What is laziness?

I like the one in the dictionary; take a look.

@thriftymaid I do love your wit.

It’s when a person… eh…

A lazy person wouldn’t have set the alarm or intended to study/exercise/clean in the first place.

I believe it was Andy Capp (or maybe someone else, but it certainly fits him) who said it best… ”I’m not lazy, I’m just ‘work adverse’.”

a.
b.
c.
d.

i edited the main question..

if something “needs” to be done, why would anyone be averse to doing it? what causes do-aversion?

It’s better to have-done than to do. A lot of lazy people figure that if they just ignore a problem long enough then someone else will take care of it.

but how could someone else wake up for you?

In that case, I’d say a misconception with regards to the level of effort or overall distaste involved in actually completing the work, perhaps combined with prior, overly negative experiences which have biased them, realistically or not, against the task.

I’ll let someone else answer.

@ninjacolin If I drag your ass out of bed and toss you in a cold shower you’ll wake up fast enough, with little or no effort on your part. I’d say that’s me doing the work for you.

@CyanoticWasp hahahah.

@CyanoticWasp Go make me a sandwich.

@bob_ I’ll step on it.

A,B,C,and D can’t define laziness if a person is disabled or suffer from particular disease. If that’s not the case then here are my answers:
a. Our body naturally tell us to sleep again if we don’t have enough sleep.
b. Not all people need to study to learn something. So,someone who learn something from his/her school but don’t study at home isn’t a lazy person
c. That person could be a lazy person.
d. Should one do the dishes if someday he/she decided to have a maid? It makes life easier.

Laziness is when you prefer to do what you like than what you should do(Although this could be quite subjective).

About the averse thing I think people have many personal reasons to do it. It can vary from one person to another. Mine is when I don’t feel like to do it,or when I’m tired.

@wonderingwhy i like “misconception”.. sounds like you’re suggesting that people make a mistake about how important something is. So it’s not that they wouldn’t put the adequate effort in, it’s just that they have fallaciously concluded that it doesn’t really need to be done.. yet.

@ninjacolin Force @CyanoticWasp to make me a sandwich.

@bob_, stop harassing the wasps!
@CyanoticWasp make everyone sandwiches!

I think I like the one that @thriftymaid likes in the dictionary…yes,I will stick with this answer for now

@Doctor_D “prefer to do what you like.”

it’s funny because isn’t it always the case that what you would “like” to do is have everything important done? if people do what they would like, they would always do everything important right away. somehow, our brains seem able to prefer to do what could be at least loosely understood as not necessarily in our best interests.

@ninjacolin
Abracadabra! Poof!

You are all sandwiches.

If I’m an organized and disciplined person then Yes!,I’ll like to do the most important thing. If people do what they like and do their important business at the same time in their life then they’re not lazy. The ‘lazy’ here when one only do whatever please him/her and avoid to do his/her duty that won’t be pleasurable(but again,it’s my personal definition). I.e. I prefer snacking all days rather than clean up my house(important duty) because I enjoy snacking and suddenly I don’t feel like(lazy) to do my job. .Our brain works differently in the way we define ourselves and could be vary from one person to another. That’s why you see many different people act differently in their life.

I term it as “sub-active by an act of will rather than physical limitations”.

if you’re lacking “will”.. aren’t you physically limited?

That’s a mental thing. You have control over that.

uh.. no you don’t.
what makes you say that?

ME!

Laziness and procrastination are not necessarily the same thing. The list of cases in the question suggest a lack of motivation. The desire to work, or exert oneself, is the result of acknowledging a drive to reach a goal or fulfill a desire. Laziness results from a lack of desire or motivation.

Procrastination can be inaction as a result of fear or guilt. One avoids attempting tasks perceived to be difficult in order to avoid failure or criticism.

It’s helpful not to feel guilty for putting off a task. “I don’t feel like doing the dishes. I’m going to play a video game instead.” This leads to guilt because the dishes are building up while here I am being lazy. Instead, recognize that we deserve time to enjoy ourselves. Say “If I do ¼ of the dishes, I’ll reward myself with a video game.” Knowing that you’ve accomplished something will help you avoid feelings of pressure to get things done and guilt for not doing anything. It’s also likely that you’ll end up finished the dishes anyway once you get started.

“If you want to find the easiest way to get a job done, give the task to a lazy man”

I don’t know who said that but it’s always stuck with me. I guess lazy could also be considered as doing something while expending the least about of effort.

@bob_ That’s how I wanted to reply. But since I’m too lazy to think of something original, well…

Laziness is, first and f-ah fuck it.

But no actually that’s interesting. I think not wanting to get out of bed and hitting snooze alla time is very different than not finding motivation or not being bothered to do something. I don’t know what it is…Presses snooze.

@loser Robert A. Heinlein said that… several times.

A woman could never get her husband to do anything around the house. He would come home from work, sit in front of the TV, eat dinner, and sit some more—would never do those little household repairs that most husbands take care of. This frustrated the woman quite a bit. One day the toilet stopped up. When her husband got home, she said sweetly, ‘Honey, the toilet is clogged. Would you look at it?’ Her husband snarled, ‘What do I look like? The tidy-bowl man?’ and sat down on the sofa.

The next day, the garbage disposal wouldn’t work. When her husband got home, she said, very nicely, ‘Honey, the disposal won’t work. Would you try to fix it for me?’ Once again, he growled, ‘What do I look like? Mr. Plumber?’

The next day, the washing machine was on the blink. When her husband got home, she steeled her courage and said, ‘Honey, the washer isn’t running. Would you check on it?’ And again was met with a snarl, ‘What do I look like? The Maytag repairman?’

Finally, she had had enough. The next morning, the woman called three repairmen to fix the toilet, the garbage disposal, and the washer. When her husband got home, she said, ‘Honey, I had the repairmen out today.’ He frowned, ‘Well, how much is that going to cost?’ ‘Well, honey, they all said I could pay them by baking them a cake or having sex with them.’

‘Well, what kind of cakes did you bake them?’ he asked. She smiled. ‘What do I look like? Betty Crocker?’

@thriftymaid – Perfect

@BoBo1946 These fabulous answers should be published LOLL

I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness – to save oneself trouble.—Agatha Christie