I’ve been called many things in my life: “lazy”, “a slug”, “an 85 year old woman,” and I wear all these badges proudly. They are quite accurate descriptions so that helps ๐ .
American culture is obsessed with the idea of productivity and I understand why. We have experienced 100+ years of propaganda floating through our culture claiming that we are only valuable for what we can produce. It’s linked to the (lie) that is the American Dream – that anyone can make it here if they work hard enough, something something bootstraps etc ๐ .
Anyway, I’m not here to give you a history lesson, but if you’re interested in the origin of the toxic productivity that is currently permeating American culture and how it’s actually making our society worse, here are two awesome videos by one of my favorite YouTubers:
Now, back to what’s important: Me ๐ . Besides not falling for productivity porn throughout my life, I’ve taken it a step further and encouraged the opposite: laziness. I’ve talked about how I’m an unproductivity advocate on this site before. This same sentiment has new names in our culture, such as “recharging” and “self-care” and I am all for it.
I am a serious introvert who for some reason decided to go into a client service role within the advertising industry that’s notorious for long hours and basically taking over your life. So when I was understandably exhausted at the end of a 10-12 hour work day the last thing I wanted to do was “hustle” and build my boss babe empire or whatever. I just wanted to rest in whatever form I needed to get back to a less frazzled state so I could take on the next day.
As the second video above mentions, this perspective is especially important since we’re one year into a global pandemic. There are even more stressors upon all of us on top of everything else we usually have going on, simply because we’re living in the middle of this situation.
So if I feel the need to binge a silly TV show with my Mom or sit down and devour a beach read outside for 6 hours despite being retired and lucky enough to have some of my main stressors removed, that’s completely valid. After doing these things, I often am shocked at how much more relaxed I feel. I’m once again ready to take on the world because of that down time.
I do not feel the urge to be productive every moment of every day – I never have. I worked super hard in school and at my job, but when I had time to rest, I took it – and took it seriously. My partner at times would come back after being out to see me in the same position on the couch and ask, “Did you move?” And I had not ๐ . It was glorious.
Anyway, now that I’m almost six months into my early retirement (how did that happen?!) I’ve been thinking about how this lazy trait of mine seems to have actually benefited me throughout this journey. It might actually have been at the heart of what allowed me to reach financial independence so quickly and retire at 30. So, let’s dive into how:
Investing
Fidelity did a review of their best performing investor accounts and found something hilarious: the best performing investments were held by people that had forgotten they had an account. Basically, people that don’t do anything, that don’t fiddle with their investments and just let it ride – shockingly, do better.
The title of the above chapter to my favorite investing book The Simple Path To Wealth says it all. The author says the answer to this question is no, but I would add “but also…yes” ๐ . Index investing is for people that want the best results, but it also literally rewards laziness and that’s one of the reasons it works well for me.
Instead of the investors who day trade or pick individual stocks doing better than just buying the whole index, they do worse. Inaction is rewarded. This quote from the legend Warren Buffett really says it all:
โThe Dow started the last century at 66 and ended at 11,400. How could you lose money during a period like that? A lot of people did because they tried to dance in and out.โ
I’m all about better returns for doing nothing ๐ . That’s why I hold index funds and also why I only own stocks. Rebalancing stocks and bonds annually doesn’t appeal to me for the minuscule benefit I might receive. It’s more complicated and personally I don’t mind the volatility of an all stock portfolio (this hypothesis was confirmed when the market declined 33% last March). Market drops don’t bother me.
So to summarize – I follow this excellent advice from the hilarious film Forgetting Sarah Marshall: 
Spending
There might be something wrong with me, but ever since I was young, I would look at large, expensive purchases like houses and cars and instead of seeing some type of freedom or feeling any excitement, my brain would start to think of all the ways those things would be a chain around my foot.
For example, if I bought a house when I was young, I would not have been able to as easily move across the country to chase my dreams. I would also be on the hook to fix anything wrong with this hypothetical house and maintenance unfortunately does not pop up at regularly scheduled intervals. I love the ease of seeing something broken in my apartment or Airbnb or rental car and texting someone else to take care of it…for free ๐ .
I’m simply too lazy to want to deal with all those unknowns. I like knowing my costs upfront and being able to plan out my life accordingly. On the other side of the spectrum, I am lucky that the things I enjoy doing in my life don’t cost a lot of money. My main pastime, reading, can be absolutely free with a library card even while I’m a nomad with all the wonderful eBooks on the market today.
