Being Lazier increases happiness and productivity...and science proves it!

​A new Oxford university Study found that 3-day weekends make people much happier and more productive


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During an 8-week trial, those who worked a nice and lazy 4 day easy work week, as opposed to the typical 5-day nonstop grind fest alleviated their stress levels and leveled up their cooperation and amount of output.

Stress-free, motivated to perform better team work, inspired to get more done. Hmm...

Wow! Imagine that. You mean you can’t “work hard” for happiness? You mean happiness is something that just comes naturally when you’re doing the things that you actually, oh I don’t know, what’s that word again, on the tip of my tongue, oh yeah! ---enjoy? And when you’re happy and carefree, you’re likely to accomplish a greater amount of tasks compared to if you’re miserable and stressed.

I don’t understand! We’re supposed to work hard. That’s what leads to success and success leads to happiness. Stress is just part of progress; you have to put up with an extreme amount of it to amount to anything.

NOPE!

Procrastination leads to satisfaction.

Say it with me now: Procrastination leads to satisfaction. A little louder for the people sleeping in the back!

When you take the time to procrastinate and spend time doing exactly what you want to do, whatever tickles your fancy, whatever makes you feel good, and balance it out with purpose, a focus on moving (slowly) towards a specific goal, you create happiness and accomplishment. You receive both pleasure and success with a proper work-life balance.

We, as a society, push only for the hard work side of things and fail to give notice or appreciation toward  the essential lazy leisure that promotes strong mental health and further, inspires both creativity and productivity.

According to Business Insider, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, an associate professor of economics and strategy at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, said “the four-day working week is spot on in terms of finding or striking that right balance between improving the work-life balance and unlocking the happiness potential from that in terms of productivity gains.”


Balance is what the key to success and happiness is all about.

You can’t have just one side of the spectrum, without toppling over, but we live in a society that thinks we can. We keep moving further and further on the edge, and it’s only a matter of time, assuming we continue the same direction that we fall right off.

If hard work is one side and laziness is the other, we’re completely on the extreme side of hard work. We’re constantly bombarded with messages to stay driven and not be lazy. Video games are for losers. Vacation is a waste of time. Breaks are frowned upon. You get the gist.

There’s no message out there (or at leas tit's very rare to find) saying “hey, take it easy so you don’t burn yourself out” or “take a break and don’t come back to work until you completely forget about it for a while” , less than the good ole “slow n’ steady wins the race”, there’s not a message of laziness out there.

I think the target where we want to land as a society is somewhere in between, but we can’t hit that target if it’s not balanced out.

 That’s why you must embrace your laziness and move toward the other side of the spectrum. You must lie down once in a while, rather than constantly taking running, leaping steps forward. If you move too fast, you burn out.

Critics claim that some people “slack off” during a 3-day weekend and leave work undone that others are then forced to make up for and that the level of QUALITY in work did not increase at all.

That’s fair. No one likes it when Bob slacks off and the rest of everybody at work has to play catch up. But if everybody is slacking off, everybody, what difference does it make?

What if, we’re all procrastinators, what if instead, working TOO hard is frowned down upon, what if working overtime is seen as a waste of mental energy and dead lines as an unnecessary rise in pressure and stress levels.

Imagine that, it's almost as if we're living in the exact opposite and socially pressuring each other to over-work and over-stress ourselves to the point of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion (spoiler alert: we are)

If we create a society that values calmness and leisure, that values laziness and procrastination, a society of procrastinators, then there is no “quick catch up to meet the dead line”, there’s only moving forward at a reasonable pace.

The environment becomes less hectic, the negative feelings of failure are less intense, the stress on your mind and body is cured. There are many benefits to a lazier society.

Certainly there are the extreme side of things and too much laziness can lead to idleness and complete lack of any motivation to do anything. Unmotivation. Too much laziness can lead to wasting time, rather than using it effectively.

But look, we are absolutely no where near that case at all. We’re not.

That’s like worrying about a forest fire during a hurricane.

I mean you could in fact point to the large obesity rates and be like “hey look, people are fat and lazy”. but I’d suggest that they are not necessarily lazy, they are just stressed beyond their limit and unmotivated to put up with said stress.

I can hear the naysayers now: "They're just weak. Weak-minded people.Gotta push hard. Put up with the stress."

What the fuck? Like this isn't survival any more. This isn't a struggle of survival against other tribes. You understand what I'm saying.

We're not living out in the caves anymore, hunting and gathering for survival. We're not competing for resources. We have plenty and the means to grow more of them. We don't have to stress ourselves out or put ourselves under pressure for no good reason.

Like why in the hell are we acting like it's survival of the fittest? What kind of primal prehistoric instinct are some of us having a hard time letting go?

Shed that shit off and enter a new skin.

Laziness is evolution. Every invention since the wheel was invented by a lazy person. Our evolution is one of the mind. Those that need to "work hard" have something primitive in them that hasn't quite evolved yet.

In this society, goals are seen as something “hard” to do and moving forward has to be instant and fast. Success is, as taught by society, make it or break it. It’s not about just making slow steps forward when you feel like it. It’s not about taking time to move on your goals in between your passion, hobbies, and enjoyment; it’s about keep moving until you crash, then, take a little break. But not too long ‘cause ya gotta get back to work and ya don’t wanna be a slacker! Yee-haw! Giddy up, work horse!

I’d notion that perhaps the work hard mantra is pushed too much and needs a better balance with the contrary. That is why here, on Lazy Island, we push messages proclaiming the opposite of all the popular publicity.

There is both the Yin and Yan, the Light Side and the Dark Side of the force, that create balance in nature. By exerting a strong LAZY message and call to (in)action that opposes the mainstream “work hard" propaganda, we as procrastinators create balance in the galaxy.

You, as a fellow ProcrastiN8r reading this blog, could be part of something bigger here and it starts with you letting the laziness flow through you (and skipping work to do what you want.)

 Another study from Warwick University in 2015, found that employees were 8-12% more productive when they were given chocolate or listened to a comedy clip before a task, as opposed to thinking and writing about a family loss.


Again, this goes to show that morale, happiness is important in determining productivity in the work force, and society, as a whole.

When not allowed to do what they want, when not given the opportunity to embrace laziness on at least some occasion, humans, as a survival instinct,  put less effort in the things they do. That does not just apply to their job, but also  taking care of their physical and mental health..

You see, then, that obesity is not a laziness problem. It’s a happiness one.

We aren’t making people happy by force-fucking hard work down their throat and making them eat it, even when they aren’t hungry. Let people graze a bit on their work nourishment. Let people laze a bit on their leisure nourishment. A balanced diet is a healthy diet.


If we continue to just suck it up and kiss our bosses’ asses, rather than embrace laziness, and say “no, I’m doing what I want. I’m taking a day off. I’m human, not a work machine.”then it will be a long while before we see any changes.

If we go back to the Labor Movement of the 1800s, it literally took DECADES before workers were able to establish even a 5 day work week and abolish child labor. Let’s not repeat history.

Let’s not put off procrastination any longer. We’re done. We’re taking a break.

It’s time to procrastinate right now and take the 4-day work week we deserve.