetty]

You'Re still carrying all of that energy with you. That simple cue can make a shift.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

I remember one of my clients telling.

[Jay Shetty]

Me that they loved leaving their yoga.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Mat already rolled out next to their bed. So they could literally roll off their bed and onto the yoga mat and start practicing yoga. Other people leave their shoes by the door, their running shoes, so that they remember to.

[Jay Shetty]

To put them on and go for.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

A jog, go for a walk, or.

[Jay Shetty]

Maybe even a long run. What does this do? It makes the cue and the association easier for you to follow through, right?

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

If you have your vitamins and supplements right near your breakfast every day, you're.

[Jay Shetty]

More likely to take them if you.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Have them in a bottle Or a jar that's somewhere else in your bedroom or in your house, it's going to.

[Jay Shetty]

Take you forever to get there. How can you make it easier and simpler on your brain and your body to make the shifts you want to make? Step number three, Break the dopamine addiction cycle. Laziness often isn't lack of motivation. It's dopamine burnout from cheap rewards. Scrolling, snacking, streaming. The reason these are cheap rewards is that they feel good in the beginning, but they feel terrible afterwards. This is known as something called rajas or the mode of passion. In the Bhagavad Gita. When you do things in the mode of passion, they feel amazing at the start, but they feel like poison in the end.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

We all know what that feels like.

[Jay Shetty]

When you've wasted so many hours scrolling, you've just been eating junk food for the whole weekend. You've flooded your reward system with with micro hits. So real work which pays off later feels impossible. Here's what I want you to try. Do a 24 hour dopamine detox. No endless scrolling. No junk food or background noise. No passive consumption. Your brain resets sensitivity to effort and reward. Suddenly reading, writing or lifting doesn't feel like pushing a rock uphill. And you'll actually notice how even your taste buds changed.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

I've noticed that if I go a.

[Jay Shetty]

Week without sugar, my taste buds are rewiring. If you go a week without junk food, it doesn't even taste as good afterwards. Because what we have to recognize is you have to notice what's numbing. You ask yourself, what do I reach for when. When I'm bored, anxious or tired? That's your cheap dopamine. Usually your phone, snacks or endless scrolling. You can't change what you don't notice. The next thing you need to do is do that 24 hour detox. One day. No social media, no junk food, no background noise. Just a reset and you'll be amazed how quickly your brain gets quiet again. Here's a Delete the apps for a day. Not your accounts. Just delete the apps. Lower the barrier to starting. Remember that? Point number one. The next thing you have to realize is we have to replace the quick hits with real ones. One of the biggest mistakes we make in habit change is we try to cut out the bad stuff, but we don't replace it with anything. When you cut the fake dopamine, you need real reward. Move your body instead. Cook something, walk outside, call someone.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Don't forget that point. You want to do activities that feel good.

[Jay Shetty]

After, not the ones that feel good before. Cheap dopamine numbs you now and drains you later. Real dopamine costs you effort but gives you energy. It's so interesting to me how so many of us are numbing ourselves from from pain, the escape rather than elevating energizing and being able to cope with it. Radhi, you know how much we value mindful living and personal growth, but finding the perfect gift that reflects that can be tough.

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[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

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[Jay Shetty]

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[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

One up while you're out.

[Apple Gift Card Advertiser]

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[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

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[Jay Shetty]

I almost look like the organized sibling in the family.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Almost. And when we're finally all together, I get to do what I love most. Make digital photo galleries. And trust me, Amazon helps me find the perfect gifts to make sure those photos are worth reliving. So shop Amazon's early holiday deals now. Amazon everything for everyone on your list.

[Jay Shetty]

This episode is brought to you by ebay. You know, there are certain books that don't just give you information. They shift the way you see the world. I remember reading one when I was younger that completely changed me. It was the first time I felt like someone had put into words what I was feeling inside. The confusion, the hope, the searching. I felt like the author was speaking directly to my soul. Years later, I found myself thinking about that book again. I wanted the same edition back. Not a reprint, not a different cover, but that exact one. The one that made me feel seen for the first time.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

So I started searching.

[Jay Shetty]

And that's when I found it on ebay. When it arrived, I opened it slowly.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

And I could almost feel that younger.

[Jay Shetty]

Version of me sitting there again, Dreaming, learning, growing. It reminded me that the things we hold on to, the ones that really mean something, they're not just objects. They're markers of who we've been and who we're becoming. That's what I love about ebay. It's not just a marketplace. It's a place where stories live, where you can rediscover the pieces of your past that still inspire your present. Shop ebay for millions of finds, each with a story. EBay, things people love. Step number four is add friction.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Just like we wanted to make good.

[Jay Shetty]

Habits easier, make bad habits a little harder to do, keep your phone in another room while you work. This has worked wonders for me.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

When I'm trying to go do deep.

[Jay Shetty]

Work, I will be on my laptop.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Which is not connected to any of.

[Jay Shetty]

The apps, and I will leave the phone in my bedroom. This has transformed my life. Truly has transformed my life. I can actually do deep work again.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

I can actually sit there and write.

[Jay Shetty]

And process my thoughts without something buzzing every 15 seconds and grabbing my attention away. Don't look at your phone first thing in the morning. You would never let 100 people walk into your bedroom before you've brushed your.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Teeth or washed your face or put on makeup.

[Jay Shetty]

But you will happily let 100 people walk into the bedroom of your mind before you've even woken up. It's like someone's telling you to reply to this report.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Someone's telling you to reply to this message.

[Jay Shetty]

Someone's telling you what you didn't do yesterday.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Imagine everyone crowded around your bed, screaming.

[Jay Shetty]

And yelling at you. That's what it feels like. Turn off notifications. Log out every night. If scrolling takes five extra seconds, you.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

You do it less because your phone is away.

[Jay Shetty]

It's in another room. It's that simple.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

And look, here's the thing.

[Jay Shetty]

I know it's hard to leave your phone out the room. I know it's hard to focus and do the work. I'm not saying it's easy. It's actually been built against us. The algorithm is designed to target our flaws and weaknesses. The algorithm's goal is not to make you happy. The algorithm's goal is not to make you successful. The algorithm's goal is to keep you glued and keep scrolling. It's going to keep showing you things that are engaging. It's going to keep showing you things that it thinks are going to keep you there because it kept your friends there. That's how the algorithm thinks. You're not going to beat it by willpower. You're going to beat it by. By distance. When you have distance from this, you can actually detox. The next step is to relearn boredom. Boredom is not the enemy. It's a reset button. Let yourself be bored for 10 minutes a day. No phone, no music, just quiet. That's where your brain remembers how. How to focus again. I remember Yuval, Noah Harari coming on the podcast and we talked about maybe around five years ago now, six years ago, the importance of boredom. We have filled our spaces of boredom with apps, with social media, with distractions, not realizing that boredom can lead to curiosity, rest, and breakthroughs. Allowing yourself to practice boredom for 10 minutes a day, you're not reading a book.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

You're not distracted by the television.

[Jay Shetty]

You're not on your phone talking to someone. To truly do nothing for 10 minutes a day. And notice how in the first day, you'll feel pretty uncomfortable.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Day two, you might actually be going crazy.

[Jay Shetty]

Day three, things will start to settle. Day four, you might actually feel more alert. Day five, you might have some amazing ideas. Day six, you'll think, why didn't I do this earlier? And day seven, you will have reset yourself. See, so many of us are making mistakes in our life because we haven't reset. We keep making the same mistakes again and again and again because we've never reset. Allowing yourself to truly reset the system. Think about your devices when they've been overused, overworked, overwhelmed, they need to reset to refresh. Humans are the same. We do it every night when we sleep, but we also need to do it away from all of these devices. The next step is reward effort, not outcomes. You finish the task, take a walk, stretch, write it down. Small wins. Release dopamine, too. And train your brain to crave effort instead of escape. So many of us stop doing things that are good for us because we don't remember how good they were. You'll remember when you went to work and there was traffic, there was an accident. Your brain actually holds onto it. But when the road was smooth, you never remember it. You don't remember how you felt after you worked out in a week.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

You do remember the stress you feel.

[Jay Shetty]

Before you go to work out. The brain holds on to negative experiences.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

We have a negativity bias because, as.

[Jay Shetty]