My new love of birdwatching basically only requires the cost of bird seed (and binoculars if you’re fancy). My latest endeavor of teaching myself to paint my own nails only includes the cost of polish and polish remover. And of course, writing only requires the use of this 5 year old MacBook Air I got refurbished for $930.50ย and the relatively cheap utility of Wifi.
The big ticket items in life never appealed to me and at times looked like an unnecessary burden and the things that actually bring me joy are quite inexpensive. This is what allowed me to live on $18,000 a year in the heart of Seattle and accidentally spend less than $16,000 in 2020.
Income
Now this is an interesting case. One could argue that I was in fact not lazy when it came to my income. My main goal during my career was to find a work situation I enjoyed as much as possible…and get paid well to do it ๐ . This led to me interviewing like a fiend and job hopping like a mad woman until I started making six figures a few days after my 27th birthday (so close to 26 ๐ ).
I then gave those jobs my all to get great performance reviews and recommendations for the next big thing. However, I did not also use my evenings to try and start a side business or make addition income. I just focused on that one thing. I believe this singular dedication allowed me to flex my “FU money” and say no more and more often as my career progressed. And one could perceive that as laziness.
I started creating more and more boundaries within my job so that in the last few years, I didn’t “go above and beyond.” I did my job and did it well, but I turned down any request or ‘suggestion’ (sounds like an order to me…) to do additional work for no extra pay. I did what I was there to do (my job) and that’s it. No more planning work parties on the side or leading new internal initiatives. I used the power of no to focus on what was important to my bottom line.
Conclusion
I’m a lazy person and I think that’s great ๐ . I am completely happy lounging on a beach until the sun sets, reading for hours a day, birdwatching in the sunshine and taking an afternoon nap. I feel no drive to do more and upon reflection, these lazy traits have shockingly been helpful on my journey to retire early. Take that “American Dream” ๐ !
Is there any aspect of your life where laziness helped you?
This reminds me, I heard a podcast interview with Dr. Devon Price about their book โLaziness does not existโ and it sounded so interesting. I am not at your level yet, so this reminds me to request it from the library.
Oooh sounds like a book I need to read! I’ll see if I can get it from the library as well ๐ .
I just read that book and it was really thought provoking! Also a quick finish because it reads like the most heavily sourced, highly researched magazine article I’ll ever read haha.
Sweet – thanks so much for the endorsement!
This is a great reminder for all of us.
I have gotten better at relaxing. But, I recently broke my leg, which should be the perfect reason to do less. I am still struggling with keeping things clean ect.
Though, I did skip a zoom yesterday and binged Netflix. I did feel better afterwards. You are right.
Oh no I’m so sorry about your leg and hope you feel better soon. And yay bingeing Netflix! It feels so good ๐ .
What will you do if you ever want to buy a home in the future? How do you plan to pay for one? For example, when you are 70 years old you will likely not be able to be as much of a nomad ๐
I’m not changing my mind about buying a house and luckily renting houses is always a thing. If I want to make a big purchase down the line my mathematical models for retirement don’t include a spending ceiling so by the time I am 70+ I can spend $250K inflation adjusted dollars in some years if I want.
“i only go to work to get the money (GTM).” i wrote a whole rant about that once and agree with that premise. regarding the whole productivity culture the only ones harmed by that are blind followers of crap they see on the internet. i don’t know where confidence comes from but stepping back and thinking for one’s self about the one life THEY OWN AND CONTROL is a start. the internet doesn’t get a vote in what you decide to do or decide to don’t.
i’m an individual stock aficionado as you know. i think i enjoy that the same way you like looking at birds or reading. malevolent missy is doing fine with her portfolio. here’s to laziness, though!
I’m with you freddy – all about living an examined life and not just going with the crowd. Also I enjoy malevolent missy’s posts and seeing what the less lazy side of investing is like ๐ . To laziness indeed!
So well said once again! You read my mind today. I was thinking about the phrase “index and chill” and I was like – I really am too lazy to figure out anything else. I saw this person teaching about stocks and cryptocurrency and realized – even if I did have a lot of money – I would still be too lazy to put it anywhere else. Experimenting takes mental energy and I’d rather use that on sitting around and reading.
