Speed Is Slowing You Down: How to Outperform Everyone With Effortless Effort (and Overcome Laziness)

Laziness isn’t "sitting around doing nothing."

As long as you’re alive, you’re always doing something. The question is whether you control what you do or not.

Your energy will go whether you like it or not—you either use it well or waste it.

You will always breathe; you can only control how.

You will always learn; you can only control what.

Laziness is not about inactivity but about misdirected activity. It’s the inability to take control of your efforts.

Laziness is passivity. It’s the habit of letting life happen to you rather than shaping your reality.

It sweeps you away from the present moment into illusions of the virtual, the past, and the future. It’s living on autopilot without being mindful of your actions.

Consider the laziest person you know. They may spend 12+ hours a day playing video games or binge-watching Netflix. That takes effort, but it offers little to no return on investment (ROI).

Laziness is not when you spend less energy than someone productive;

Laziness is spending that energy on the wrong things. It’s playing the wrong games.

Reframing Work

Work isn’t "force times distance."

It’s not about how many hours you spend on a screen or how long you stay at a job. Work is about getting a job done.

If mere effort was all it took to excel:

• Everyone would be an expert at speaking.

• Nobody will have bad handwriting after years of writing.

• I can pick up a guitar and pluck the strings 10,000 times and then I'm a master.

Mastery doesn’t come from 10,000 hours of passive activity.

It comes from focused iterations of the activity.

How to Outwork Everyone

If you want to be more productive, forget about hard work. It's such an overused term that's not holistic enough. Embrace diligence instead.

Diligence is not about lifting 500 lbs—that’s strength.

It’s not about focusing for long—that’s discipline.

It’s not even about relentless perseverance—that’s endurance.

Diligence is the ability to get a job done well and fast.

It requires two key pillars:

1. Doing it Well:

The first step to diligence is identifying the right task. You can only play the right game when you know what the right game is.

What you work on is more important than how much effort you put in.

Planning is half the battle. Working without a plan is laziness masquerading as grinding.

You Cannot Multitask:

You can only focus on one thing at a time; if you don't believe me, try thinking about two things at once right now.

Multitasking as a human is a myth. What you call multitasking is rapid context-switching. In doing so, you lose the compound interest of sustained focus.

Sometimes, the compound interest is cheap; other times it's expensive.

Embrace boredom. It’s essential for clarity and creativity.

2. Doing it Fast:

Speed matters, but not at the expense of quality. Efficiency is about doing the right things fast. This is where leverage becomes your best friend.

Look for tasks that, when completed, yield significant benefits or free up more of your time.

1. Leverage Tools: Tools are multipliers. They help you do more with less.

• Software that automates repetitive tasks

• Frameworks that streamline your work process

• Mental models that help you make faster decisions, etc.

Tools amplify your efforts.

For instance, compare using scissors to cut grass or using a lawnmower.

Capital or money can also be a tool for Leverage.

2. Leverage Processes: Systems and routines reduce the cognitive load of decision-making. When you have a process in place, you don’t waste time figuring out the next step. You execute.

It is important to reflect and optimize your systems as much as possible to avoid passivity.

3. Leverage Knowledge: Knowledge is the ultimate leverage. The more you know, the faster you can execute.

Not only formal education—it includes practical experience, skills, and even your network.

When you leverage your knowledge, you avoid mistakes that slow you down.

You spot opportunities faster and make decisions with confidence.

I define difficulty as the amount of knowledge you don't have yet about a subject.

The more knowledge you have, the more the task becomes easy.

If X is difficult, it's because you don't know enough about X.

Everything that you think is difficult is a knowledge gap.

4. Leverage Relationships: Collaboration can reduce the time needed to complete a task.

Why struggle to solve a problem when you can ask someone who’s already been through it? Leverage your connections to move faster and smarter.

Leveraging tools, people, and systems allows you to work better, not harder.

Trying to Be Fast is Slowing You Down

In our fast-paced world, there's a common misconception that speed equals productivity.

“You waste years by not being able to waste hours.” ~ Amos Tversky

Rushing through tasks without reflection can cause more mistakes, rework, and wasted time.

The irony is that in trying to be fast, you can actually slow yourself down.

Not taking time to visit the doctor for preventive care, can result in surgery for larger issues.

Conclusion

Laziness isn’t about doing nothing—it’s about doing the wrong things. Work isn’t about spending more time—it’s about getting the right things done well and fast.

Feel free to share this article with lazy people you know. Also grab my FREE productivity planner here: selar.co/99f392

It's based on the best principles I know. It is a combination of systems, tools, and knowledge leverage. To help you with more productive creativity, without burning out.

If you enjoyed this article, you'll love this one: https://hackernoon.com/creathievity-can-your-ideas-be-stolen-and-what-to-do

Enjoy the rest of your day.