Smart and Lazy are not Synonyms

As a productivity consultant to small business people and managers, people sometimes look at me as if I were promoting laziness and slothful behavior when I guide them to have more free time.

Having more free time doesn't make a person lazy, but it might just be a sign that the person is quite smart. Smart enough to break away from the mentality of the herd and think for him or herself. The herd mentality says that we must work hard and must work long in order to make a living and supply our family's needs.

Is there a fact of life that proves that working hard and long is the standard that measures our attitude?

What is the basis for which most of us get paid? Is it not our production? Therefore, my consultations focus on helping a person produce more in less time, enabling him or her to earn his pay for the required production, just as surely as the person who works longer to achieve the same level of productivity.

At the end of the day, I would suggest that the person who produces more in less time is far from lazy. He or she is, in fact, more productive, smarter and less lazy than his or her counterpart who just shuffles along all day to produce requirements that can be done in much less time.

Another thing to consider, as we compare working harder for equal, or even less results, is that all that time spent working, or standing around & making excuses to yourself and avoiding the work until there is no other choice, is that this excessive activity reduces one's ability to think creatively. Working just to fill time is stressful, wastes time and restricts creativity because it is unbalanced.

Look all around you, as well as within yourself, and you will observe that life is cyclical. We go through cycles of work, rest and recreational activities. All these are necessary for happiness and fulfillment. If you always work, you become ineffective and counter-productive. If you rest all the time, you're sure to become lazy and a sluggard. If you play all the time you will likely get bored and come to despise your excessive hedonism. The obvious evidence clearly shows that life needs all three elements.

After the requirements of our work are accomplished quickly and effectively, we then are able to claim some time for relaxing activities, and it is during these periods of relaxation, when doing things we enjoy that we are most likely to be inspired to creative action. This may lead us to invent something, or to paint or photograph a really gorgeous picture, write a song, enjoy our family more, etc. This non work time is more likely to make us creative and make a greater contribution to our work or to society.

I must be sure to clearly state that when it is actually necessary to work longer hours, it has to be done, but, again, remember that our value, our pay and our perks are, in the end, based on our production, not the time we hang around our place of work. Think about your dentist. Should his pay to depend on how long and hard he works on your teeth? Wouldn't you rather he finish quickly and effectively? Would you tell him he needs to work longer and harder for his fee?

Let's avoid the idea that working less is a symptom of laziness, unless the person is shirking his overall responsibility. Remember that every worker and businessperson works for incentives. If there were no profit, the businessperson would not operate a business and if there were not a favorable combination of life needs provided, the businessperson wouldn't find people to work and make it possible for him to produce more and make more profit.

When we realize that people work for incentives and do other things for fun, it begins to make sense to reward those, including yourself, who produce more in less time with more benefit, such as extra time off, without a reduction in pay. Doesn't that make good business sense? I pose this question assuming that you want a work force of cheerful, motivated people. If we only produce more only to enable us to work longer and harder to produce more with the time saved, we lose our balance and get back into the vicious cycle that may lead us to join 26% of American workers who have had or are about to have a nervous breakdown.

Article Source: http://www.new.citynewslive.com

Get more information and more free tips on how to get more done by visiting Sergeant Carpenter's site for effective business management You can also request a free consultation at his site.
This and other unique content business managing articles are available with free reprint rights.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated