There are times when we are inexplicably drained, when we wake up with absolutely no energy. We glide from the bed to the bathroom, from the bathroom to the car, from the car to the office, and we don’t know how the hell we managed to get home without having fallen asleep during the day. We also can’t figure out why we were so tired in the first place, but the exhaustion is so great that the last thing we want to do is to think.

Although it’s a natural, perfectly biological response, when we need to take a break, we think that giving in is reprehensible. We were taught that feeling lazy opens the door to hell. This is not a recent description. One of the most memorable scenes in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy is his account of the hardships suffered by the idle on the fourth terrace of Purgatory, that place infested with fast-walking souls who feel the urge to make up for the idleness that robbed them of the opportunity to do right. I remember that in this description, these souls were haunted by the what-if shadow and no longer had time to feel or speak. It was a terrible place where unfinished business enslaved us with its reproaches.

In the opinion dictatorship, a large number of influencers attack rest as the worst of vices. They condemn laziness with their posts published shamelessly from some Caribbean beach. Slavers justified their barbarism with the excuse that hard work would improve the health of those they saw as nothing more than merchandise.

I assume you still remember your mother holding your hand when you saw a beggar and using them as an example of what happens to lazy people. Maybe she even gave you a lecture: “That’s how you’ll end up if you don’t study.” “That’s what will happen to you if you don’t do your homework.” As if that person’s unfortunate outcome didn’t involve multiple factors. We’ve been conditioned to feel bad when we aren’t being productive, and we don’t always know how to silence that elf who mocks us while we fall apart. We want to find a way to keep it at bay, but our laziness is so great that we’ve negatively altered all our duties. For some reason, we tend to assume that people in the most miserable conditions are lazy. But few lives require a greater degree of occupation than those who must compensate for oppressive adversities.

IN THESE TIMES OF WAR AND HATRED, MY MOTHER’S ARMS ARE MY TRENCH.

We want to clear our minds, but laziness kills all our endorphins. The body doesn’t obey, the mind is tired, and although we do nothing, we are unable to relax. We remember that at some point we were prepared to face conflicts and activities, but lately the energy and physiological bills are so high, we can’t afford them.

In a world moving at a speed that makes us retch, it’s essential to embrace the subtlety of doing nothing. I receive the most hurtful criticisms when I post a photo of me contemplating the shoreline or enjoying a cigar; it’s a constant barrage of criticisms condemning “my laziness,” without knowing how I got there. As usual, there’s always someone who insists that taking a break or enjoying the moment are actions that are contrary to the teachings of God. They have not yet understood that the Bible must be read, but it must also be lived.

According to an article I recently read, the University of Nevada estimated that distractions caused by mobile apps resulted in an $85 billion loss to the economy. The couple of minutes we spend looking at our phones during work is known as “cyber laziness.” But here’s a thought: How much would it cost the economy if workers didn’t take a couple of minutes off?

While it is costly for people to check their Facebook feed during their coffee break, what would be the price of not being able to do so? These interruptions, if done in moderation as recommended by focus exercises, could actually have an impact on increasing productivity. Pressure and excess are a burden even for those trained in strenuous activities. In the past Olympic Games, several well-known athletes succumbed to the weight of emotions and demands. Diatribes erupted on social media about whether they were allowed to do this, which only added fuel to the fire.

Baseball has had cases of players who lost the ability to throw the ball because of emotional crises. Many therapists have practices full of people suffering from professional burnout, which is marked by somatic and psychological ailments related to the natural pressures of the job, from the workload and the managerial demands to interpersonal relationships.

Some people always work hard and are bursting with energy but this is largely due to the vibe created by elements that give meaning to their work, which we will explore in depth in Step Three when we discuss the concept of purpose.

I LIKE MY MIND WHEN IT IS UNOCCUPIED.

I recently went on stage in Washington, DC, and gave a lecture of more than three hours, then repeated the effort for five consecutive days in five different cities, covering 2,500 miles. Wake up, travel for hours, go on stage, take care of the people who want to talk to me. Repeat. They are exhausting days that I manage to enjoy as if I were on vacation, largely because I enjoy the support of a close-knit team and the ever-restorative company of my wife.

Many forms of laziness are harmful, but some are necessary. When you don’t have the breaks that allow you to recharge yourself emotionally, it’s likely you’re doing something wrong. If your resting process causes you to feel guilty and makes you more distressed because you’re not moving forward with pending issues, then even if you’re not doing anything, you’re not resting either. You’re simply running away.

After accumulating so many tensions, emotions, and thoughts, we can’t cope because our vital engines are overheated. Discovering the source of all these harmful emotions and the why of the unconscious tendency to let them pile up will be part of the healing of this wound that looks like laziness. The hard truth in our self-evaluation will lead us to decipher the emotional problem that is hiding behind this strange fatigue and the flood of thoughts that drown us.

