Laziness is Just a Symptom

At staff night last night, I was talking with my friend Hector. He talked about how laziness isn't so much a state of being or an eternal trait as it is a symptom of some larger issue.

From a supervisorial perspective, people who are (or act) lazy are pretty much the worst. Even if they have the smarts or experience, their poor work ethic brings down everything from staff relations, quality of work, and organizational image.

But laziness itself isn't generally the problem. As described by Hector, laziness is a symptom of something bigger, more complex.

Take the example of playing games at work. Laziness is the symptom of what is likely to be at least one of these larger issues:

1. Not enough work or assignments that do not challenge
   
2. Apathy about current responsibilities
3. Fear of over-working (being seen as a goody too shoes)
4. Fear of failure during effort
   

Wikipedia has a little section on intellectual laziness here, the tendency to not push the mind into new territory - out of line with the prevailing wisdom or shallow routine.

Again, I'm reproducing this image without a license.