Lazy People Actually Work Longer

As a productivity consultant to small business owners and managers, I am sometimes looked at as if I were promoting laziness and slothful behavior when I help them find ways to have more free time.

Seeking to have more free time doesn't make a person lazy. It might, however, be a sign that the person is smarter than average. Smart enough to separate from the mentality of the herd and think for him or herself. The herd mentality is what causes us to work harder and longer in order to make a living and supply our family's needs.

Is there a fact of life that proves that working hard and long is the standard that measures our attitude?

Isn't our production the basis for the pay for most of us? Because of this, my consultations focus on empowering a person to produce more in less time, which allows them to earn their pay for the required production, just as surely as the person who works longer to achieve the same level of production.

I would like to suggest that the person who produces more in less time is definitely not lazy. He or she is, in fact, more productive, smarter and not as lazy than his or her counterpart who just eases along all day to produce requirements that can be done in much less time.

Another consideration, as we compare working more for equal or less results, is to note that all the extra time spent working, or just being present, making excuses to yourself and avoiding the work, until there is no other choice, is that this excess busy-ness reduces creativity. Working just to fill time is also unnecessarily stressful, a waster of time and restricts creativity because it is unbalanced.

Look all around you and you will easily see that life is basically cyclical. For example, we experience cycles of work, rest and recreational activities. All are necessary for happiness and fulfillment. If you work all the time, you become ineffective and counter-productive. If always rest, you're sure to become a lazy sluggard. If you play all the time you will get very bored and start to hate your excessive hedonism. The obvious evidence clearly shows a balance in life.

When work is accomplished quickly and effectively, we find time for more relaxed activities, and it can be during these periods of rest, relaxing and doing things we enjoy that we are most likely to be inspired by things in our environment that moves us to action to invent something, paint or photograph a stunning picture, write a song, enjoy our family more, etc. This non work time is more likely to stimulate our creativity.

I must be sure to clearly state that when it is actually necessary to work longer hours, it has to be done, but, again, remember that our value, our pay and our perks are, in the end, based on our production, not the time we hang around our place of work. Think about your dentist. Should his pay to depend on how long and hard he works on your teeth? Wouldn't you rather he finish quickly and effectively? Would you tell him he needs to work longer and harder for his fee?

We need to reject the idea that working less is indicative of laziness, unless, of course, the person under consideration is shirking his overall responsibility. Remember that we all work for incentives. That's basic economics. If there were no profit, the businessperson would not operate a business and if there were not a favorable combination of life needs provided, the businessperson wouldn't be able to find people to work and make it possible for him to produce more and make more profit.

When we realize that people work for incentives and do other things for fun, doesn't it make sense to reward those, including yourself, who produce more in less time with extra time off, without a reduction in pay? I pose this question assuming that you want a work force of cheerful, motivated people. If we only produce more only to enable us to work longer and harder to produce more with the time saved, we are losing our balance and getting back into the vicious cycle that may lead us to join 26% of American workers who have had or are about to have a nervous breakdown.

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