What If Laziness Is a Myth?

Some conversations are like seeds … they germinate, grow inside us. This week, we’re revisiting one of them — an interview I did with social psychologist Devon Price , author of the 2021 book Laziness Does Not Exist.

Listen on Apple or Spotify, and share your thoughts in the comments below.

Devon’s thesis, which is right there in the title, is that the whole concept of laziness is a myth, a lie, a pernicious trap designed to make us feel lousy for not doing ever more. We’re always pushing ourselves, but Devon asks, Why? Who are we trying to please? What are we trying to prove? What if when we feel “lazy,” it’s not a moral failure, it’s just a sign that we need to slow down, take a beat, chill out?

Here’s what I have realized as I have sat with this idea over time: When we’re in a healthy place, stress-free, getting good sleep, good food, exercise, interacting with people we care about — when these things are in line, we are naturally motivated. Our desire to build, to create, to solve problems is naturally occurring.  It's not something that needs to be summoned or manufactured or willed on a daily basis, squeezed out like reps in a gym. It’s more like the skipping and running of school children, it just flows.

When we see “lazy” behavior in others, Devon tells us, it is usually the result of obstacles that we cannot see. Strains in other areas of their lives, psychological burdens, health challenges, resource constraints. A healthy, unencumbered human has energy, a desire to play, a desire to build.

I grew up with the unspoken idea that people living in the street were lazy. You may have too. My parents never told me that, but it was the latent explanation for how people ended up without homes, and why giving them money would not help. It was a kind of cautionary tale – in the absence of forced industriousness, here’s what will become of you. Of course as Devon points out, this is objectively preposterous — the idea that anyone heading home to recline on their couch and watch Netflix would describe someone sleeping on the street as lacking in fortitude or resolve. 

“Laziness,” then, may turn out to be a description of the behavior of people who are depleted by unseen adversity. People who deserve sympathy and support. Sometimes that is true of others, sometimes that’s true of us. In the end, I read this as a more generous description of human behavior. And a more hopeful one. Our drive is there, just below the surface. It needs water and sun, not a cattle prod.

Listen on Apple or Spotify, and let's discuss in the comments below!