The Case for Laziness

Source: ituzaingo/Pixabay

A recent post addressed how to become more productive. As a counterpoint, consider this composite of a few of my clients:

Look, if I were some superstar, maybe I could make a case for working hard. But the fact is, I’m a dime a dozen. Anyone with half a brain could do what I do.

So I’m lucky to have a job where to lose it, I’d practically have to murder my boss. And I’ve got big-time benefits that most employees in the private sector only dream about. And I get all the holidays plus three weeks of vacation, plus the government still gives me a pension! And when it’s 4:30, I’m out of there, without a thought about work. And Fridays at 4:30? Full no-work weekends.

And to be honest, even during work hours, I find time to text my sweetie, shop on the Net, and even read magazines. And believe me, I’m not the only one. (A UK study finds that the average office worker actually works only two hours and 23 minutes a day!)

People like me would have to be patsies to bust our butts. I get to enjoy life while the suckers slave away. I bet that thanks to my low-stress life, I’ll even live longer.

If a client wanted to see me about his or her work life and described it that way, I'd ask if s/he might be open to change. If s/he said yes, I'd ask these questions:

Have you always been that way? If not, what has contributed? For some people, it's inherent. For others, it's the workplace culture, rebellion against authority, physical or mental illness, outside-of-work demands, parental role modeling, a single traumatic failure, or the result of years of defeat. Exploring the causes of the low work productivity might yield a more balanced work ethic.

When you're looking back on your life, how confident are you that you'll have taken the right approach to your work life? In truth, many people are happy that they pursued a life of minimum work and maximum pleasure, assuming they could get a job like that composite person's. But some such people do feel regret. This paragraph's question could encourage a thoughtful response.

Short of leaving your job, is there anything you could aspire to accomplish that you've not done already? Is that feasible, or is the bureaucracy so entrenched as to make that unrealistic or not worth the slog? Often, even such a person, if asked for an aspirational possibility, could come up with something s/he would be motivated to accomplish beyond the minimum.

Since your work life isn't overly demanding, do you have the energy and desire to do something productive, even socially contributory, after work? Of course, the wording should avoid sounding accusatory, hence "Since your work life isn't overly demanding" rather than "Since you do just the minimum."

Would you like your children to aspire to a work life like yours? Few people want their kids to aspire to just the minimum. So that question could help motivate the person to want to be more productive, to be a role model for his or her children.

The takeaway

Per the aforementioned post, I believe that a life well-led is heavily defined by how productive we are. And the questions I raised for that composite person could increase his/her productivity.

That said, unless a person's potential for contribution is unusual, a not-unreasonable case can be made for, yes, laziness.

I read this aloud on YouTube.