(You aren’t lazy by the way. I’ll be the annoying positive person and rephrase it as – “satisfied with other priorities” ๐
Aww thank you so much!! And that is genius – I should have just called this “index and chill” – missed opportunity ๐ . And I am so with you. I’m too lazy to be trying to grow my money all the time – even if it did work marginally better. And haha – I’ll take the rebrand ๐ !
Productivity is so overrated. It’s good for the economy so I’m all for other people doing it. ๐
I don’t think I’m lazy. I just like to do my own things on my own timetable.
Agreed – definitely overrated ๐ . And you are definitely not lazy – I am in awe of all you get up to and love that it’s on your own timeline.
I love this approach to life. As a hardcore introvert myself, I’ve saved tons of money doing less because I just didn’t have the energy to do more! All the nights out drinking and galivanting around town I skipped to stay home solo or one-on-one with a friend and decompress from so many hours of work. My interests are also very inexpensive: napping, reading, journaling, phone chatting, watching tv/movies, or making a fire. Seriously, that wasn’t a FIRE joke- I just love my fireplace ๐ I stopped using social media about 8 years ago because it just felt like an onslaught of all that I was missing by being who I am. If you haven’t already read How to Do Nothing, I think you would enjoy it. I love the idea that being my introverted, lazy, (35-year) old self is an act of rebellion!
Yay introversion and its accidental money savings ๐ ! And oooh a fireplace sounds lovely! Maybe I’ll add that to my Airbnb wish list for the winter…That’s awesome you’re off social media – it does seem like a competition sometimes. And yes I’ve read it and loved it! It is indeed an act of rebellion…definitely not just me loving naps ๐ .
I’m trying to work that … lazy muscle ..? I think that one got away from me before I even got started. I do invest in individual stocks but I swear it’s just a bad habit that I’m going to stop. The problem has been that it’s been so easy and stress-free: I do some research, then buy and hold forever. I just look at the gains on paper and shrug and do nothing about them, so it’s not really been any kind of drag on my portfolio or time. But I’m going to make myself focus on just indexing going forward.
“I would look at large, expensive purchases like houses and cars and instead of seeing some type of freedom or feeling any excitement, my brain would start to think of all the ways those things would be a chain around my foot.”
I’m trying to figure out how to pass this on to JB and Smol Acrobat ๐ Do you really LIKE cleaning? Then let’s not hoard so much crap!
The lesson is currently not taking but I persevere.
Haha I like it – lazy muscle! And that’s an interesting way to buy individual stocks. Just curious: would you ever sell them? Is there a stock price you’re aiming for or something else that would trigger that?
And haha emphasizing the cleaning is another great way to think about it. You want MORE space to clean?! I hope it works one day.
I agree so much about productivity culture being overrated! Iโve always had a fear of being called lazy (even though I secretly am) so I push myself to burn out all the time at work. The productivity culture runs deep in America, and itโs a secret weapon to keep us all working longer and harder and peddling away at the hamster wheel so someone else can be lazy.
Some people really like overachieving, and competing hard at work, I say let them do their thing. Lazy isnโt a bad word to me. Neither is being cheap. I believe if you can strategize a way to not have to work, and hit that goalโthatโs probably the most productive thing a human can do.
Yeah there seem to be people that like doing a lot of ‘things’ (work included) and that’s just not me haha. It is indeed a genius racket to keep us all working and ‘contributing to society’. One of my goals with this post was to be ok and remove some of the ‘badness’ that’s associated with the word lazy in our society – I hope I succeeded ๐ . That’s interesting about ‘cheap’ not being a bad thing – I’ve heard people trying to make cheap an extreme level of frugal, but I guess I’ve never thought about what it means to me. And agreed about taking the time to think and do all the things we didn’t have time for being more productive – it would have taken me several lifetimes to do what I’ve already done in the last 6 months while I was still working and I like to think I’m helping people along the way as well.
People see productivity as a great thing and laziness as a positive thing. I believe both are GREAT things. I LOVE being lazy, it’s gotten me out of more problems than in it.
I am lazy and I will be proud to say it. The next time that an interviewer asks me what my biggest strength is, I think I’ll go with laziness with a dead straight face.
Yesss I love it too – after being a slug I often think “if this was bad for me would I feel so calm, refreshed and ready to tackle anything after” ๐ ? And please do let me know what the interviewer says to that – if I ever want to work again I might try the same.
I read this in bed after my afternoon nap.
I think I was born to be retired!
YESSS!!!
