I grew up in an environment where I was constantly called lazy. Ever since my primary school days, my teacher, nay, my teachers have never ceased to label me that everyday. I all starts with one homework that you have missed and very soon, the whole horde of teachers will start labeling you as that lazy student.
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You must think that my school is a pretty brutal and unforgiving place. It is (still a present tense and not a past tense). My school's motto was 'work hard without rest' and man did they take their motto seriously. Everyday, we were given at least two homework for each subject. That's a total of at least 5 homework a day. What's worse, there are a few exceptional students in the classroom who are able to complete all ten tasks, which leaves the mediocre ones like me to have difficulty in achieving so.
Thus, day in and day out, I was labelled as 'that lazy kid'. It wasn't long before laziness became my friend.
Our Relationship
Honestly, I did not want laziness to be my friend, we just ended up together. Laziness became like that friend who always got into trouble with you. Almost everyday of the week, we (or rather I) were always punished together. Back in the day, punishment was creative. There was no oversight and the teachers could use whatever punishment that they saw fit in the class.
I had a friend who was dragged out of the classroom, forced to stand in the rubbish bin while holding a piece of paper saying 'I am a lazy piece of trash'. I was lucky to not be punished in that manner. My punishment includes the half squat torture. Its a rather creative punishment, so here's how it works. Say you had a spelling test and you had to spell a total of 20 words correctly. Now, assuming you had 1 mistake, that's 5 minutes of half squats. Now if you had 2, that's 10 minutes. If you had 20 mistakes, well, you get the picture... But wait! There's more! You had to hold a chair above your head while doing those half squats.
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It won't be long before your legs turn to jelly and you start sweating profusely. Of course, there are less creative punishment which involves the cane. Don't worry, its only made out of thin but strong wood known as rattan. This was the weapon of choice by many teachers and when a teacher swings it, it makes a whooshing sound that signals the impending pain that accompanies it.
Those were the shared memories that I had with laziness and though I may sound ok now, I was deeply scarred by my teachers. But, who cares about teachers anyway? It was disappointing my parents that made me want to break up with laziness.
I Wanted To Breakup
Laziness was part of me and if I could I wanted to cut it out. I wanted so badly to not disappoint my parents and I thought getting rid of laziness was the best way. So, I set out to get rid of laziness. I started giving laziness the cold shoulder to laziness. Whenever I was given a homework to do, I would hear laziness's whispers to just forget about it. The whispers, tempting they may be were ignored from here and forth. I was determined to change and I vowed to myself that I would do my best.
The problem was that the label stuck. I was still that lazy kid no matter how much I wanted to break up with laziness. After months of trying, I could not breakup with laziness. Whether I liked it or not, laziness was here to stay. It hounded me in my every school homework and studying session. I grew increasingly stressed until I discovered that maybe, just maybe, I did not have to get rid of laziness after all.
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Since getting rid of the impossible is, impossible, perhaps then I should consider the improbable, I could just embrace laziness.
The Revelation
The revelation came when I first considered when after trying to complete my tasks for the longest time, laziness visited me and suggested a few shortcuts. Laziness, the part of me which I have ignored for the longest time suggested that I could work together with my friends to complete the tasks. I called up some of my friends and together we completed all the work that was given.
This made me wonder, perhaps I could work together with laziness and achieve better academic success. I started doing less and engaging with friends more. We worked together to complete the demanding school work. I also started looking for shortcuts and patterns in exam questions. It was fairly easy to predict certain questions. With the help of laziness, I stopped having to study the entire textbook but only parts and portions that I thought would come out in the exams.
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It was after many years of working with laziness that I realize that what I thought was laziness, was not laziness at all. Laziness in excess would be bad for any student. However, with the right amount, laziness becomes a form of working smart. It is through this that we would learn how to eliminate the tasks that are unnecessary. It is through this that I have learnt how to learn and complete more with as little energy as possible.
Thus, I changed the name of laziness to working smart. Working smart and I have since had a great working relationship and it has helped me in the toughest and most stressful situations in my life.
How about you? Was laziness a good friend of yours? Do let me know in the comments below.
