I Am the Laziest Person on the Planet. You Should Be, Too.

I am soooooooooo lazy. Level 60 Procrastinator. For any of you that stayed current with World of Warcraft after 2008 or so, yes, I know the level cap is 80 now. Or is it 85? I don't know: I'm too lazy to look it up. I was also too lazy to max out my skill in Procrastination. I'll do it later. Maybe.

This works for me. I still get stuff done. It's even usually on time. Not always, though. Example: I intended to write this post three weeks ago.

Anyway, I'm probably one of the laziest people on the planet and I think you should be, too.

 “Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”
-- Robert A. Heinlein

This statement is exactly correct. The key to effective lazyness is efficiency. I posted earlier about my approach to the Easy Way (summary: Easy Way = Best Way, everytime). See what I did there? Used an equals sign in there. Lazy + Efficient. Did it again. Nice.

Being lazy and efficient is the best combination of character traits. Why do anything that is not required? Wasted effort is wasted time. You can't get back wasted time. It's the biggest, slipperiest sunk cost there is. Wasting time is the most efficient way to convert a possible opportunity cost into a realized sunk cost, hands down.

I'm not advocating low quality or late delivery; not at all. Everything you ever deliver ought to be the best you can produce given your available resources and talent. On top of that, it should be at least as good, and preferably better, than whatever was expected. Go the extra mile, sure. Just don't be stupid about it.

Efficiency is intelligent laziness.
-- Anonymous, frequently misattributed to David Dunham  

Nice.

Again, pretty much the same point, but more succinct. More efficient.

Why is this relevant, or even worth talking about? Here's why: smart, lazy people will accomplish far greater quantities and quality of work than dumb hardworking people. I'm not implying that there is anything wrong with hard work, or that it's dumb, or that hardworking people are twits. Don't read so closely between the lines.

Smart people are frequently lazy because they have other things they would rather be doing. Like doing nothing, or playing video games. Or drinking. Who knows. Unfortunately, that little thing called work needs to be done. Smart people will do it WHEN it needs done, no later. Just-in-time delivery is usually a calling card for lazy people. It also happens to be one of the most efficient systems around (see also: Toyota Production System).

I created a simple mnemonic system for myself that I use to be lazy, be productive, and be effective. Hokey as it may sound, it's the DAD system:

• Delegate
• Automate
• Do (just-in-time)

Simple. I'm not even going to bother walking you through the steps, because if you can't figure out when and where these apply, you're not going to be very effective by getting any lazier.

JIT is not without risk. If you're a procrastinator with deadlines, you need to be damn sure that you are good at estimating the task that you are putting off. Otherwise, you are putting your credibility, accountability, and quality at stake. If you're a bad estimator of your workload and your capabilities, I recommend you stick to GSD: Get Shit Done.

If you apply these steps to your next task, whether it be a mountain of housework or a major strategic project, I almost guarantee you'll find yourself doing less overall, being lazier, and more efficient.