There’s a hugely popular mantra in all productivity schemes:
Work smarter not harder
Every time I hear this phrase I want to replace it with a different phrase:
What’s the lazy way of doing this?
Smart working is really, let’s face it, lazy working.
Laziness may not be the first word that springs to mind when you think about productivity, but you should embrace it as your friend.
Think about it, we do all sorts of lazy things to make us more productive.
Whenever you ride a bike rather than walking somewhere you are being lazy. It might not feel like it, but the bike gets you there quicker and takes you further than you could go without it. It’s lazy to ride the bike.
If you are using a phone to talk to someone you are being lazy. It’s easier than travelling to where that person is to talk to them (unless they are sat next to you).
Lazy people are constantly asking “why should I bother?” That’s a great productivity question, remember:
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” Peter Drucker
I’ve seen countless business processes that add no value and were best ignored. Lazy people ignore these processes.
Lazy people experiment with doing things in different ways to see if they take more, or less, effort – they stick with the one that takes less effort.
We are surrounded by an increasing number of automation techniques, particularly in IT, yet I see people endlessly doing the same repetitive tasks. Lazy people let the machines do it for them.
I think that more of us should cultivate laziness as a skill.
Graham Chastney 