Are there any positive benefits of laziness and procrastination?

By my estimation, i might be obtaining paid around $20,000 a year (commission factored in) to try to to exactly nothing and be super lazy.

It was awful. I liked it. i prefer doing nothing.

For concerning three or four hours per week, sometimes, i might walk around Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan and do nothing.

That was around $150-200 per week, right there.

Some  weeks I’d sit within the room for 7-8 hours and stare off into the  distance whereas individuals closed in and out and put on to decision individuals  and do their job and be busy. i might do nothing within the room, on most  days.

That was most likely price around $350-400 per week.

One  day I visited an area Lenscrafters while not telling my boss associated got an  eye-exam, some contacts and a Dunkin Donuts ice coffee, which took concerning two-hours. I primarily did nothing there, too.

I got paid $100 for that, and my company purchased the remainder of my contacts, so was primarily like obtaining paid $220.

I had down the art of doing nothing. it absolutely was sensible.

I needed to run and tell my boss concerning my new shift in perspective and  all of the nothingness i used to be doing and the way he was paying Maine to try to to basically that, however I quickly realised that he most likely would not have  appreciated that.

Coworkers would comment, as a result of I’d gone from  being somebody WHO would grind 8-9 hours every day on the phones, to someone WHO would just about take half the break day and walk around in  nature and sit around within the room and do nothing half the day, and individuals thought that was completely insane, however I still did okay.

I had a coworker WHO would come back up to Maine and raise, hanging out with the homies once more, Kilcoyne despite the fact that i used to be hanging out with no one and simply without expression staring out  the window, and, you guessed it, doing nothing. and that i would laugh as a result of it absolutely was funny.

I’d be like, yeah, you caught Maine, dawg!  and simply continue staring out the window and doing nothing and  appreciating life. Some days I felt like attending to the repository and that i most likely should've, as a result of nothing was insanely fun to try to to.

And I was still obtaining paid, as a result of i used to be on regular payment and since that’s however life works and since i used to be doing my job.

But in those four or 5 or six (maybe) hours that I’d work, i used to be pretty productive, as a result of I did not very have abundant of a alternative.

There’s tons valuable in being lazy. 

The Absence of action

“They’re  busy as a result of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, as a result of they’re hooked in to action and dread what they may need to face in its  absence.” — Tim Kreider, we have a tendency to Learn Nothing

There’s this strange notion within the world that point spent doing, no matter however unfocused, tired or anxious/depressed you're is time spent being productive.

Which, like most things, is essentially bullshit.

People area unit grossly unproductive most of the time, and also the proven fact that individuals spent most of their lives and energy merely  sitting at a laptop footling away on things that don’t matter is just a mirrored image of however off-track we’ve gotten as a society.

In fact, studies show that our productivity dips pretty exhausting within the early-afternoon, and peaks at around ten a.m. If I ran a corporation (yeah, good point, I don’t)  I’d most likely send them place the first afternoon and have them wrap  up no matter else they have to urge done reception and not care most concerning the facade that's being within the workplace and looking out productive (which is strictly what it's, a facade).

We don’t specialise in things that matter. Instead, we have a tendency to specialise in things that create U.S. appear busy. Like email and dumb conferences and a lot of email.

Good  examples: staying within the workplace when 5 as a result of there area unit still people within the workplace, simply to grant off the ambience that, yeah, we have a tendency to putting your all into, and yeah, we have a tendency to get shit done, when, in reality, that’s simply being wasteful together with your time.

It’s silly.

I  was the final word time-waster, manner back once. i might go in the workplace,  slam my head against the pc for eight or nine hours and folks would be  like, kudos, you're employed thus hard! associated i might wish to shoot myself within the fucking face when an absurdly long commute back home.

Guh.

Laziness is sensible

A few months agone, at an incident i used to be hosting, a reasonably crucial person to our show still wasn't there and our show was near to begin in 5 minutes, and that i started freaking the fuck out as a result of i used to be like wherever is that person!?

We had to delay the show 15-minutes ahead of many hundred individuals. It sucked.

But  I couldn’t do something. thus I did simply that: nothing. I simply kind of Sabbatum around and acted very lazy and procrastinated doing something. And everything worked  out. That crucial part showed up, we have a tendency to were ready to get on with the  show, and everything was fine. no one noticed . It seems they'd automobile hassle.

Things happen.

Doing nothing is pretty crucial. Here's the way to do tons of it. the way to reconcile your laziness to urge shit done: 

1. Prioritize

If  you scan almost any interview, top-suggestion, expose, whatever,  with any flourishing person, most of them can usually say one thing on the lines of, get the foremost vital factor done first-thing. See: Tim Ferriss, Debbie Stier, James Clear, etc.

Anyone, really.

The  truth is, days suck, friends suck and just about everybody else in your  life (aside from yourself) doesn’t wish you to achieve success and do  cool things, thus they’re attempting to sabotage you with their desires and  their wishes.

If you get the foremost vital factor out of the manner  first-thing within the morning, then you’ll have a complete day left during which  you will do nothing — as well as those bullshit emails you've got to urge  to, conferences to speak concerning drivel, phone calls to rehash what you  already arranged  enter associate email, your friends, etc.

2. Meditate

I think this can be just like the white-yuppie factor to try to to these days, however I’ve found it to be unbelievably useful, and studies show that it will have a reasonably serious impact on anxiety, stress, etc.

Sometimes i might sit at my table, whereas create phone calls and simply, like, meditate, and be zen, and Namaste,  or no matter. generally after I felt super stressed, I’d steal away to associate  empty room and sit there and simply meditate for like ten  minutes. generally I’d feel higher. Who knows, though.

Meditation is basically simply that: the art of doing nothing. Of golf stroke your  phone on silent, ignoring all of the stupid thoughts that area unit running  around your stupid, reactive head and simply taking some deep breaths and  not giving a fuck.

I’m still terrible at it. you'll be, too. however it's sensible for you.

3. Don’t React

James  Altucher wont to have tons of friends and cash and a cheerful wedding  and he wasn’t forever depressed, then one monetary crisis came so  he lost all of his cash so his friends so his wedding and  everything hit the fan.

Now, he’s fine. He’s higher. He’s a reasonably prolific author (especially on Quora) and he has some friends and is married. 

And he’s additionally a large advocate for doing nothing. I just about scarf his expressive style. 

When  you’re stressed or anxious. once you’re tired. once you’re paranoid. once you’re angry. after you have any type of feeling that needs some type of reaction, generally the simplest factor to try to to is nothing.

Instead of reacting to  everything that is way too typical of a response and kills our  motivation and our energy and pisses U.S. off, specialise in unreacting. (Not a  word, I know.) Of simply sitting there and doing nothing and seeing what  happens.

Most things are fine.

Just chill.

Be lazy.