Laziness is NOT a Good Thing
I disagree with Fred Gratzon, in his article “Laziness is a Good Thing,” who said, “If someone is lucky enough to be blessed with the gift of laziness, he or she should definitely enjoy it and exploit it. It is a quality to be coddled, nurtured, and developed. If correctly utilized, laziness is a one way ticket to great success.”
Fred’s reasoning is that being lazy gives you incentive to want to find ways of doing things that are faster, easier, cheaper, and more efficient.
However, where his reasoning is incorrect is when it comes to actually implementing these better ways of doing things.
You see, you still have to do something. It is only by taking action that you can reach your goals.
Laziness is a terrible thing for those who suffer from it. When you wake up in the morning with zero motivation and no energy to get anything started, it’s an incredibly depressing feeling.
Just a few minor examples:
- You can’t have a delicious meal because it requires energy to cook the ingredients and follow the recipe.
- You can’t make your bed, wash your clothes, or clean your floors because you lack the motivation (and you feel bad about it). Your house is filthy, and you feel too tired to straighten it up.
- You have less money than all the people you know, since they’re able to work a full day while you can’t.
- If you’ve got a job, you call in sick too often and just generally shirk on the job. People know you as “the lazy guy you can’t depend on.”
- If you’re in school, you can’t do a good job on your homework or maintain your focus to study.
When you’re lazy, you can’t get anything accomplished because you can’t keep your focus, you can’t make yourself care enough about it, and you have trouble paying attention to what you need to.
Imagine a life where you had no energy to do anything.
It’s depressing and miserable.
Nobody enjoys being lazy. People find happiness in working and accomplishing things. University researchers in fact have “found that working hard to reach a target was more fulfilling,” adding, “From our research the people who were most active got the most joy. It may sound tempting to relax on a beach, but if you do it for too long it stops being satisfying.” (See the BBC story “Why hard work makes people happy.”)
By the way, even though I’m not a fan of being lazy, Fred’s blog, The Lazy Way to Success, is highly interesting and informative and I recommend it. You’ll learn such things as entrepreneurship, how to get rich, and how to overcome obstacles.
Comment by DaftAida
Well, yes that motivation is a splendid thing and no that the system operators like the BBC and various ‘reports’ should be taken seriously - they do not have our best interests at heart, after all. The media supports our working to death, paying taxes to a nefarious system which is literally out to kill us for a profit. Motivation to be lazy after many years of ingrained ‘work ethic’ has, intitially, to be worked at but you’ll find it gets easier the more you practice. As for friends earning more money, good luck to them, I say. Why measure oneself slavishly by others’ actions or standards? I’ve discovered that, making the transition from workaholic to lounger has resulted in a desire for less ‘things’ and a great appreciation for simplicity. I will admit, however, that it takes a peculiar courage to pare down ‘doing’ to such an extent that even eating becomes a novel idea. It is essential that people find out what is really going on behind the scenes in this World; this takes much time and dedication. The human doings are so psychotically frantic that, if we are not careful, they’ll sell us all down the river by allowing freedoms to be obliterated along with the planet. Try talking to them about reality - if it doesn’t involve football or some other tv garbage, they’ve nothing to say. Too busy ‘earning a living’ instead of living a life and so what if the washing up is left for a day or so - never killed anyone. 9am Monday is the peak time for the human doings to have a heart attack rather than face work. Says it all.
Posted on September 9, 2006 at 8:48 pm
Comment by Fred Gratzon
I thinking you are missing the whole point of my blog (www.lazyway.blogs.com). Not only that but you are equating fatigue with laziness. They are two very different things. The cause of your laundry list of examples/problems is not laziness, it is lack of sufficient rest. The trouble is most people don’t know how to rest properly nor, for that matter, be lazy properly. Hence the need for my blog and book. The ideal is to be maximally rested, alert, AND LAZY. That way you will find glorious ways to accomplish more BY DOING LESS and sigh deep sighs that misinformed people the world over cling to the ridiculous notion that hard work produces success.
Posted on September 10, 2006 at 8:59 am
Comment by chillout
i agree with your opinion more that it causes short circuit…its like happiness, you cannot measure it just by the amount of money you have…its focus, goal however miniscule it may seem to others, as long as to you it is engaging that stimulates your brain..
but we have to chill sometimes, but only when you suffers from that goal..
Posted on October 1, 2006 at 11:11 am
Comment by Sally
Eh, I’m too lazy to read this article.
Posted on October 1, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Comment by Nik
As a person who’s exceptionally lazy I’d agree. Laziness isn’t a good thing, it’s an advantage to want to do things the most simplistic rout, but actually getting to do them is pure hell.
Try thinking “Oh just 5 more minutes” when the alarm goes off, you’ll wake up in 3 hours time not 5 minutes. Then instead of going to bed at midnight, you’re going at 3am. Then when that alarm goes off you need 5 more minutes, so if you choose lazy again you’re seriously screwed.
I dropped watching TV a while ago, best thing ever. I still sit down and watch DVD’s, but a TV episode on DVD takes about 10 minutes less out of your time and you can schedule it into your life when you have a free 20 minutes not time your life to the TV.
Posted on October 1, 2006 at 5:03 pm
Comment by Dan
I think what you’re talking about is depression, not laziness.
Posted on October 2, 2006 at 6:18 am
Comment by Vicky
Make sure you don’t confuse laziness with depression…
Posted on October 30, 2006 at 5:46 am
Comment by Ted Welsh
If hard work was the way to riches then why are the most hard working people the world over not rich by their efforts? In the world today we work so long and hard that come ‘rest days’ we don’t know what to do with ourselves. Our lack of imagination is caused by repetitively doing something we’d rather not be doing, our mental capacity denied growth begins to shrink to a point where both the physical and our mental lives become quite small. Anyone who dares think bigger than us is lambasted or ridiculed for being outrageous, we like everything to be wrapped up for us, fast food, package holidays, Christmas in-a-box. Good luck to Fred, I aspire to his sense of positive self image and worth. Just ask yourself; Do I want my kids to go through the c%@p and stress I go through? - I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.
Posted on November 30, 2006 at 3:14 am
Comment by Dullard
Your take on laziness above resonates with me. Some people above have suggested that this kind of laziness is caused by fatigue or depression, but I’m not so sure.
Even though you didn’t t make many concrete suggestions in this particular article, typing out *do something* in bold was inspirational, believe it or not.
I really like your site. You don’t seem to be selling anything, your articles seem to be sincere, you have a lot of good, practical advice, and yet you don’t come across as superior or negative in any way. Thanks!
Posted on December 8, 2006 at 12:49 am
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Comment by Kayla Jordan
Not much on my mind right now, but it is not important. I have just been letting everything happen without me. I just do not have anything to say right now.
Posted on November 10, 2007 at 6:32 pm
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Posted on May 14, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Comment by Allison Janow
Not much on my mind right now, but it is not important. I have just been letting everything happen without me. I just do not have anything to say right now.
Posted on July 27, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Comment by Richard Pratt
As some others have noted, there seems to be a problem with definitions here. I would describe laziness as a general inclination to do as little as possible (purely mental) having little or nothing to do with actual energy levels. What you are describing sounds to me like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which is an actual disease resulting in drastically reduced energy levels, and can lead to clinical depression, among other things.
I would suggest that you seek out further information and/or support groups for CFS.
Just going back over the dates of various posts and realised that this may be too little, too late, but I felt the need to chip in anyway.
Posted on August 7, 2008 at 5:39 pm
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