I feel like most people don’t understand that introverts need to recharge. But I don’t think that makes us lazy. I quit my full time job last year because it was similar to yours that it’s an industry where 55+ hours a week are common.
I’m trying contract work and I hope to be able to make enough to cover my expenses. I have time to exercise, meditate, see friends every other week, journal, draw , volunteer, serve on boards, take naps and spend time with my family. But this is on a schedule of 20-30 hrs working a week. I need about 1.5 hrs in the morning and at night to recharge, otherwise I’m burned out!
Yeah the battery metaphor is what helped me finally understand – being drained instead of charged when in social situations. Congratulations on your contract work – that sounds awesome and sounds like a sweet setup!
This post has convinced me that lazying hard is my super power! I love buying and forgetting about my investments (some I’ve left untouched for 30 years now). In general, I have been a-ok during the pandemic because staying home and doing my own thing is my jam. There isn’t much I enjoy more than sitting in the shade reading on a nice summer day.
Woohoo – that’s so awesome! And I’m with you on all points above – preferring the simple life really is a super power ๐ .
Reading your article reminds me a lot of myself and my own evolution in my career (which is in software). I don’t know why people think of laziness as a bad thing. I am hella lazy so I automate the work I’d normally do, and let the computer do it instead, where possible of course (though, it seems to be more and more things these days).
Following in your lazy purple footsteps on my path to FIRE… ๐
That’s an interesting point – on the flip side I’ve heard of several programmers who are idolized for (in an extreme scenario) automating their entire job or not working at all and still getting paid. I guess somehow that profession might not have been swept up in the productivity idolization madness. Anyway, if something can be automated I am all for it. See you on the lazy other side ๐ .
Hell yeah to all this. The bit about house buying and maintenance – god, SAME. SAME. I don’t see an investment, I see years of buying and fixing shit for the house. Apparently houses never ever come in good shape, they always need something done. More money and time, gone. Why sign up for that? Seriously?! My family moved a lot when I was a kid so we always rented; I didn’t realise that was strange until I was an adult and my friends’ plans always involved buying houses. (Then again, my family lived in fairly rent-friendly places, some countries/cultures prefer home ownership and therefore renting rights are joke – of course you’d prefer to buy in that situation.) And at the end of your life, you either downsize or move into a care home anyway, so what’s the point of limiting yourself?!?!
As you might guess, the renting/buying topic is sensitive for me, haha. I’ve been told I’m an idiot so many times for always renting, then told I’m so lucky that I could move for new opportunities – put the two together, people! (On a serious note, I know the finances and circumstances can work out in buying favour, but the attitude I’ve encountered is that it *always* does. Not so!)
Relaxing is so important. I’ve literally spent two-week holidays just pottering around my (rented) flat and have had an excellent time. I’m never bored by reading/sleeping/gaming/writing/movie-watching/cooking, never. It’s important to decompress properly. You said it! hashtagcatlifeforever
That said, realising how little my life changed when the pandemic hit was a bit of a wake-up call, hahaha. I can’t wait to travel again – lazily.
Woohoo! It’s fascinating how people look at the same thing (like a house) and see something completely different. I have yet to be called an idiot for not wanting to buy, but I’m still waiting for it ๐ . And that sounds like a lovely 2 week holiday! I am with you and am excited to (lazily) travel again, but this whole year I’ve felt so grateful that the things I love doing don’t involve leaving my house or seeing people in person ๐ …it’s like I trained for this my whole life haha.
While the sentiment may be accurate, I recall reading that the “dead people invest better” is a myth. Here’s a source, though it’s not the one I first read: https://saverocity.com/independentlyfinanced/the-fidelity-dead-accounts-study-is-fake-not-wrong/
Also, your article reminds me of the Robert Heinlein quote: “Progress is not made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” So early retirees like you are ACTUALLY contributing to progress ๐
Cool! Thanks so much for bringing that to my attention. I’ve edited my post accordingly. And haha that quote is awesome – and I’ll use that as a comeback when someone asks how I’m contributing to society ๐ – since I guess donating all my (estimated, inflation adjusted) 65 million dollars isn’t enough ๐ .
I like to quote the Nap Bishop from “The Nap Ministry” on Instagram: Rest is resistance. I myself have a strong anti-capitalist stance as this system systematically oppresses people and destroys our environment.
