Are you lazy?
While I was scrolling my phone like a brainless zombie, I finally realized, “ Why is there more content on How to be productive / I tried to be productive for X time but I find it hard to find How to be lazy or I tried to be lazy for a week, here's what happened. ? “
Are we that obsessed with being productive? Or are we by default lazy and are trying to fix that by consuming productivity content?
If you’re lazy, no shame. With the rising of quiet quitting, people doing nothing, or even Tang Ping which basically a protest movement to rat race, I think they have something that I don’t know of, that being lazy or quitting the rat race isn’t that bad. That also resonates with an article I read that I found after countless scrolling that basically being lazy wasn’t that all bad and it even 10x your productivity. In rather disbelief as someone who likes being productive with my time, I set myself into an experiment of being lazy.
I think it was around five years ago when my life was reformed from being somewhat lazy to a busy bee. I started having less time for many things just because I was chasing money since that was all there was and was on my mind. I tried to maximize my time, learned productivity from all sorts of guru, people, you name it. I rarely get a break and even when I am traveling, I am always glued to my laptop stressing over work or just some opportunities I have to chase.
But last week, I had some opportunity becoming lazy as fuck. Here’s what I realized after being lazy.
Being lazy can be refreshing
I can’t remember the last time I sat down with my phone just scrolling like a zombie or playing a game for hours. It was really fun that I got so lost in either dumb shit on the internet and just RTS games that I recently pick up. During the time I was lazy, I honestly was in the slump and having creative blocks. But right after just because my boredom starts getting into me, I even took a blockchain course and cleaned my laptop, something I’ve not touched. Maybe this refreshing part won’t work if you’ve been lazy all your life but if you’re an overall productive person, being lazy can be refreshing because of this formula.
Maybe you’re like me who starts to discover new things to try, movies to watch, series/anime to follow. Now, after running out of what to talk about, I find dozens of ideas that start sparkling in my head.
Being lazy reminds me of gratitude
While being lazy, I pondered something that probably would never cross my mind. Being lazy is such a privilege. If you can lay around, doing nothing, not caring about your job, food, laundry, etc, that could mean you have a good life and everything is sorted for you. I realized that some people can’t afford to be lazy because they have family to take care of and they constantly worry about having food on the table and roof over their head.
When I was being lazy, I can tell you as much I didn’t have to worry about anything because my mom did my stuff. She even fed me well, did the work that was supposed to be mine, like laundry and cleaning my working space. I don’t have to be worried about rent because I live with my mom for the time being. There was nothing really stressing me out and I felt so free. I was just so grateful for everything I had at the time that allowed me to be lazy. There are people who can’t even rest for a day or be lazy for a day for many reasons.
Being lazy reminds me of my goals in life
With so much free time I have and my inclination towards avoiding anything I call “work”, I started going through my notes. I started checking out my previous posts, talked to people I’ve not talked to in years and just overall reminisced about who I was and what I was working on. While watching some movies here and there, I am also moved by some of the dialogues and how relatable the movie was to me; that simply reminds me why I did all the work I did. Maybe after all, those pain that I went through were worth it for the good times I have in this life.
Being lazy makes me more productive
Maybe after all Tim Denning was right on How To Mix Laziness With Productivity To 10X Your Results.. After I got lazy, had no sleep schedule, and basically not getting things done, I started feeling bad. Strangely,I also refreshed at the same time. It’s almost ironic how that sounds but I can say, I am in some kind of reset system. I am just ready to start things overall and be ultra productive like I am used to.
Once again, don’t be ashamed to be lazy or afraid of being lazy. Sometimes being lazy is good and it’s fine too!
This was an expanded version of my tweet from my personal account.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢. 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. |