Laziness is something that all of us have and many of us “practice” during most of the day. Everyone has this quality to a bigger or lesser extent, so we enjoy spending time procrastinating any time we can. These days, the window of opportunity for procrastination rarely opens because of our busy lifestyle, so delaying a deadline comes as a natural reaction.
Procrastinating associated with laziness is commonly viewed as a bad thing. However, what if we are wrong and it is not? What if procrastinating and laziness may actually contribute to the success? Many of us sure would love that! According to Psychology Today, around 20 percent of Earth’s population are chronic procrastinators. These people sure do not view this habit as a bad thing.
Instead, they do not perceive delaying the task and spending some time being lazy as a bad thing for productivity. For them, it is just a different path of accomplishing things. Even if this way is a little bit different from the traditional way of working, it gets the job done. Nevertheless, procrastinating is widely perceived as a bad thing because its basis is love for postponing stuff. In today’s world, where deadline becomes a scary word for many people, postponing is not such a good idea if one wants to accomplish something special. Or is it?
Lazy persons are successful
The history has a lot of examples of lazy people who accomplished great success, which means that we should not dismiss procrastination and laziness as barriers to a successful future. One of the best examples is sir Winston Churchill. His performance in school was so awful that he did not try to be accepted by a college. The historians claim that one of his favorite activities was sitting on a rocking chair and he was not interested in sports at all. But what he achieved remains one of the most impressive legacies in world politics.
Another great example is Charles Darwin. Did you know that he used to sleep during the lessons and was a nightmare for his teachers? Like Churchill, he was indifferent to sport and preferred more passive activities like fishing. His favorite activity, though, was drinking in pubs. Of course, anyone who knew him would not believe that he became a world-famous scientist. But he did, even when he was as lazy as it gets.
Many other famous scientists, musicians, politicians, and entrepreneurs are known to be lazy but this quality did not hinder their success. There are countless examples of how laziness actually contributes to professional success. My friend once told me that he would sleep until the afternoon and come to the office at 4 pm to find some work from students from other parts in the world. As the result, he always had what to do and did not worry about rushing. These examples prove that even lazy people can go far and beat others. Here are some reasons why.
Lazy people know the value of rest
Rest is one of the most important things when it comes to productivity because it refreshes and provides energy for work. The people who prefer to keep going instead of resting make a mistake because they have less energy for accomplishing all plans they have. Moreover, straining yourself is not a very good idea because it leads to exhaustion and failure. So, there is nothing wrong with being lazy, it should not be a quality that hinders your success but fuels it!
Lazy people focus on their goals
Being lazy also means not paying attention to other people’s advice and imposition, which is a great way to focus. In contrast, others get distracted because they often think doing many things is the right way to go. For example, one can get to know the goal of a successful person and try to replicate their strategy for achieving goals. A lazy person, however, would not care to pay attention, which is good! It allows them to focus on their own goals instead of trying to go after other people’s priorities.
They use help of technology
Lazy people surely know how to take advantage of the latest gadgets and apps because they allow them to do things faster. For example, if a lazy person is given a task to write a document and send it to a number of people, he or she takes an approach that simplifies the process. Instead of opening Word and starting to type, they would go to Google Docs and start working there. When the document is completed, the person would just give the access to the people and finish. As the result, their work is efficient.
Lazy people are more relaxed
Taking time to get a task accomplished is a good strategy, and lazy people prefer to do this naturally! They do rush while doing something because this is now who they are. It is much easier for them for calmly do their jobs because they are more relaxed and less prone to worrying and stress. As the result, they are less affected by panic and keep doing what they do!
Lazy people know how to invent
Sounds strange, right? Well, think about this: a lazy employee is given many tasks that need to be completed in a short deadline. To ensure that all of them are done, this employee will find ways to optimize and automate all repetitive processes to speed up the work. As the result, they take laziness to another level! It is annoying and unbearable for lazy people to do monotonous work, so they will try to find ways to eliminate it as soon as possible. As the result, their working life becomes easier thanks to their ingenuity.
A surprising combination
Being clever, successful and lazy is actually possible, suggests this Business Insider article. These individuals make great leaders because they avoid pointless meetings, delegate, and focus on essential things required to move forward. In contrast, those who are clever and hard-working often try to fit within the existing order and simply follow given instructions. Lazy and smart people use a different approach because they often question the existing processes and try to find some new approaches.
This opinion is supported by Marc Wayshak of Huffington Post. He recently wrote that most people are taught to work harder but in reality this approach makes it more difficult than needs to be. Instead of taking the hard way to accomplish success, Marc proposes “the lazy but successful approach,” which includes five essential points: “fewer goals = more achievements” philosophy, breaking goals into manageable pieces, setting realistic deadlines, using help of others, and saying to distractions.
As the result, taking advantage of your laziness and procrastination may be a good thing for your career. Some people use the pressure of a looming deadline to speed up the working process, saying that it does not matter when it is done. This makes a perfect sense because as long as work is done before the deadline, no one really cares that it was completed a few hours ago. So, if you work best in the waning hours before the final day, perhaps it is your unique way to work. You should not say no to it.
There is a literature on how to accomplish success for lazy people. For example, a famous writer Marc Allen wrote a book called The Type-Z Guide to Success: A Lazy Person’s Manifesto to Wealth and Fulfillment to show how anyone disorganized and flat-out lazy can create a life of their dreams. It shows a practical approach for those who consider themselves lazy to achieve wealth without giving up their essential quality. Allen described these people as “Type Z personality,” or the laZy personality, which is the opposite to the Type A workaholic personality. The book received great reviews on Amazon because it provided usable and doable Type Z approaches to business and life.
Lazy people can be successful because their way of accomplishing things is unique and different from the traditional “hard-working” philosophy. Moreover, laziness can give some advantage because it usually means appreciation of rest, skills of inventing, and a more focused approach. Many examples from the history showed that lazy people can be world-famous despite their failures in education. Following a unique way instead of the traditional one is a great method that should be encouraged.
If you think of yourself as a lazy person, you can find something familiar in this article that reminds you of your style of working. Do not get discouraged when people say that laziness is a bad thing for success because it is not. In fact, you can easily make it work to get some advantage over people who burn the midnight oil trying to blend in. So if you prefer to stay in bed a little bit longer and enjoy working when you want, this is your unique way that should be used to lead you to success.