Laziness as a sign of genius. 4 types of laziness and whether to deal with it

It happened to you that you need to do something, but you don't want to. Laziness.

Laziness is sometimes so strong that a person gives up and obeys it. Laziness is omnipotent and omnipresent, they say she was born long before us.
Laziness is often called the biggest vice of a person, but is it really bad? Let's figure it out.
So, what is laziness.
By defining V.I. Dahl is

“Aversion from work, from work, from work; propensity for idleness and parasitism ".

In fact, laziness is such a phenomenon can be considered much broader.
Consider a few basic options for manifesting laziness:
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Laziness as a lack of motivation for not understanding your purpose

There is a category of people who have no goals in life, they go with the flow, they live only for today.
From a literary point of view, this is a typical Oblomov, the character of Ivan Goncharov from the novel Oblomov, which is part of the Ordinary Story trilogy. For those who have not read this epoch-making work I will talk a little about the plot. The novel tells about the life of Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. He, along with his servant, lives in Petersburg, practically does not leave the house and does not even rise from the sofa. He does not work anywhere, does not engage in any activity, but only dreams of a comfortable and serene life in Oblomovka’s home estate. No problem can move him.
Remember how in the song “Raspizdyay” of the group Leningrad “But I don’t go to work and I don’t listen to the radio, but what the god will give me to drink and eat”.
A person has no motivation on a subconscious level, there is no conscious motivation either. Sometimes, in critical cases, a person can force himself to do something, but this is extremely rare.



Do you think that this is all some jokes and deliberate exaggeration?
I have a friend, typical Oblomov. He grew up in a rich family, he lived well, he was taught on a grand scale, but, alas, he didn’t earn. Time passed, the boy grew up, graduated ... and filed a lawsuit against his parents because they refused to provide him and called him a parasite. After this, there were such stories that even write "Oblomov 2".
He officially does not work anywhere, only earns money. They do not want to take him officially for work because he does not fulfill his promises and does not observe labor discipline. If any money falls, he lowers it on the first day, even if this amount is 50,000-100,000 rubles. It is very distracted, it can easily somewhere forget a large sum of money or valuables.
Once, when he tried to get a good job with a decent salary, we had an interesting dialogue with him. He needed to come to work at 8 in the morning, but he was understandable, he came for dinner and then not every day. When I asked why he agreed to such conditions, if he could not come to work so early (he lives in the region and likes to sleep), he answers me:

"I agreed to a salary, not a job."

There are opposite examples.
A person is greatly influenced by his environment and the society in which he grew up. A person who grew up in a family with a small income considers such a life the norm. In the Soviet Union there was such a thing as a “working class”. After finishing 8 classes of secondary school, he went to the factory, every day he got up at the factory whistle and so every day throughout his life.
Now there are too many such stories, including in Moscow. Such a person may have a wife (husband), children, a small salary in a state organization, a room in a hostel. People get so used to such a life that they don’t want to change anything. Nothing spoils people like a stable small salary, they are in a comfort zone and do not want to change anything. What if it gets worse?

What is here to advise? Oblomov everything is clear, then, as they say "in the bag and awl." With the second category it is more difficult, those people who grew up below the poverty line, orphaned or in a “bad neighborhood” often have a strong motivation to make their lives, or at least the lives of their children, better. And those who grew up “in the comfort zone” are harder.

Tip one:

Laziness as a defense mechanism.

Laziness is a very effective mechanism for refusing to do work that does not benefit. As if the body works constantly in energy saving mode, mobilizing this energy when necessary.
You will never see a wild boar, who ran all day, and then says: I need to sit down to rest, I'm tired. Today there was so much.



Laziness appears when you do not understand why doing this or that work, when the goal is not inspiring (see my previous article ). When the goal that you are trying to achieve is important to you, there is no trace of laziness. You are ready to work for hours without stopping for food and sleep.
And if you feel you need to do it, but do not want to get out of bed for this, then reconsider the purpose of this event. Is it important to you?

Another aspect of not wanting to do something is when there is no clear understanding of what needs to be done. So sometimes you open the task manager where the mass of overdue tasks, look at it, sigh and close. Have you been with this? Or try to do some one task and constantly get distracted. The point here is that the brain does not understand what needs to be done and is trying to switch to another task that is more understandable to it.



