Reframing Lazy

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I’m lazy. I’ve been telling people that for years. 

I like to read trashy novels, binge watch Netflix and I like to regularly stay in PJs all day – so, therefore I present you with proof that I am lazy.

Apparently, this proof outweighs any of the proof to the opposite.

  • The employers I’ve had who praised me for doing things really well and getting more done than others.

  • The successful conference I helped create and run for four years.

  • The profitable parenting blog that has been around for eight years.

  • A sold out live event for business owners…

But really, I’m lazy.

I know this because people who’re not lazy work all the time – they hustle until they drop because that’s what people who REALLY want to be successful do. I hear it all around me: If you really want to be a productive person work harder, sleep less, and stop watching TV. How could I think I’m anything other than lazy?

Have you heard it too? “Stop wasting your time on mindless things!”

But here’s something I also know – when I want to be productive and sit down to do it, I am fast. I’m fast but it takes a lot out of me. I can’t do twice as much as someone else just because I can get it done in half the time, because then I’ll burn out!

The only way for me to accept that I like to sit around doing mindless things that I could otherwise be using for PRODUCTIVE things is to own being lazy. Lazy people don’t reach for the stars – they reach for the chips. Yummy, yummy chips!

The more I told myself and others I was lazy, the more I believed it, and maybe even started leaning into it. So, I had to start paying attention to that.

I’m not lazy, I’m just doing things my way.

I’m not lazy, look at all I’ve done and my reward is getting quiet time to do art, relax at the cottage or just watch TV in my PJs all day.

Could I do more sometimes? Maybe. But that doesn’t take away from all the things I HAVE done. Laying around doesn’t mean everything I’ve already done stops counting.

But that’s the story I was constantly telling myself. You’re lazy, you could do so much more, why are you so lazy?

I catalogued what I HAD done almost never.

So, I redefined lazy. 

I’m not lazy. I’m smart to not burn out and push my body and brain harder than they’re meant to go.

I’m not lazy. Look at that event I planned, that training I recorded, or all the people who are more active online this week because of a prompt I gave them.

Redefining lazy means my mindset shifted and I stopped leaning into “lazy” and I started getting MORE done. Removing guilt from the equation means I enjoy my down time more and I use it less as a crutch than I used to.

So, I’m launching even more workshops, programs, and events, landing even more clients… and enjoying a whole lot of zombie shows and shows where people are making things I have no intention of ever trying to make myself.

I reframed lazy – is that something you want to do too? Are there negative stories you’re telling yourself that you can reframe? How can you see the positive in what you currently consider a negative and start drawing in more flow and ease to your life?