3 Kinds of Laziness

Short post of my own idle musing, which I don't think will fit into a buzz

Of all the negative traits, laziness seems to be the one that people are least ashamed to admit. It's not unusual for people to openly acknowledge that they are lazy or that they are being lazy. I think that might be because while generally negative, it's an ambiguous term that can in fact be positive (but usually is not).

If we define 'laziness' as an unwillingness to exert effort, I think we can then divide that into 3 general kinds of laziness, and it's best to recognize not just that you are being lazy, but in what way.

1. Positive Laziness

If an unwillingness to exert effort comes from a recognition that the value of achieving the goal is not sufficient for the amount of effort involved, or that there is a better way of achieving the same goal which requires less effort, this is a positive form of laziness. There is no point in expending effort wastefully, it shouldn't be treated as an unlimited resource and sometimes 'laziness' is just a matter of re-prioritizing or finding a better way of doing things. For example in software development there is a term called 'lazy programming' which can refer both to the programmer themselves writing scripts that automate some of their time consuming tasks, or writing code that itself avoids doing computational work that isn't actually necessary every time. These are seen as positive things.

2. Laziness as Self Sabotage

This is probably the most common kind of laziness and could probably also be called 'ordinary laziness'. Contrary to before, this is where we are unwilling to exert effort despite the value of the goal or the reward, not because of it. In this case, we know consciously or subconsciously that it's worth it, but we don't do it anyway, usually as a matter of habit. If you recognize that you are being lazy, ask yourself if it is because the effort is not worth it? If it is worth it, then why sabotage yourself? Don't tolerate self damaging habits.

Still, it's not something to be particularly ashamed of, forming habits is a part of human nature, it is normal to have bad habits although certainly worth changing them as much as we can.

3. Toxic Laziness

This is unwillingness to exert effort that goes beyond just self sabotage, but neglects your personal and social responsibilities, and/or pushing out the effort so that someone else has to do it. Often that other person has to exert even more effort than you would have, because of your neglect. Examples would be failure to make efforts at work, or neglecting parental responsibility, or responsibility to your friends. This doesn't just damage your ability to achieve your own goals, but it damages your relationship and reputation with others, which makes it even more self damaging than ordinary laziness. It should be a priority to change, if you find that you are doing this.

What do you think? Have I left anything out? Is laziness a big problem, or just an ordinary part of life?