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Smart and Lazy are not Synonyms

As a productivity consultant to owners of small businesses and other managers, people sometimes seem to think I am promoting laziness and slothful behavior as I suggest ways for 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.

Can you name a true fact that indicates that working hard and long is an accurate measure of a person's 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.

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 consideration, as we compare working more for equal or less results, is to note that all the extra time spent working, or just being present, making excuses to yourself and avoiding the work, until there is no other choice, is that this excess busy-ness reduces creativity. Working just to fill time is also unnecessarily stressful, a waster of 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.

When our work requrirements are accomplished quickly and effectively, we can find time for more relaxing activities. During these periods of rest and relaxing and doing things we enjoy is when we are most likely to be inspired by things in our surroundings that move us to credative action. Who knows, we may invent something, paint or photograph a stunning picture, write or sing a song, enjoy our family more, etc. This non work time is most likely to stimulate our creativity.

Let me not forget to mention that when it is actually necessary to work longer hours, it cannot be avoided, but remember, our value...our pay and benefits are, in the final analysis, tied to 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 complain and tell him he needs to work longer and harder for the amount of his bill?

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.

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Get more information and more free help on how to get more done by visiting Sergeant Carpenter's site for effective time management & organization You can also request a free consultation at his site. Don't reprint the same version as everyone else. Get your own unique content business managing article here.

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