“I will always choose a lazy person to do a hard job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”— Bill Gates

Okay, I must point out that there is no substantive support for the claim that Bill Gates actually said this quote, but it does illustrate the point of this blog rather well, so work with me on this.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve never been the type to just straightforwardly do a task. I would always try to find some sort of shortcut in my quest to avoid doing more work than I literally actually have to.

I remember back in high school that instead of researching about a topic, I would simply ask my dad the question and write down exactly what he thought about it. Fortunately for me, my dad is a major bookworm, and he was always more than happy to impart what wisdom he has accumulated throughout his lifetime to his lazy daughter.

Of course, the flip side to this happy symbiotic relationship was that I never really got to internalize the topics assigned to me, nor formed any of my own viewpoints about them— but you know, that hardly mattered considering I was getting through papers with minimal effort.

To this day, for better or for worse, I still think like this– always trying to find little ways to not think too much or make my life just that bit easier.

Case in point, just last week I bought an electric scooter. A friend then commented: “You’ll never walk again, that’s so lazy”, to which I wisely replied: “It’s not about being lazy, it’s about being efficient.” 

Why walk 20 minutes when you can scoot in 10? I mean, if you’re paid by the hour, then that 20 minutes is already 1/3 of that pay. With that calculation, having a scooter is now a rather quick Return on Investment— and not having to walk ever again is simply an added bonus!

Annoyingly so, I mindlessly think about this ‘hourly pay’ equation in my head for almost everything now that sometimes it’s just plain ridiculous. From the time it takes to chop carrots (perhaps one may consider the more expensive, yet less time consuming baby carrot option), to purposefully batch processing errands where I need to (gasp) step outside the house.

These “lazy-efficiency habits” are like second nature now that it has already become an integral part of my lifestyle. It’s funny how, when I stop to think about it, I do legitimately find joy in thinking up these processes that probably shaves mere minutes in the overall scheme of things.

But you know what, there’s only so much time in a day! And if I’m constantly thinking like this, that just means I will have more time for the actual time wasting stuff that I do legitimately want to waste my time on!

And so, that’s a little introduction on me being ‘Mindfully Lazy’. Welcome to my World!  

  … And cross your fingers that I don’t procrastinate 😉