In the first case, stop using Task Manager if you do not look at them at least once a day. A huge number of overdue tasks will only upset you and will not contribute to productive work. All people are different, it is impossible for everyone to create one universal method. If you are told that making a to-do list, hard timekeeping, a tomato technique (Pomodoro) and other popular things are cool and masthead, don’t believe it! Try it for a month and see if it suits you or not.
If the lists are not yours, then a good way to start doing something is to think in the evening and determine which 5-6 tasks will bring you the greatest result tomorrow and focus on them in the morning.
In the second case, decomposition of the target will help. It is necessary to break the goal into stages that you and other performers understand. For example, to conduct a market research understandable goal? For the marketer, of course, but for a beginner start-up you need additional explanations, check out a list of necessary actions.

An interesting example is given by the psychotherapist N.V. Karyagin


Imagine that a person is too lazy to do sports. The more weight he gains, the harder it is to walk and the less you want to move. What happens if you remove such a "fuse" as laziness? He will lose weight, become prettier, become more sexually attractive, and the opposite sex will show interest in him. There may be a problem here. If he has attracted attention and a relationship has begun, then it will be necessary to build these relations, to master new roles. And it may happen that the relationship will be short-lived, and you need to have the strength and stability to survive the separation. Many are so scared to experience such situations, that not starting relationships is a much safer and more comfortable state. And then with your sport =)

Laziness as a sign of genius.

Lazy employee - a good employee, do you agree?
Many, probably, will not check me, but there is a great deal of truth in this.
Richard Koch, in his book 80/20 Manager, tells the story of German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, a member of the First and Second World Wars. He led the Blitzkrieg, which quickly conquered France, and then commanded the 11th Wehrmacht army, whose successful operations in the Crimea against the Soviet Army were crowned with the capture of Sevastopol in June 1942.
Manstein divided his officers into four categories, depending on their intelligence, stupidity, diligence and laziness.



1. The first group
They are lazy and stupid officers. Leave them alone, they do not bring harm.
2. The second group
These are smart and hardworking officers. They make excellent staff officers from whom even the smallest details will not escape.
3. The third group
Hard-working dumbass. These people are dangerous, they burden everyone with absolutely unnecessary work. They should be shot on the spot.
4. The fourth group
Smart loafers. These people deserve the highest positions.


Thus, laziness in itself is not a virtue, but it is very useful in combination with a high level of intelligence.

Famous British philosopher and social activist Bertrand Russell said:

“The path to happiness and prosperity is through organized job reduction”

How to achieve this? In fact, we have plenty of time, it is more than enough. We just squander it on an exciting fight with "problems" and meaningless meetings.

Recall the Esenhour matrix.



A. Important urgent matters. This is a burning affair, when you need to throw everything and start to extinguish the fire. It is better not to bring matters to such a state. When you successfully complete an important and urgent business, you feel a surge of strength and a lot of different emotions - joy, pride, satisfaction with the work done, but it takes a lot of energy and it’s impossible to work in such a mode for a long time.
B. Non-urgent and important matters. The current (planned) work, this category also includes business planning, training, development and everything that brings you closer to achieving your goal. If you run the case in this category, they can go to square A and they will need to perform in time-trouble mode.
C. Urgent and unimportant. Basically, this is some kind of routine and unscheduled work, or someone asked you to do work that is not within your remit. This work in no way leads you to the desired goal. Long stay in this square is harmful. It is extremely important not to confuse doing this square with affairs in square A (important and urgent).
D. Unstable and unimportant. These are matters that can be abandoned, since they will not bring the desired return. This is watching TV, empty talk, meaningless Internet surfing, social networks (if you are not an SMM specialist) providing all sorts of services and doing things not related to your immediate goals.



To be as productive as possible, try to focus on square B. For example, I have a piece of paper on my desktop, where this matrix is ​​drawn and I occasionally ask myself: what square am I in?
It is smart and lazy people who are usually very creative. Give them will, and they will offer a lot of non-standard and original solutions to the problem with one sole purpose - to make the task as quickly as possible and with the minimum amount of effort.
It is to lazy and intelligent people that we owe for many rationalization inventions.



