I am a naturally lazy person. My default position is to do as little as possible, find ways to do less, and not to do more. I am very proud of my prolific and productive laziness.
Paradoxically, laziness has spurred me to do many different things more efficiently, mostly because I want to get away with doing more and with the least amount of effort.
Let me illustrate what I mean.
Many years ago, just after leaving college, I worked at the Royal National Theatre in London as a prop-maker. I loved being part of the buzz and adrenaline that is part of the preparation of a production. Working as part of a team, all focused on the same goal, supported joyful long hours of work with like-minded people.
One of the unusual, bizarre tasks (almost everything was unusual) was to build a tree that would change from summer to autumn in the second half of the play (actually, we created two trees). The prop master, seeking perfection, insisted that each fabric leaf should be painted individually appropriate for the season, one at a time!
Not wishing to spend weeks painting each and every leaf, because that was far too much work, I decided to lay all the leaves out in what was called the drum road (the back-stage corridor) and throw paint of the appropriate season across all of them, a la Jackson Pollock, by the bucket load. Then turn them over and do the same. So, rather than doing a repetitive and tedious task that had five days allocated, I had finished in one day.
"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something."
― Robert Heinlein
My laziness triumphed (the leaves looked more natural too). So, why is it that we look down on laziness? I think it's a cultural thing.
I am, like many people, afraid of laziness and boredom because of the uncertainty that lies in the void they create. The temptation is to fill the space with meaningless activities with little or no value because they don't take us anywhere. But, like most people, I want to feel that I'm going somewhere, progressing towards something and the fear of not doing that forces us to fill the space with something.
Lazy cultures
Here in the West and the modern age, we have been educated to use laziness as a pejorative term. According to Earl Nightingale, success (I assume he means self-worth in our eyes or the eyes of others) is the progressive realisation of a worthy goal.
He also that is slothful in his work Is brother to him that is a great waster.
Proverbs 18:9
He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich."
Proverbs 10:4
If someone is engaged in a task that we consider worthless, we condemn them as lazy, good for nothing.
In classical Greece, non-productive pursuits were seen as one of the highest possible virtues. Leisure time was the highest state you could live by. In the East, time to meditate or contemplate is a revered quality and arguably leads to a better, balanced daily life.
Since the industrial revolution, "industry" meant hard graft; you shouldn't become a slacker. There was a clear advantage to creating a culture where working hard produced more for the privileged few, who could then indulge in more leisure activities.
In the former Soviet Union, people involved in non-productive tasks, such as poetry, were considered social parasites. We saw a similar branding during the recent European economic crisis; the Greeks were stereotyped as lazy and living off EU handouts.
Laziness can be efficient.
We often tend to fill our time with unproductive tasks. We watch TV, check social media, emails and texts on our phones, we fill our time with things that we probably don't really care much about because they keep us entertained with novelty. This is arguably not laziness; this is the avoidance of idleness and boredom.
However, laziness can be efficient in motivating progress.
The wheel was invented because it saved the time and effort it took to lug stuff around. It meant you could get your products and yourself to a destination quicker and with less effort.
Cranes allow us to move more materials with less effort and speed, thus allowing buildings to be built quicker and ships to be unloaded faster and more efficiently.
We optimise for things to use fewer resources and are more effective. So whilst it may take some mental effort to conceive, we constantly seek ways to get more for less effort.
In 1968 Professor Paul R. Ehrlich wrote the "Population Time Bomb", which predicted the human race's demise due to a population explosion and an inability to produce sufficient food. However, we are still here, and food production has become far more efficient as it uses less land to produce far more. Whilst there have been many false turns along the way, with DDT and Neonicotinoids, this seems to me to be an extension of the wheel principle, spurred on by a problem.
Laziness, doing less and getting more, is a highly efficient motivator for innovation. Having identified a problem, our minds get to works (often with a great deal of effort) to find ways to make something better, easier or more efficient. This is the essence of innovation.
"I don't think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention . . . arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble."
― Agatha Christie, Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
"I always choose a lazy person to do a hard job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."
Bill Gates
Finding the most efficient solution that requires the least effort may often be driven by laziness, the desire to get more out of less (I may be stretching this a little here, but you see my point).
Our brains naturally behave in this way. We form our habits to save precious mental energy. For the average adult in a resting state, the brain consumes about 20 percent of the body's energy. The brain's primary function — processing and transmitting information through electrical signals — is costly in energy use. As a result, tasks become automatic so that we do not have to think about every detail all the time. In addition, assumptions and stereotypes allow us to shortcut thinking.
The Nightmare - Henry Fusilli
Failure, creativity and laziness.
Laziness often replaces our fear of failure. If something is difficult and we risk failure, it may be easier just not to try. On the other hand, attempting something challenging involves the risk of failure, so the simpler and more efficient energy route may be not trying at all.
Creative thinking involves risk (of failure) and effort (mental energy). When we step outside of the certainty and predictability of what we already know, we step into uncertainty and risk.
Laziness and boredom are uncertain places where a novel, and perhaps meaningless, stimulation can replace engagement and action. We constantly look at our phones to distract us from the effort of thinking about current problems that may require creative solutions.
"Procrastination is my sin. It brings me nought but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will--tomorrow."
― Gloria Pitzer"The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people."
― Karl Marx
When we fill our time with mundane, novel and entertaining tasks, we avoid engaging with the present problems and prevent change. Instead, we've kicked the can a little further down the road. We sabotage ourselves with poor self-esteem.
Boredom; Are we there yet?.
All parents will know where this comes from! We will compensate for it by keeping children entertained and interested. However, boredom, if used correctly, can be beneficial.
We are addicted to novelty, and when we don't get it, we feel bored. This is the dopamine cycle in action; we constantly look for new and novel stimulation to feed the reward system. Then, having got that reward hit, we seek further fixes. We avoid boredom by filling the spaces in time.
If you think back to when you had all your best ideas, they will have come when you weren't focusing on the problem directly. When your brain was "switched off" (of course, it's never switched off). If your brain is constantly occupied, you don't allow creative problem-solving thoughts to happen.
"We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work"
― Thomas A. Edison
So boredom, or what seems like boredom, can be beneficial. Replace the word boredom with daydreaming. It is scientifically proven to be beneficial for mental health and creative thinking. However, boredom is something you have to pass through to get to difficult thinking.
Erin Westgate, a social psychologist who runs The Florida Social Cognition and Emotion Lab, studied how we are affected by boredom.
She and her team put the subjects shown an empty room with nothing in it except a chair and a paddle that delivered an electric shock. The subjects were left alone and told to entertain themselves with their own thoughts, the majority of subjects, after a short period, gave themselves electric shocks. Rather than sit quietly contemplating, they chose to shock themselves (men did this more than women). Boredom compelled them to find stimulation.
"Laziness is the first step towards efficiency."
― Patrick Bennett
There is a stigma attached to boredom and laziness. Most people, when you ask them, will usually say "I'm never bored". I'm not sure what people mean when they say this. Boredom is a very human emotion and part of everyday life. If boredom has a purpose, it is to motivate us to take action.
Most of us are inherently lazy because we are wired to conserve energy. But laziness and boredom can be used to our benefit if we use them to motivate us to take purposeful action.
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
― Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married"You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you."
― Andy Warhol"I'm bored with it all".
- Last Words
― Winston Churchill
Robert Crumb