One of the biggest mistaken beliefs we’ve fallen for is the idea that we are what we do. Our actions are essentially the price we pay to live.

If our existence depends on our actions, ambition isn’t much of a choice. In many cases, we treat it as a moral imperative.

We’ve been taught that if we are not doing anything, we are essentially dying. In contrast, living a frantic life is somehow “living life to its fullest.”

The world demands that you make a name for yourself. The ambition that comes with living a full life comes from the terrified assumption that without effort, there’s only stagnation.

Our value then is the sum of our outputs. This includes accomplishments, projects concluded, wealth, and status.

This idea may carry prestige, but it typically brings exhaustion. It comes with the anxiety that I may not be doing enough. To be convinced that this idea of effort is real, I must keep moving.

In this world of effort, it seems as though the only way to get somewhere is with goals. We set these goals, but still have no clue where we are traveling. How does one measure progress without a destination?

Effort then only seems to be the mechanism by which we try to justify our existence. We tell ourselves that we are important because we have so many things to do. Keeping busy means that we are alive.

The ultimate issue is whether we believe we have any control over how effort is measured. Our bodies and minds are limited, yet we see rest as a moral failing.

The Perception of Laziness

If our effort brings us value, then sitting still is only seen as a waste of time.

I think we need to understand where our compulsion to act comes from. It typically stems from the need to fix something we perceive as broken. We only act to make things “right.”

Our value comes from problem-solving. We lack much humility because we believe that we are the solution to perceived problems, and so we act.

If this is true, then laziness, in contrast, is the simple act of letting things be. Yes, The Beatles told you to be lazy.

The ambitious person, although known to be virtuous, is a meddler. The busy person believes that something is consistently broken, and it’s up to them to keep turning the gears.

At one point, I was ambitious and believed that if I didn’t keep working, the entire corporation would collapse. I’ve sensed that I’ve left the company, and it seems that the company is doing fine without me.

To be lazy is to no longer struggle. By being relieved of work, we let go of what is already perfectly aligned. We need not do anything. When we stop trying to make the moment better, we allow the moment to be exactly as it is.

It’s kind of interesting how the person who chooses the path of least resistance is seen as lazy. The path of least resistance is the path of all nature.

The tree grows to the sky without any effort, but would be considered lazy by human efforts. Yet with the help of the sun, rain, and soil, the tree is perfectly productive.

If this is the truth, what does it say about ambition? It seems that ambition only leads to friction and stress. Ambition comes from the arrogant belief that if we stop, the world stops. The lazy person is one who simply stops pretending to be the engine of the universe.

Actionless Action

The cult of effort and ambition operates on the binary: if you are not on, then you are off. It assumes that for work to be done, a person must exert effort and strain. What if it were the case that the most progress happens when people decide to get out of the way?

What if we could be more like the tree and act without effort? The flow state of work is when we are at our best. It’s the moment when the basketball player is in the flow of the game, or when the dancer is fully involved in the routine. No thinking is involved. The dancer just dances.

When I’m in a flow state as a writer, I stop thinking about what I’m going to write, and the words just start to flow on the page. There’s not much effort involved.

To many people, this may look like a fluke. We were taught that work was like Sisyphus pushing a rock up a hill. However, there’s another approach where we simply go around the boulder. They say the best way to deal with an obstacle is to go through it, but why do we have to acknowledge any obstacle?

What if the lazy person was actually more productive than the ambitious person because of the wasted energy on internal friction? The lazy person doesn’t spend energy on “trying” or “worrying” about results. The lazy person only acts when it makes sense to act.

The Myth of the Wasted Life

Many of us are compelled to act because we don’t want to waste our lives. To have a fulfilling life means to accumulate achievements, possessions, and impact. As a consequence, to be lazy means to waste one’s life on receiving any of these things.

This idea comes from mistaken identity. It’s the belief that life is something we have. Life is something we own. In reality, life is who we are. We can’t own ourselves.

The busy person believes in the value of accumulation. Every action is building towards a life, and without building something, we have no life. The idea doesn’t make sense because you’d be alive with or without a bank account, with or without the corner office, and with or without the promotion.

Or being doesn’t suddenly shrink because we decide to take a nap.

Yet, when we decide to rest, the mind screams that we are wasting time. Little do we know that time is a construct only to measure movement. We can’t waste something that doesn’t exist.

The only person who believes they are wasting their life is the one who believes they are supposed to be somewhere they are not currently.

The final myth of the busy person is the belief in the need to “leave a legacy.” This is the ultimate form of arrogance. We are essentially saying that we need people who have not yet been born to remember who we are. We are not the legacy.

Disolution of Choice

There’s no issue with working all day and all night and wanting to rest. The only issue arises when we identify with a “choice” between work and rest.

I’m not telling you to be lazy instead of ambitious. The shift is realizing that nothing is being chosen. The body moves when it moves, and it rests when it rests. There’s no preference to be made.

Our culture tells us to hustle, to work hard, and to keep moving. Since nothing is wrong with this, there is nothing wrong with sleeping all day in your bed. Your body and your mind only work according to their nature. Anything outside of this is forced upon.

When you stop trying to be “right” from the majority’s perspective, the anxiety that comes with it eases.

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