And if you still need to do, but do not want?
Sometimes it happens that we, smart lazy people become a hostage to our mind. Without sufficient motivation, the brain begins to resist strenuously to exit from the zone of control, because it threatens him with large energy losses during the development of new activities.



The important point is, the smarter the person, the more skillfully he justifies himself in front of himself and in front of others. It happened to me that I set a SMART goal, but then I justified myself in front of myself and refused to fulfill the goal only because it does not pass on SMART, and according to such an exotic criterion as “organic goal”, its relevance (relevant).
It also happens that we do not fulfill the task set by the management, because we believe that the task was set incorrectly or simply stupid. Here I will not dwell on this, this situation will be discussed in the following articles.



How to overcome resistance?
1. Decompose the goal, break it into simple steps.
2. Think of what this goal will give you
3. Turn work into a game and think of rewards for completing each stage.
4. Read my previous article.
5. Read my next articles.

The article would not be complete if I had not told about the last type of laziness.

Laziness as an external manifestation of fatigue.

Sometimes, no matter how cool the idea is, there is no desire to do anything.



This does not mean that this goal is not important for us, just sometimes you need to relax. I suggest a small excursion into the esoteric, in order to understand more deeply why energy sometimes leaves us.

Lack of exercise

Even if you are engaged only in intellectual activity, physical exertion is necessary, at least in the morning. As the saying goes, "without physical exertion, not only the body begins to fall apart, but also the cause." Reduced muscle tone, the body can not cope with the accumulated slags, as a result of chronic fatigue syndrome. You did not strain, in the end there is no strength. Neither physical, nor emotional, nor mental.

Lack of emotional stress

Do you think soap operas, DOM-2 and other programs are watched only by stupid women?
I hasten to disappoint you, it is not always the case. We (men) are watching the World Cup, not because we can not live without the ball? In this case, we would have run through the stadium. We all need emotions, and different.
Sometimes we swear at the lack of negative emotions, the main thing is not to pour out these emotions on other people. Better watch a movie or read a book that evokes a variety of strong emotions, just do not try them on yourself - this is not your life. I usually watch art house in cinemas, author and festival films, mostly dramas. You sit, you experience, but at the same time you understand that this has nothing to do with you. Then you just go about your business and you don’t remember.
Some people like to watch news and politics in order to tickle their nerves. However, everything is good in moderation, do not go too far, otherwise you risk becoming an obese and a loser.

No intellectual load

Despite the fact that we are faced daily with a huge amount of information, the lack of intellectual burden is a scourge of the modern world. Our mind is filled to capacity, it processes a vast array of data, but all this is idle. Even the slightest difficulty causes severe tension and irritation.
It is easier for us to read a dozen publics or websites on the Internet in search of some funny jokes, cats, quotes, tips, than to use any of the techniques or tips offered on these sites. You need to get used to learn from your experience, not from books. Do not confuse a large amount of the information you are viewing with mental activity. It is necessary to use such tools as analysis, synthesis, analogies. Before reading, always ask yourself questions: why do I read this information? how can i use this in my life?

The lack of intellectual load reduces the number of neural connections in the brain, which is one of the causes of aging, illness, depression, weakening of memory and reduction of will.
Some advise doing chess, crossword puzzles and crossword puzzles. This is certainly useful, but in the first case you develop logic, and in another case memory. Not a single neural connection arises here. New connections arise only with the development of new skills and the solution of non-trivial tasks. All this is abundantly provided to those who are trying to qualitatively change their lives and get out of the comfort zone.

Do not confuse laziness and idleness.

Idleness is not always caused by laziness. Sometimes a person simply does not have a goal, he lives aimlessly, does not understand the goal of his existence. He does nothing all day long and this suits him.

Summary.

So let's summarize. Laziness is a very cool thing, created hundreds of years ago and perfectly working mechanism, but it is effective only in combination with a high IQ.

Sometimes the behavior of a person looks like laziness, but it is not. A clever person will first choose the most reasonable, adequate and effective way to perform, and then he will begin to complete the task, since he knows that 80% of any work can be done in 20% of the time allotted for this. We do not take into account perfectionists here, they will also be discussed in the following articles.
Usually, people do not associate purposefulness and laziness, but just the desire to find the best solution that requires minimal effort is the highest form of laziness.

Lazy and enjoy life, but do not forget that laziness is different. Do not give in to her provocations.