Or, the Curious Connection Between Laziness and Efficiency

Reading Under a Tree by Amy Crook

In my experience, there are two general types of lazy people. There’s the people that will do anything to get out of working, often expending enormous effort to avoid expending a modest effort on actual work; and then there’s people like me who just do it once, do it right, and get it over with.

Of course, it’s lazy to pigeonhole people like this, but it also sort of proves my point. There’s also many un-lazy types who work diligently but with varying levels of accuracy, for instance, but I’m not really talking about those people.

I’m talking about lazy people.

Here’s the secret that people like me have figured out:

You don’t have to work 17 hours a day if you’re really efficient for the first few hours.

If I make a list and sit down and just get started, and I pay enough attention to what I’m doing that I don’t make (ideally, any) mistakes, then by the time that mid-afternoon lull hits, I’m done.

I can kick off and read a book, watch a few hours of television, play some pointless Facebook games, and appreciate someone else’s hard work and creativity for a while. Or I can spontaneously declare extra weekend days when I’m not feeling it, knowing that I can catch up in a couple of hours the next day. I can let creative ideas lie fallow for a few days, bubbling and brewing until they’re ready to be poured into the best possible work I can do.

And sometimes, when something unexpected comes up, I can pull out all the stops, find my well-filled reserves of energy, and work that one really long day without going crazy.

I’ve got enough expertise and experience that I can charge enough per hour, job or painting to pay the bills on just a few hours of work a day.

I’m just that efficient. And lazy.