Procrastination or laziness: Does doing nothing make you productive?

Everything would be better if we were only lazy and did not perform actionistically placebo work, wrote once bestselling author Holm Friebe. I have my doubts - even if many of Friebes thoughts are good, but you have to differentiate.

Mindfulness and laziness as a trend?

Laziness and productivity - how do they go together? Apparently very good, because we have often seen the topic of laziness on Best of HR - Berufebilder.de® discussed. There is even Peoplewho openly admit: "Yes, I'm lazy - and that's why I'm productive".

Doing less, purporting to achieve more, or simply Foul be: Self care and turning away from the hamster wheel are trending topics. Mindfulness is in.

Born to laziness?

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In this context, I found it fascinating what the journalist and author Holm Friebe had to say about it. We remember: Friebe is that one Founder the headquarters Intelligence Agency, who together with Sascha Lobo published the book “We call it work” in 2006 and thereby the Term “Digital Bohemia” coined.

This practically predestines him to write about laziness. And that's what he did, among other things in another book "Die Stein-Strategy. From the Art, not to act”.

Against the actionism:

Friebe's central statement: instead of in blind people actionism to lapse, as happens in many situations, one should rather take a deep breath, procrastinate, wait and think in peace. Friebe cites all sorts of examples of so-called “placebo activities”. For example, our bloated healthcare system, in which therapies are prescribed seemingly indiscriminately, or the bureaucratic apparatus, which, true to Parkinson's law, employs itself according to the motto: "Every work expands until it completely fills the time allotted for it."

According to Friebe, there are a thousand reasons and motives to create work where there actually isn't any: “Budget items have to be defended, superiors or shareholders want to appease, planlessness should be cloaked.” As the German officer Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord said: The clever and lazy soldiers are predestined for the highest management tasks, since only they have the level-headedness and strong nerves to master difficult decisions. That in the Company Long ago the pseudo-productive were in charge, Friebe also understood - and that's exactly why he wrote his book.

Cultural ADHD - employment at all costs

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I have to admit: there is something to his thesis. For example, I really like his expression “cultural ADHD”. And once again the Protestant work ethic is to blame for the over-productivity dilemma that is ours Society has captured.

The hectic pace with which news is produced in the media and with which on Twitter, Facebook and Co. around Attention is fought. Many agree: More important than any fast-moving trend – in Internet and elsewhere – to jump up is “relaxed and purposeful to go about your own daily work”. Nice.

Always just prokrastinieren is not a solution

Or not quite. Because of course blind actionism is bad. But the hands always lying in your lap and waiting to see what happens, as Friebe does in his Article - a little bold and of course not meant 100% seriously - demands, can't die Solution be. Nor that he praises Angela Merkel for this political strategy. Friebe himself would soon be unemployed if everyone did what he advises them to do. After all, he also makes a living from people being distracted from their daily work by texts like his.

The comments on Friebe's contribution in SZ-Magazin are the perfect illustration of his Idea: It is noted that when cooking, it can also be cheaper to let the roast stew a little longer. This is exactly what brings me to the essential point: And how do you then go about cleaning the kitchen afterwards? Should you wait until the brownies come and do everything for you?

Postponing or performing radical tasks

In many cases, procrastinating doesn't get you anywhere, as I've often seen from my own example. Radical processing of Tasks can sometimes be liberating. And even if activism and haste are bad when it comes to important decisions, it is often important fast to act: If you hesitate for too long, the competition is faster - for example when it comes to the implementation of business ideas.

My conclusion: I like Friebe's thesis and have often dealt with similar topics myself. In many cases, pausing and thinking is more appropriate than rushing away. But I get as many cases in the Sinn, in which there was too much hesitation and in which the hesitation tends to diminish negative has affected. Therefore I find Friebe's generalization inappropriate. As is so often the case, it all comes down to finding the happy medium.

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