Lazy

One of the great potential advantages of blogging is candor. To borrow a phrase from a friend and fellow blogger, an internet writer can “hide behind a keyboard.” For anyone who wants to get his or her message out, the prospect of relative anonymity is quite alluring, especially for anyone who might be socially challenged or less-than-photogenic. Indeed, and to borrow yet another phrase, someone “with a face made for radio” might gravitate towards a blog as a preferred communication platform. Of course, I do not mean for any of this initial commentary to reflect in any way upon yours truly, since I am a social savant and forever fabulously photogenic. Wait… who is that I hear snickering in the background?

Anyway — and however — the reason I do open with a somewhat narcissistic paragraph is because I do hope to shield myself with this here (very sturdy) laptop and with the impervious, impenetrable security of cyberspace. I might need both means of defense, though, because in this blog-cast I fully intend to insult a tiny, insignificant percentage of my readers or listeners.

No, I do not mean you — of course not. I mean someone else who might read or listen to this. But if you lean in, I’ll let you know how I plan to insult that someone else. At some point, I am going to subtly suggest that someone else (other than you) might be just a bit lazy.

Is that not a good idea? Perhaps it is not the best way to make friends and influence people. Perhaps it is why I am an anonymous blogger and not an in-demand motivational speaker. Maybe, just maybe. But if the shoe fits… find someone else — anyone else — who wears your size, and offer said specified shoe to that special someone.

But exactly how is that someone else lazy? I cannot say someone is lazy unless I pinpoint precisely how they are lazy. I mean, who isn’t guilty of being lazy here or there, now and then?

That really, though, is my point: If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us cannot escape the charge of laziness. If you think about it, laziness is really just selective negligence. If someone says you’re lazy, what they fundamentally mean is that you’re somehow culpably negligent. I choose my negligence, everyday. And unless you’re superhuman, you likewise choose your negligence. Positively, it’s called prioritizing. Consciously or unconsciously, we all prioritize. Prioritizing inevitably means that some things get done, while other things do not. And what does not get done allows for the charge of laziness.

So perhaps the real question is: Since you must daily prioritize your time, exactly how are you going to be “lazy”? And some immediate corollary questions include: Why did you prioritize this activity and not that? On what basis did you prioritize? Can you articulate how you prioritize? Are you prepared to take responsibility for what you neglected to do?

Ultimately, we are responsible for what we choose to do and not to do with the time we have. If you are anything like me, you often feel like you are wide open to the charge of laziness. But it is more important by far that you are principled in your commitments, and on that basis can give a sound reason for how you prioritize your time. Sometimes less important stuff can wait.