Are You Being Lazy? Or Just Resting?

                  I came across an article on the business philosophy of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon:

Company data showed that most employees became less eager over time, he said, and Mr. Bezos believed that people were inherently lazy. “What he would say is that our nature as humans is to expend as little energy as possible to get what we want or need,” Mr. Niekerk said. That conviction was embedded throughout the business, from the ease of instant ordering to the pervasive use of data to get the most out of employees.[i]

Apparently, Amazon is built on the conviction that we are “inherently lazy.”  While sitting at my desk on a summer day, surrounded by books I’d ordered on Amazon, I decided to explore what “lazy” means.

One definition is from Dictionary.com: 1) tending to avoid work, activity, or exertion: “She was too lazy to take out the trash, so it just continued to pile up;” 2) causing or characterized by idleness or inactivity: “I’m having a lazy day today, just lounging and watching movies…”

                  Looking for the origin of the word, I found: The adjective lazy is thought to come from the Low German lasich, meaning “idle or languid.” Ex: “You were offended at being called lazy, but you just didn’t have the energy to defend yourself.”[ii]

                  Another source says that to be lazy means you just “…can’t find a reason to make any effort.[iii] 

                  I thought about phrases that include “lazy,” like “lazy bum.”  And how about “Lazy good-for-nothing?” One source says this means: “having no ambition, success, or value to society… (for example)” he refused to leave anything in his will to his good-for-nothing grandchildren.”[iv]

                  So, signs that we are lazy would include not taking out the trash, watching movies all day, not having the energy to dispute someone who calls you lazy, not caring if you are doing nothing, and not getting any money from grandpa.

                  2,500 years before Mr. Bezos started his business, the Book of Proverbs had its own perspective:

• Proverbs 6: 6 “Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways and be wise.”
• Proverbs 10:26: “Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so are the lazy to their employers.”
• Proverbs 19:24 “The lazy person buries a hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to the mouth.”

So, in ancient days, signs that you are lazy include recognizing a need to look to ants for inspiration, being useless to your employer, and feeling it’s too much work to feed yourself.

It didn’t get any better in the Middle Ages: one of the Seven Deadly Sins was acedia, which means “without care.”  In modern English, we call it sloth, a kind of slur on the slow moving South American mammal who spends the day hanging upside from trees.

                  But the more I sat in my chair and pondered all this, I discovered being lazy isn’t all bad.

In the 1920s, some businessmen in Monroe, Michigan designed an ideal chair in which people could relax.  They held a contest to come up with a good name. The result was the “La-Z-Boy” chair.[v]  We have two in our living room.

                  Who, sitting at a table and desiring a condiment, wants to stand up and reach for it?  The solution is a Lazy Susan – just give Susan a spin and she brings the olives right to you.  (This is not meant as a slight on anyone named Susan.)

                  Here’s a positive perspective: “Former President of Poland Lech Walesa once considered the benefits of being lazy when he said, “It’s the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn’t like walking or carrying things.”[vi]

                  So, clearly, being lazy is good for Amazon, furniture manufacturers, listless dinner guests, and people who design bicycles. 

But most sources would say being lazy is not a virtue to cultivate or encourage.  One should instead pursue the art of “resting.”

                  Going back to the Bible, the fourth Commandment says: “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work… (Exodus 20:8-10) Taking at least one day off every week becomes one of the blessings humanity is encouraged to claim.  Doing so is not a waste of time, but instead helps us replenish our energy and cultivate a reverence for the gift of life.

Why exactly is resting a good thing and being lazy is not?

The distinction seems to lie in what our motivation is.  Have we fulfilled our responsibilities and would benefit from taking a break to find fresh energy before returning to them?  That’s called “rest.”  But if we are lying around to avoid what needs to be done, that’s being “lazy.” 

I thought about developing this idea further, seeking a more profound perspective, but decided not to.  Instead, I’m going to go outside – beyond the reach of Amazon — put my lounge chair in the shade and relax.  I won’t be idle, though; I plan to think about ants.

Images:

Sloth photo, “42 Slow Facts About Sloths,” factinate.com

“The Seven Deadly Sins: Acedia,” Hieronymus Bosch, c, 1500

Chair: Platinum Luxury Lift® PowerReclineXR+ with Power Tilt Headrest and Lumbar

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[i] Bezos says people are lazy

[ii] https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/lazy

[iii] https://www.quizexpo.com/am-i-lazy-quiz/

[iv] https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/good-for-nothing?pronunciation&lang=en_us&dir=g&file=goodfo01

[v] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La-Z-Boy

[vi] https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/lazy