Avoid burn out: take a Slow and Steady pace towards your goals.

Slow and Steady wins the race, procrastinator.

Yeah, you remember that.

It was the moral of the story in the little fairy tale of the tortoise and the hare.

To recap, since it’s been a while since our childhood, a tortoise and a hare (a rabbit) challenge each other to a race.

The hare is all cocky, and is not shy about his agile speed and superior athleticism. He brags and brags about how he’s going to win because clearly, he’s faster. He’s excited about the competition and the chance to demonstrate his swift dexterity and ultimately win the race

The tortoise, on the other hand, is a Lazy Mastermind. He’s relaxed and laid back about the whole idea of the competition. He doesn’t get worked up about it, or worry for a second that the hare is the better athlete in this situation.

He let’s the hare run his mouth off as he just slowly nods and smiles. “Mmm hmm, we’ll see,” he says, which may not be an actual quote from the original story, but he was clearly thinking it and embracing it in his entire physical demeanor. His slow, deliberate body language said it all: he didn’t care how great his competition was or what they were capable of.

The tortoise wasn’t scared or anxious either. He also wasn’t overly ambitious or eager, unlike the hare. He had his goal to just get there, not win anything.

He presented the Procrastinator“Meh” attitude and really didn’t care one way or the other. He realized that either the hare’s going to win and prove nothing because so what if he beat a slow ass competitor or he was going to lose or embarrass himself. He didn’t need to say this out loud, directly, though, because he was going to let the results speak for themself.

Anyway, the race begins, and predictably, the hare sprints ahead in the lead, quite bluntly kicking the tortoise’s ass in the race. The hare puts all his energy and effort into rushing to get things done, in this case, the race. He scurries his way around the course, no holds barred. Navigating with nimble speed, he makes quick turns without a thought and haphazardly jumps over obstacles in a quick fashion, even when not necessary. His running tactic is full of excitement and passion; he works intensely hard to keep his body moving and maintain a fast pace.

Eventually though, the hare gets worn out. His energy is depleted. His rapid run comes to a halt. Full stop. He needs a break to rejuvenate his mind, body, and spirit because his relentless and determined work ethic caught the better of him. Now he puts his progress on hold and falls asleep.





Meanwhile, the tortoise, the procrastinator, who is slowly and carefully navigating the race path, choosing each turn carefully and dodging obstacles deliberately and only when absolutely unavoidable, gets closer to where the hare is resting. He doesn’t make a noise or brag as he passes; he softly, quietly, and casually exceeds the progress of the hare. He doesn’t need to brag or make a big deal about it.

 Then slowly, but surely, the tortoise crosses the finish line before the hare even awakens.

The hare, after a quite bit of a slumber, wakes up and immediately gets back to zooming passed trees and hopping over rocks, stepping with pride in his step. As he reaches the finish line, panting heavily out of breath, and he’s absolutely flabbergasted by the fact that the tortoise is already there, waiting for him.

He pouts on about how he shouldn’t have fallen asleep and the tortoise just nods and smiles and says:

“Slow and steady wins the race.”

Indeed it does.

Yet that little fairy tale comes and goes just as quick as childhood itself, because after that one story, that one little anecdote, that one important life lesson is taught, it’s completely demolished and utterly destroyed by every single other message in society:

“Work hard”

“Have ambition”

“Be excited to get up and go”

“Get there as fast as possible”

This is what we are taught, the propaganda we receive non-stop.

All these messages dilute the moral once taught because they (the real winners of the Social and Economic race) don’t want to teach children to “win” the race, they only want to teach them to participate in the race and put in as much effort as possible, and be panting out of breath, barely surviving as they cross the finish line. They want them to grow up and be hard workers, who barely make it to the end.

The winners in society do not want competition, so they teach you how to be a loser,

If you want to win, if you want to be successful in this little social and economic race structure of ours, you’ve got to embrace the Lazy Mindset of the tortoise. You’ve got to become a Lazy Mastermind.





Have patience. Take your time on projects, make choices carefully, take risks, but make them calculated and deliberate, not spontaneous and aimless. Don’t worry about competition or failure, just keep moving forward with purpose and intention and you’ll get there...eventually.

But do move forward, keep moving forward, even if it’s the slowest pace compared to all your other competitors. Do not stop. They’ll get burned out; you won’t.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to do it now - that you need to be successful now and you need to be doing EVERYTHING to earn that success right now.

There’s no rush.

See, we also live in a world of instant gratification. You get entertainment, information, and emotional /sexual stimulation instantly.

Because this instant gratification is so predominant in society and basically everything we do, people set themselves up to unrealistic expectations in moving forward.  They think if they don’t reach success in an instant , they’re a failure. They may work but sooner or later, they burn out and stop to rest then make no progress at all and they get “stuck in a rut”.

Slow and steady wins the race and you don’t need the INSTANT gratification of  that “win”.

Instant gratification is a topic we’ll have to dive into more detail later.

Until next time, take it easy. take it reeeaal easy.

Oh and to learn more about the Lazy Mindset as well as ways to make money while you sleep and lazy life hacks, don't forget to subscribe to the new ProcrastiN8r Podcast, available now on Spotify, Google Play, and Stitcher.

iTunes is still having technical difficulties as of writing and the podcast will not be available on that platform until further notice.

N8