Busy being lazy
… being busy does not always mean that we are not lazy and, equally, being lazy does not necessarily mean that we are indeed lazy…
Many a time I was scolding myself for being lazy when I was watching somebody who was really, really busy - getting up, making breakfast, getting kids ready for school, driving to work while listening to podcasts, working like mad for some 10 hours a day, rushing back home, making dinner, reading bedside stories, crashing in front of the TV with a statutory glass of red, drifting to sleep…. and the same routine followed the next day.
Partially by my conscious decision, partially by a stroke of fate, days like that are over for me. I was earning good money rushing like that but I was not happy. I was successful but I was not fulfilled.
The positive change in pace and stress levels posed another problem though. Although working a lot, the fact that I do not need to adhere to given procedures or meet deadlines makes me feel less busy and therefore perceive myself as lazy when comparing myself with the "myself version" from a few years ago.
Our world is getting faster and faster. Smart gadgets are allowing us to do more things - to work more, to play more - and yet we feel less and live less. So many people appear stressed either being busy or not being busy enough.
Business school INSEAD conducted an interesting study. It was designed to put the participants into a busy mindset and observe its influence on their behaviour. The researchers divided the study participants into two groups - one group was receiving subtle messages and reminders of how busy they were, the other group did not receive such messages. When the people were asked to make a series of decisions about daily matters like food, exercise or life savings, the people who were being gently reminded of how busy they were made healthier choices than the people who were not receiving the “busyness” reminders.
It seems that feeling busy boosts our self-esteem and we, therefore, make better choices and think more long-term. Importantly, the study also showed that being busy with time constraints led to stress which in turn leads to the opposite results, i.e. making impulsive and less healthy and/or less beneficial decisions. It may be wise then to stop for a while when we feel busy and explore the situation. The same applies when we feel lazy (mainly when comparing ourselves with busy people).
Psychology Today posted an interesting article called The psychology of laziness, procrastination, and idleness. It explained the differences among the names and synonyms we use for the act of laziness.
Laziness is actually very natural and has got a logical explanation: At the dawn of humanity, laziness was critical for our survival. Back then laziness equalled energy conservation. If there is no imminent threat, it is only natural to follow our instinct and be lazy.
Another cause of laziness may be found in our fear of failure, for example. If we are afraid that we could fail in doing something, we may tend to opt for not doing that particular thing at all. Interestingly enough, some people are afraid that they could not deal with potential success and decide to be lazy instead. Some of us are lazy just because we did not find what we want to do.
One of the synonyms for laziness is sloth. Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins in Christianity. In his book, The Road Less Travelled, M. Scott Peck sees this deadly sin as “…not taking the time and energy to have a proper internal debate. If we’re to have any hope of avoiding sinful decisions and making good ones, we need to be diligent about questioning ourselves and getting to the bottom of why we do what we do.”
Knowing our “Whys” is also crucial for our success as we discussed in our article Why Am I Researching Why.
So being busy does not always mean that we are not lazy and, equally, being lazy does not necessarily mean that we are indeed lazy.
It is important to understand our "being busy" situation and make sure that it does not make us ill. Jodie Clark clearly explains the influence of busyness on our health in her article How Constantly Being Busy Affects Your Well-Being on verywellmind.com, if you want to learn more.
Last but not least, it is vital to understand that if we are too lazy to have the “internal debate”, our laziness may lead to even more serious issues - as M. Scott Peck puts it, “…laziness also is the biggest thing standing between us and spiritual growth.”
Resources
1
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323148#Busy-mindsets-can-have-positive-results
How does being busy affect your lifestyle choices? by Monica Beyer
2
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201410/the-psychology-laziness
The psychology of laziness, procrastination, and idleness. by Neil Burton, MD
3
The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck
4
How Constantly Being Busy Affects Your Well-Being by Jodi Clarke, MA, LPC/MHSP
