Smart and Lazy are not Synonyms
by Sergeant Carpenter
As a productivity consultant to small business owners and managers, I am sometimes looked at as if I were promoting laziness and slothful behavior when I help them find ways to have more free time.
Wanting to have more free time doesn't make a person lazy. It might just be a sign that the person is unusually smart. That is evidenced by his or her ability to break away from the mentality of the herd and think independently. The herd mentality leads us to work hard and long in order to make a living and supply our family's needs.
What fact of life makes working hard and working long the standard by which we measure our attitude?
What is the basis for which we are paid? Isn't it our production? Therefore, my consultations focus on leading a person to produce more with less time, and enabling him/her to earn their pay for the required production, just as the person who works longer to achieve the same level of productivity does.
Let me suggest that the person who produces more in less time is most certainly not lazy. He or she is actually more productive, appears to be smarter and less lazy than the counterpart who just slides along all day to produce requirements that can be done faster.
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 and within yourself and you will observe that life is basically cyclical. There are cycles of work, rest and recreational activities. All are necessary for happiness and fulfillment. If you work all the time, you become ineffective and counter-productive. If you rest all the time, you're sure to become a lazy sluggard and if you play all the time you will likely become bored and disdain your excessive hedonism. The obvious evidence clearly shows a balance in life.
When work is accomplished quickly and effectively, we find time for more relaxed activities, and it can be during these periods of rest, relaxing and doing things we enjoy that we are most likely to be inspired by things in our environment that moves us to action to invent something, paint or photograph a stunning picture, write a song, enjoy our family more, etc. This non work time is more likely to stimulate our creativity.
Let me be quick to state that when it is actually necessary to work longer hours, it must be done, but, once again, our value, our pay and our perks are, in the final analysis, based on our production, not just the time we hang around the workplace. Think of your dentist. Would you want his pay to depend on how long and hard he worked on your teeth? Wouldn't you rather he finished quickly and effectively? Or would you tell him he needs to work longer and harder for the amount of his fee?
We should avoid the idea that working less is a indication of laziness, unless the person in question is shirking his overall responsibility. Remember that every one of us work for incentives. If there were no profit, no one would 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 remember that people work for incentives and do other things for fun, doesn't it make sense to reward those, including yourself, who produce more in less time with extra time off, without a reduction in pay? I pose this question figuring that you want a work force of cheerful, motivated people, and that you also want to be cheerful and motivated in your business. If we only produce more only to enable us to work longer and harder to produce more with the time saved, we are losing our balance and getting 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.
Get more information and more free tips on how you can 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.
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