It might seem contradictory to be into FIRE, but I see the movement and your path of being “lazy” as a form of resistance against our current out-of-control hyper-capitalist system – especcially for women, BIPoC, queer, disabled etc. people.
Therefore I applaud your revolutionary approach! ๐
I don’t think that’s contradictory to FIRE at all and I love that quote! And thank you ๐ .
As usual I find something about the young woman you are that resonates with the old man I am, laziness. All my career people would tell me they admired how hard I worked and I’d just say thank you, because in truth I never worked hard. It just wasn’t in me. I’m lazy, but that’s a good thing for an engineer because I was paid to find ways to reduce the amount of work, of electricity, of steel, of time, of labor to produce products. I was paid to be lazy so I loved what I did. I worked less hours than anyone else in the company, I’m pretty sure of it, yet I ended up running the place because my drive to do less work generated millions of dollars of profits for my overlords. The most work I did today was write a post and post it on my blog, the rest of the time I’ve been laying on the couch watching basketball, Go Hogs! Ok, I did get up early and run a few miles but that is with friends so it doesn’t really count.
That is a very interesting perspective! Maybe I went into the wrong line of work ๐ . Marketing seems to be about inefficiency and emotion instead of the opposite and it drove me crazy for that reason. And that sounds like a wonderful day!
I just read this after spending the last 2 hours reading on the couch… and the hour before that was spent napping on the couch. I’ve found my people. ๐
Yes you have!! Sounds like an awesome time ๐ .
How do you deal with the outside pressures of other peoples hidden passive aggressive jealousy and envy by trying to convince you that you should own a house and settle down with kids. Society is totally on the side of pressuring you to “do your time” so that the people locked up with thankless jobs they have no choice but to do with houses that are money pits have no choice but to suffer to contribute to the economy. As a woman I am sure you get it worse than me as a single bachelor for life guy. I am 35 with about 500k saved up, I retire in 6 years with a 50k pension and hopevully 1mil in savings but my god the people who go out of their way to tell me I am dumb is overwhelming. I wish people could just suffer in silence than wish I joined their team of endless misery when I am done at 41 forever.
I’ve never really cared what people think and have not let their thoughts influence me. Luckily it seems I was built that way. I’m sorry people tell you you’re dumb – I haven’t encountered that outside the internet troll cave.
I wrote a whole page about being lazy as people took the word as something negative. I chose the name because it works for lazy portfolios, but is also a synonym for “most efficient” in computer science (my background).
I took an alternative approach and started side hustles to diversify my income. I knew that I didn’t want to code forever. I saved and invested a lot during that time as well.
I didn’t know that about computer science – cool!
I prefer to think of it as efficient rather than lazy, and I see from the previous comments that I’m not alone in this.
A little something for your birdwatching hobby – if you’re on Instagram or Facebook, the ABC Australia account does lots of nature shots, including loads of gorgeous birbs.
I like the rebrand! And oooh thank you – I’ve followed them on Insta.
I am with you there. I actually enjoyed quarantine life as it gave me an excuse to not do anything. No obligations, no events, no need to do an activity on the weekends.
I read something in the past about applying a “minimum-effective-dose”. Before I even read what it meant I already knew it was for me lol. For example, at my work (I’m an engineer) if the customer asks for a gray part for a green box, I give him a gray part. Nothing more. Why would I waste time trying to convince him that he should get a green part to match the box? Gray meets his minimum requirements.
By the way, I love your writing and the variety of topics you post about. Maybe a book is in your future (though I heard it’s not for the lazy)!
It has indeed been a great time if you like to not do stuff ๐ . And I love that idea (โminimum-effective-doseโ) and haven’t really heard of it before – cool! Thank you so much – that’s so kind. And yeah a book is definitely not for the lazy so I don’t think it’s for me right now ๐ .
Ah I loved reading this. I am a lazy person too. I really, really enjoying my downtime. I am an introvert who spends her whole day at work talking to people so I am totally drained by the end of the day and by the end of the week. Weekends are when I recover and revive myself. It doesn’t help that I am a night owl working a regular 9-5 schedule so I often spend Saturday just catching up on my sleep.
Being lazy rocks. I am tired of all the social media and society in genera telling us to hustle all the time, have side incomes, have side hustles, wake up at 5am and be productive all day long.
Ahh yes hello fellow lazy person ๐ ! And ugh introverts in extrovert jobs – I relate so hard (unfortunately). I am also tired of it – it’s silly. You do you ๐ !