DYNAMIC LAZINESS

Without a doubt, too much inaction won’t allow us to achieve our goals, but physical, intellectual, and emotional burnout will also eventually cause us to expel our preserved air.

Fighting our emotional stress and learning how to transform it into serenity, peace, joy, and optimism requires a careful cleansing of the mind, which paradoxically demands an enormous amount of energy that we don’t have at times, so it’s important to find ways to recharge. For instance, I’ve combined my recharging moments with an endless source of energy: my imagination.

We might think that our imagination can wear us down, but in my case, it replenishes me with power. An unbridled imagination has become my weapon against the laziness that eats away at me. Dreaming without rules, where no one can interrupt me, has helped me reach the most forgotten places of my person.

When I can’t take it anymore, I retreat to a place where I can drop my body and let it be. I don’t try to force it to do anything, I simply put my hands in my lap, close my eyes, breathe deeply, and begin to see everything my mind suggests to me. Even if I’m flooded with a thousand ideas, I just let them flow. And if one of them excites me, I hold it like a small thread that I begin to pull with the intention of seeing where it takes me. I let myself be carried away by what its colors make me feel, by whether I’m cold or hot, by the fabulous creatures that populate the forests of my mind.

FOR CREATIVE STATES, DOUBT.

When I lose interest in that feeling, I let the idea fade out and disappear, and the slate is once again clean. I don’t mind starting over repeatedly, I just keep breathing deeply and calmly. I let my body do what it knows how to do: heal itself, regulate itself. I don’t try to control it, I let it be without restraint, and if it wants to sleep, I sleep. I am committed to leisure as a productive activity, as long as it’s my decision. Leisure as a creative state can be highly efficient, since being in a contemplative and low-demand state tends to allow us to find faster and more efficient ways to finish certain tasks. Legend has it that Newton saw that apple fall while leaning against a tree.

However, we’ve all inevitably succumbed to destructive laziness on more than one occasion. It gives us a short-term state of well-being, which is a product of inaction that leads us not to assume any risks. This opens a direct path to apathy, a term that means indifference or absence of feelings, and it abounds in those who tend to leave their life in the hands of their daily moods. If we fall into this cycle, we lose the ability to accept the obligations we establish with ourselves, and fulfilling our inner commitments becomes tortuous.

Listlessness hides the consequences by giving you a worthless placebo. Nowadays, stimuli are so readily available that recovering becomes a feat. We’ve become used to instant gratification and have lost the ability to truly thrive or enjoy, absorbed by a laziness that instead of energizing us, sinks us deeper.

On the other hand, there’s also indolence: doing as little as possible, settling for “it’s the thought that counts.” If we learn to feel satisfied not only with our successes but also during our attempts, we will be better equipped to keep moving forward until we overcome our own resistance. Some people depend on whether it’s cold outside, whether the chair is soft, whether today is game day: external conditions define their efforts. Others blame their family because they didn’t set an example, or they don’t go to the gym because it’s not nearby.

Devoting some time to laziness is healthy only if it’s the result of a period of intense effort, not if it comes from the belief that the shortest route is the best. Laziness without tiredness is like bingeing without hunger. This is the attitude of those who throw in the towel because they know it’s not their turn to pick it up. They end up seeing life as extremely expensive and every activity as a burden. This can lead them to develop an anxiety disorder or depression. This behavior is not a personality trait; it’s not linked to any specific typology or Enneagram type. It has more to do with the acquisition and practice of habits.

I know that sometimes you dedicate yourself to what you want to achieve and that gives you pleasure, but you don’t know how to find pleasure in the satisfaction of trying; therefore, reviewing the education we’ve received can be crucial in figuring out why we take these detours. Overprotection and the rejection of initiative may be their essential source. These attitudes encourage us to flee from what makes us uncomfortable, and that’s how we get hung up on effort, without realizing the many benefits it brings us.

HOW DO YOU GIVE WHAT YOU LACK?

When this attitude of laziness goes beyond the limits of negligence, it becomes dangerous because it modifies our behavior. Instead of creating a break where we find peace, it becomes a mechanism that deprives us of it. Elements of well-being that require dedication and courage—such as economic stability, good physical condition, and the health of personal relationships—begin to slip away.

Although this type of laziness may be pleasurable in the short term, it will have devastating consequences in the future. We will return to this in Step Three when we dive into the idea of self-control. If we allow ourselves to be carried away by these excesses, we give in to the thought that if a goal is far away, it is unattainable, and we lose the desire to pursue it. We don’t appreciate long-term ideas because they force us to stabilize certain behaviors. We don’t really want a goal at all. These attitudes are all about achieving the goal as fast as possible and with as little effort as possible.