I Think I Need to Be Lazier

My standard answer at work when people comment on my efficiency and output levels is that I am lazy. I don’t see this as a negative trait, because it means that I do a lot less churn work than others. I see laziness as a way to do things in the most efficient way possible, because I don’t want to waste my time in energy on something I don’t have to. It means I can use that time and energy (in theory, anyway) to do things I want to do.

It seems, however, that I haven’t been thorough about being lazy.

Over at Scott H Young » The Laziest Solution Possible, Scott talks about questions he asks himself.

1. Why am I doing this?
2. Why am I doing it this way?
3. What am I trying to get out of this?
4. Is this the best way to get this done?
5. What would happen if I didn’t do it at all?

I am pretty good at routinely asking myself #1, #3 and #4, but #2 has been tripping me up lately as deadlines got very tight, and I haven’t been asking myself #5 at all. These two missed questions are really holding me back, and I am conscious of doing a lot of busy work as a result.

Mark Forster, in Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management (aff), consistently asks, “Am I the one to do this?”. It’s not a question I ask often enough.

I think the upshot here is that I am not being lazy enough lately, and I really need to work at it.