Why You Feel Lazy and How to Get Motivated [Talk to Your Minions]
Motivation doesn’t come from force or discipline. It comes from understanding yourself. Meet your Minions and learn how to work with them.
Imagine there are 1,000 mini people living in your brain.
Like Minions.
They are all kids.
Between 3 and 7 years old.
They are not in charge.
But they shape your life more than you think.
When these Minions are with you, magic happens.
No friction. No forcing.
You wake up with a smile.
You feel alive.
You move into your day. Gym, work, chess. It all clicks.
It all feels light.
Not just easy.
Effortless!
When they are not with you, everything slows down.
Getting out of bed feels heavy.
Morning exercise feels impossible.
Work feels draining.
Even things you love lose their spark.
Even chess.
That feeling we call laziness?
That is just your Minions refusing to cooperate.
Why Minions Don’t Want to Move
Your Minions are not lazy.
They are on vacation.
They are lying on a beach.
Under a coconut tree.
Sipping watermelon shakes.
You show up and say
“Let’s go to the gym.”
They look at you.
They listen politely.
You finish.
Then they turn back to the ocean.
They did not rebel.
They just did not care.
The good news?
They are kids.
You need to talk to them.
How to Talk to Minions
Think about how you talk to a child who doesn’t want to do something.
You don’t force. You convince.
“Hey dear, time to eat.”
“Mom, I don’t want to.”
“Dear, if you eat, you’ll grow bigger sooner.”
“Okay, coming.”
Or your 7 year old, who doesn’t want to go boxing today.
“My son, do you want to be the strongest kid in your class?
If you go to boxing, every boy will be afraid of you. All the girls will love you…”
Or whatever. You know your children better.
So you do the same with your other kids - Your Minions in your head.
You talk to them.
You explain.
You make them want it.
Two Ways Minions Get Convinced
There are two main buttons.
- Gain and Pleasure.
- Fear and Loss Avoidance
That’s it.
Button one. Gain and Pleasure.
“Hey Minions, let’s go to the gym. We’ll look better.”
100 stand up.
“People will find us attractive.”
200 more drop their shakes.
“We’ll feel strong and energized.”
Another 300 stretch.
You keep talking.
Maybe not all 1,000 come.
But 600 is already a lot.
Button two. Fear and Loss Avoidance
“Hey Minions, if we skip the gym, our back will hurt.”
100 wake up.
“We’ll get sick more often.”
Another 150 panic.
“We’ll feel weak and tired.”
They hate that.
Some Minions love pleasure.
Some are scared of pain.
Your job is to know your Minions.
Speak their language.
Sometimes push the first button.
Sometimes the second.
Sometimes both.
Talking to Your Chess Champions
You know you should study positional chess.
You even want to.
But you feel resistance?
Talk to your Minions.
“Hey, babies! You love chess, ah?”
They scream back “Yeeees!”
“But remember? How sad we get and cry every time, when the opponent slowly squeezes us and we don’t understand what we did wrong?”
300 Minions stop swimming.
“Those quiet positions. No tactic. No attack. And we feel pain when we don’t know what to do?”
You got the attention of another 300 Minions.
“But look, Minions, if we watch this course, we won’t have that pain anymore.”
“Now we’ll beat opponents silently, when they don’t know how it happened.”
Yeeeeahhh, they cheer.
“And we’ll enjoy playing chess much more than before!”
The shakes hit the sand.
Towels are dropped.
The Minions are ready.
Your WHY & Your Minions
You say
“I want to gain 500 rating points and reach 2,000 level.”
The goal is set.
Action starts.
Day one. All great.
Day two. All great.
Day three. Old bad habits. Bullet games. Skipping daily tactics. No analysing the lost games…
You think you failed.
Nah. Your Minions failed you.
And you just failed to talk to them in their language and bring them from the beach.
They didn’t understand why gaining 500 rating points matters.
Why reaching 2,000 matters.
Maybe 50 Minions thought it sounded cool.
But the other 950?
Still on the beach.
When Minions Do Not Move
Sometimes you talk.
You persuade.
You try pleasure.
You try fear.
And still nothing.
That is not failure.
That is feedback.
Time to step back and ask yourself:
Is it really my goal? Or someone else’s idea of success?
Do I really want it? Or I was conditioned to want it?
When Minions refuse to move, it may be time to change direction.
That is what happened when I left professional chess.
I listened.
Now I have a much happier life.
Of course, together with my Minions.
They chill sometimes.
They go to their beaches, enjoy their burgers and cocktails, they play and laugh.
But when I need them, they come back quickly.
And if I have started my day, but feel low…
I need discipline and efforts to go forward…
I know not all of my Minions have returned.
So I go back to the beach.
And talk to them.
With best wishes and love,
For your growth and fun journey,
GM Avetik (or Avo, as my friends call me) ♥️
P. S. This is not a fairy tale and a hocus pocus technique.
All of this - finding your why, the two main ways of motivating yourself and others is grounded in science and neuroscience, and explained in many books and talks.
Unfortunately, often in difficult language.
I hope my Minions made it simpler.
And I hope you’ll talk to yours and shape your life.
To introduce us to your Minions, share your thoughts and ideas, please do so in our forum.
P. P. S. I’m just a FedEx guy, delivering lessons from my teachers to you.
If this message spoke to you and you know someone who might love or need this… share the package. That’s how knowledge travels, one package at a time.
Thank you for reading, for growing, and for helping someone else along the way🙏
Originally published Jan 14, 2026