Laziness Does Not Exist

by Devon Price

Procrastinators often get caught in a cycle of perfectionism, anxiety, distraction, and failure. Because they care a great deal about doing well, they hold themselves to an impossibly high standard.

Feelings of laziness are also a powerful internal alarm signaling to us that we need additional help, more breaks, or reduced demands. By listening to this laziness, we can better understand our needs and construct lives that are truly worth living.

Emotions were for weak, unproductive people, I thought. I just had to just keep them at bay.

Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma & Emotional Upheaval

the more we work, the less we’re able accomplish—and the less unique and meaningful our work becomes.

Then I can use that information to motivate myself to be more active, or I can use another person’s achievements as a reason to belittle myself.

Behavioral Displays Showing happiness in our behavior: smiling, singing, jumping for joy, flapping our hands excitedly, etc. Being Present Living in the present moment, focusing on the experience as it’s happening; pushing distractions away and being mindful. Capitalizing Communicating about a positive experience with other people; celebrating an event; sharing good news with other people; getting other people excited. Positive Mental Time Travel Reflecting on happy memories or reminding people of a pleasant shared past; planning and anticipating desired future events.

If you’re a habitual overachiever and trophy hoarder, odds are you absolutely loathe doing things you’re bad at. This is a particularly common problem for people who were “gifted” students in school, or who were constantly told as children that they were smart. When you’ve spent your whole life chasing praise for being naturally good at things, it’s deeply unpleasant to do anything badly.

I’ve always had skills that other people see as valuable: number-crunching skills, teaching skills, even my ability to write. In the past year, I’ve made regular time each week to do something I truly suck at (and will always suck at): lifting weights. I’m physically weak and uncoordinated, so I avoided going to the gym for years because I knew I’d be just awful at it.

We’re living in an era of information overload—and the solution is not to learn more but to step back and consume a smaller amount of data in a more meaningful way.

Riley spent years silently suffering through what researchers call the “second shift”: the hours of cleaning and tidying that women typically perform when they get home from work.2 Women often suffer from an unspoken yet powerful pressure to look after the house, keep track of their family’s to-do list, and run countless household errands, while the men in their lives do comparatively little.

many women spend all day keeping a running mental log of household responsibilities that need to get done, while the men who live with them seem to be completely unaware that there even is a list that’s forever growing and must be dealt with.

In short, if social media leaves you feeling as if you’re not enough, you can counteract it by avoiding comparisons with other people and seeking out the successful people who inspire you rather than make you feel bad.

The remedy for all of this is boundless compassion.

Having emotional reactions to one’s circumstances is a sign that you’re adaptable and alive. It’s only because of the pervasiveness of the Laziness Lie that we see natural reactions as weaknesses.

Sometimes, the best thing good people can do is hunker down, care for one another, and survive.