[Dean's World] Scott Kirwin: Laziness: The Unappreciated Virtue

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Posted by Scott Kirwin:
Laziness: The Unappreciated Virtue
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1144264294.shtml


   Even though I've been called a work-aholic, I consider myself lazy
   (and The Wife would agree). However I believe in doing more, faster
   and with less - less money, less time and especially, less effort.
   Consequently I have ended up in Business Analysis where I help people
   do their jobs better, faster and cheaper (pick any two) with
   technology. If technology fails to support that mission, then it
   should be tossed.

   John Dvorak is one of the best columnist around His column "[1]Death
   to the Crackberry" points out the fallacy of working hard instead of
   hardly working:

     That's what I'm seeing: people working dumb. Just racking up hours
     as if you were paid by the hour is not something to be proud of. We
     should be finding ways to be working smarter and more efficiently.
     And in the overall mix of timewasting activities I include
     incessant staring at the BlackBerry and then actually typing long
     messages with your thumbs! How inefficient is that? It's like
     playing the piano with your nose. It's a carnival act at best. And
     hardly something to be proud of unless you are a clown putting on a
     show.

   I don't have a crackberry and only grudgingly carry a cellphone. The
   phone was top of the line last Summer, and comes with a camera that
   takes crappy pictures that I can't upload to my PC, the ability to
   hold 5,000 names, addresses and phone numbers - again that I can't
   sync to my PC, plus the ability to surf the Internet and send text
   messages.

   I don't do anything but talk on the thing because all that extra gunk
   comes AT A PRICE - ie $150/month. That's about a $1000 extra a year
   for junk that doesn't help me land new clients, find new jobs or
   create new revenue streams in my life.

   Laziness is often considered a vice, and rightly so. However without
   laziness we would not have vacuum cleaners, washing machines,
   microwave ovens and drive-thru restaurants. In fact we wouldn't have
   half the modern conveniences that we only miss when we are away from
   them.

   I'm sure there are some who use the Blackberry to work better, but we
   must be honest with ourselves when we ask, "Does this gadget/service
   allow me to become lazier?".

   If "Greed is good" was the credo of the 80's, we should make "Lazy is
   good" the credo of the current decade. But that sounds like work to
   me, so if you feel up to it, have a go!

References

   1. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1945531,00.asp