The 3 Types of Laziness

One of our most popular videos on YouTube deals with overcoming laziness: how to overcome laziness with behavioral psychology (see below). In this text, I would like to share with you some reflections on how laziness can be thought of, beyond what we are used to.

1) Laziness as indolence

This is the basic definition of laziness. We wake up on a Monday wishing it was Sunday because we don’t feel like doing whatever we’re supposed to do: go to school, work, attend an appointment…

So, in this sense, being lazy is synonymous with not behaving as one should or not having the desire or desire to do even what we generally like to do. After all, we can also be lazy to go to the movies on the weekend or go out with friends.

2) Laziness as a limiting belief

The second type of laziness is believing that one is not capable. Having and maintaining the idea that it will not work, that it will not be possible, that there is not enough capacity. It is laziness because there is no action, there is no will to try nor the strength to overcome obstacles. It’s like a mental laziness, a laziness of thought.

If we stop to think, we have no way of knowing the limit of what we can do. For example, I don’t know how to calculate derivatives, but does that mean I can’t? No, it just means I haven’t tried it yet. If I try – and put in the effort and study – I can make it. It’s logical: I can’t do it yet, but if I want to, I can do it. Now, if I’m lazy, I can say that I can’t, that this is not for me.

3) Laziness as overdoing it

One of the fundamental arguments of my doctoral thesis is that our psyche, our functioning, occurs in the oscillation of polarities, of opposites. It’s curious to think that laziness also appears in its opposite: doing too much.

You can buy my thesis here – Jung’s Red Book

It is easier to understand if we think about the concept of inertia: a stationary object tends to remain stationary and an object in motion – if there is no opposing force – tends to remain in motion. Staying in motion unconsciously is also a form of laziness. Quite subtle, but it is.

Imagine a person who, in order not to deal with his family problems, becomes a workaholic, a person addicted to work. There is action at work, but it is action without conscience, continuing to do what has always been done because that is the way things are.

Conclusion

Aristotle, in his famous Nicomachean Ethics, said that happiness (eudaimonia) is intimately related to the mean, the middle way. Doing nothing or doing too much, the two sides of inertia, are forms of laziness. It’s also interesting to think of laziness as an excuse about one’s capabilities.

Deep down, analyzing these three types of laziness has the meaning of reflection and not of guilt. Why are we failing to do what we have or want to do? Why are we doing certain things out of habit, routine or because they said this was the only way?

And finally, isn’t it fantastic to imagine that we don’t really know the limits of our potential? That we can overcome our limiting beliefs and accomplish much more?

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