From laziness to systems

I have generally considered myself to be a bit lazy, at least, when it comes to work tasks I don't enjoy.

The workplace values people who can "get things done," and if I'm not interested in the task, I'm not one of those people.

However, I do get excited about making annoying tasks go away.

This is, in fact, how I learned Excel. Instead of manually checking two lists to find values in one and put them in the other, I learned how to use Vlookup. Instead of creating a bunch of formulas for an analysis, I learned about pivot tables, speeding up my analysis by 100x.

Being lazy led me to learn new skills and automate things that I found annoying, which was the basis for my first 1099 gig.

This is a common story with programmers/software developers.

But you don't have to be a technical person to automate stuff.

There are always systems to implement that can reduce the work you hate doing, the stuff you procrastinate on. You can learn a new tool or software (definitely learn AI tools), create SOPs that reduce cognitive overhead, create templates, eliminate unnecessary steps, etc.

Don't just accept that you're lazy. Become a systems builder. Your lazy self will thank you.

Want the full playbook? Check out Going 1099.