You know, back in the day, if you missed a berry, it didn't matter. But if you missed a tiger, that meant life or death. So you're wired to notice negativity more. We remember the bad times more than the good times, because when something bad happens, we cry for a month. And when something good happens, we celebrate for one night. We don't know how to deeply immerse ourselves in what's going well. So it's so important to recognize small wins, to recognize small moments of growth, to really take a step forward and give yourself an honest acknowledgement of the amount of work you're putting in. We don't give ourselves enough credit. And when you don't give yourself enough credit, you don't give yourself the momentum, inspiration, and enthusiasm to continue. But hey, we're the quickest to blame ourselves. We're so quick to guilt ourselves. We're so quick to shame ourselves. But notice how we're not as quick to credit ourselves. We're not as quick to notice our growth. We're not as quick to acknowledge the steps we've made forward. And it's because of that that we stay held back. It's because of that that we can't move forward because we don't recognize that we've already been taking steps. The next step is to protect your first and last hour. No phone for 60 minutes. Move, stretch, or go outside at night. You're screen off 60 minutes before bed. Let your brain rest and reset. You'll sleep better, focus faster, and feel human again. Starve the fake dopamine so you can taste the real kind again. You're not lazy. Social media is truly addictive. You're not unmotivated. The Algorithm controls you. You're not broken. You're being manipulated. You're not failing to focus. Your attention is being farmed. You're not the problem, you're the product. So let's take our ownership back.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

The next thing I want you to.

[Jay Shetty]

Try is use the five minute rule. Now, what's the five minute rule? It's simple. Commit to doing something for just five minutes. Then you can stop if you want.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

That's it. You tell your brain, I'm not doing the whole thing. I'm just doing five minutes. I'm not doing a one hour workout. I'm just doing five minutes. I'm not going to write for an hour.

[Jay Shetty]

I'm just doing five minutes.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

The trick, Once you start, you almost never stop.

[Jay Shetty]

Here's why it works. It bypasses resistance. The hardest part of any task isn't doing it.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Psychologists call this the activation barrier.

[Jay Shetty]

The mental energy needed to shift from thinking to doing five minutes is too small to trigger fear, perfectionism or overwhelm.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Your brain says, fine, five minutes is nothing. I can do that.

[Jay Shetty]

But once you're in motion, inertia takes over and it's easier to keep going than to stop. The brain resists starting, not continuing. Listen to that again. The brain resists starting, not continuing.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Which is why, if you convince yourself.

[Jay Shetty]

To do a five minute workout, you might do a ten minute workout.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

But if you convince yourself to do.

[Jay Shetty]

A 60 minute workout, you might not even show up.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Research from behavioral activation therapy shows once.

[Jay Shetty]

You start a task, your motivation increases because of the task, not before it. One of my favorite quotes from Zig Ziglar is is you don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. So make starting easy. Don't make it optional.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Here's how you do that.

[Jay Shetty]

Step number one, choose one task you're resisting. Something specific. Answering an email, Working out, Cleaning your room, writing. Step two, set a five minute timer. Physically set it. The act of seeing the countdown helps focus.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Step number three, tell yourself you can.

[Jay Shetty]

Stop when the alarm rings. Give yourself full permission to quit after five minutes. And step number four, Start and watch what happens.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Nine times out of ten, you'll keep going. If you don't, no problem.

[Jay Shetty]

You've still built momentum and self trust.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

And if you really want to make.

[Jay Shetty]

This work, create accountability that hurts. We overestimate self discipline and underestimate social friction. Make the cost of inaction visible. Tell a friend your goal. Post a daily update on social media.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Bet $20 against your friend as to who's going to get there to the gym.

[Jay Shetty]

We're wired to avoid loss. Loss aversion is 2.5 times more powerful than than reward seeking. So make doing nothing painful. Here's the if it's easy to skip, you will make skipping expensive. And here's the final step. End each day with a three minute review. Write down three things you did right, no matter how small. This trains your reticular activating system to notice progress, not problems. So many of us will end the day and think of all the things we did wrong, all the mistakes we made, all the things we should have done, could have done, would have done. This rewires us to notice what we did right so we can be better tomorrow. Progress equals dopamine. Dopamine equals momentum. Momentum equals motivation. Celebrate consistency, not perfection. When you're focused on perfection, you'll never feel like you're moving forward. When you focus on the word healed or fixed, you never feel like you're healing or growing. When you focus on growth, which means 1% better every day, one step further every day, your life will start to change. I really hope this helps you takes action. I really hope this helps you get out of feeling lazy and I really hope this helps you shift.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Remember, I'm forever in your corner and.

[Jay Shetty]

I'm always rooting for you. Thank you so much for listening to this conversation. If you enjoyed it, you'll love my chat with Adam Grant on why discomfort is the key to growth and the.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

Strategies for unlocking your hidden potential.

[Jay Shetty]

If you know you want to be more and achieve more this year, go check it out right now.

[Adam Grant]

You set a goal today, you achieve it in six months and then by the time it happens, it's almost a relief. There's no sense of meaning and purpose. You sort of expected it and you would have been disappointed if it didn't happen.

[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

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[Jay Shetty]

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[Radhi Devlukia-Shetty]

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[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast.