I'm a Hardworking Lazy Girl - Can You Relate? - Switch, Pivot or Quit

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is amazing media production. Hello, most awesome one. This
is the Switch Pivot or quick podcast. And if you
have been asking yourself that question of what's next, then
you're in the right place. We have conversations that will
help inform you and your decision making from a personal

(00:23):
and professional development lens. And today I want to jump
into something that can feel embarrassing when you first hear it.
So let me start here. The tide has changed. Dun
da da da. This is my announcement. But we've all
been feeling it right. That hustle culture, hustle harder mentality

(00:46):
of years ago, it is pretty much gone now. I
feel like the sentiment among professionals is that we need
to honor our desire to rest. There's movement surround things
like the soft Girl era, and Tricia Hersey has this
book called Rest is Resistance a Manifesto, and that book

(01:12):
received really good traction and acceptance. So the other day
I was having a conversation with one of my trusted
confidants and I admitted something shocking. Clutch your pearls worthy,
get ready for it. I admitted that I am a

(01:33):
lazy dazz. I know now on face value, this is
something that most people would never admit. It's something that
maybe one has been unknowingly accused of, but never something

(01:53):
they'd actually take ownership of. And here I was owning it.
It just rolled off my tongue. I was like, you know,
I think I'm lazy. I think that I would be
potentially further along if that simple trait didn't exist in me.
But there's a caveat. I do get shit done, okay.

(02:16):
I put my all into things when I feel that
I need to. So then that got me to thinking,
what does it mean if I'm a hard working lazy girl?
So naturally you know me my bff, that's who I
turned to AKA. Her name is Claude. So I went

(02:38):
to Claude dot Ai and I said, what does it
mean if I'm a hard working lazy girl? You know
what Claude said, and I quote, this sounds like an
interesting paradox. Being a hard working lazy girl likely means
you have a complex relationship with effort and productivity that

(03:02):
many people can relate to. Amen, Claude, Amen, let's be honest,
who really wants to work hard? Maybe before we were
just buying into that mentality because it was sort of
pushed on us. And you know, sometimes you fall in

(03:23):
line with peer pressure and you feel like everybody else
is doing it, everybody else is saying it, and so
outward facing you seem like you are working hard, you
are buying into the narrative, but behind closed doors, you
may have been a fully living your lazy girl life.
People love to quote that line or whatever you want

(03:44):
to call it, something like if you find the thing
you love to do, you'll never work a day in
your life. But peep what they are really saying underneath
it all. They're saying, you don't want to work. We
don't want to work. We're not built to work. Okay,

(04:06):
maybe I'm taking it too far, but you get what
I'm saying. If given a choice, we would just dabble
around with the things that we are interested in and
leave the hard work to someone else. Yes, we are
selfish creatures like that, And maybe that's just me and
my people, but you're my people, so I know you're

(04:27):
right here with me. And with that little dose of reality,
we're gonna dive into the paradoxical identity of being both
incredibly hardworking and also kind of lazy. So stay tuned,
because we're unpacking what it means to be a hard
working lazy girl and how to leverage this unique mindset

(04:51):
for success, big impact, productivity. Even picture this. I will
stay up untill two am, three am even if needed,

(05:11):
finishing a project to absolute satisfaction. But then I'll put
off answering a simple email for two, three, four days
even sometimes. But enough about me and my business. Let's
talk about you for a second. Tell me if this
sounds even remotely familiar on any level. You'll deep clean

(05:34):
your entire apartment in a single motivated Saturday or Sunday,
but then you'll order takeout for the fifth time that
week because you can't be asked. Cooking just feels too overwhelming.
What about this one? You'll crush your work deadlines, get
everything checked off of that list, but also spend an

(05:58):
entire Saturday in bed watching Netflix or whatever your streaming
channel of choice is without an ounce of guilt. If
you're not in yes, congratulations. You might be a hard
working lazy girl. And guess what, It's not necessarily a

(06:19):
bad thing. In fact, it might be our secret little superpower.
Let's break this down. What does this really mean being
a hardworking lazy girl isn't about being flaky or inconsistent
or like you don't get stuff done. It's about you
having a complex relationship with effort and energy management. You're

(06:47):
not afraid of hard work, but you're selective about where
you direct that energy for said hard work. Think about it.
Traditional productivity advice tells us just push through, you can
do it, hustle harder, like I said at the top
of the episode, right, But the hard working lazy girl

(07:09):
knows that that type of momentum and action taking it's
not sustainable for us. Instead, we ask ourselves, how can
I work smarter? How can I get the same results
with less wasted effort. Now, if we really think about it,

(07:30):
this mindset is actually pretty genius. You're not lazy because
you don't want to achieve things. You're not lazy because
you lack ambition. You're lazy because you're constantly looking for
the most efficient path forward, and if you haven't found it,
you may just do nothing. The hard working lazy girl,

(07:55):
she isn't slacking. You aren't slacking. She's being strategic. You
are being strategic and selective with your finite energy resources,
as you should be. So let's get into the good stuff. Now,
how can we harness this mindset instead of making it

(08:17):
fight against us, and how can we make it work
in our favor. I'm going to give you a few
strategies that play into the hard working lazy girls strengths.
You don't have to write these down, but you can
if you want so. Strategy number one is to identify

(08:37):
your energy peaks and then plan according to that, so
we all have times of day when we are naturally
more focused and productive. Have you heard of a thing
called chronotypes? If you haven't looked up, it will probably
be insightful for you in terms of making you feel

(08:58):
better about who you are, what you're naturally inclined to do,
and when you're naturally inclined to be the most active
or alert. So although for me, I am a night owl,
have always been, even since a child, I always had
a hard time going to bed. Maybe it's the nosiness

(09:20):
in me, but anyways, that's another conversation for another day.
I'm a night oul by nature, and when I heard
about chronotypes, I was like, oh, I saw, I should
just lean into who I am naturally. But as with
most things, I'm a complex I'm not just one thing.
So while I'm a night out, when it comes to

(09:42):
getting focused type of work done and sometimes even creative work.
For me, the best time to activate is in the
early morning hours, between like seven and ten AM. Now
I don't always get up to activate in these hours,
but when I know I have stuff that I really

(10:02):
want to do and check off my list, I make
it a point to try and activate during those hours.
And I also just try and even though they say
don't do this, I try to rework my chronotype a
little bit, hack it a little bit by getting up
earlier so that I can just feel more productive in
my days. That's just me. You are going to do

(10:24):
what works for you, okay, But for me, I know
when my brain is firing on all cylinders and that's
what that is. So for you, take a moment to
think about when you do your best work. Is it
early in the morning, is it later in the evening?
When do you get those random bursts of energy? Is

(10:44):
it right after lunch? Whatever your pattern is, build your schedule.
You know the things that you want to do, build
it around that timing instead of trying to fight against
that timing. Schedule your most challenging things that you want
to do or achieve during your energy peaks, and save

(11:08):
that mindless stuff, the stuff that just you know, it's
kind of whatever. Save it for when your focus sort
of naturally dips. And because it's the mindless things, the
things that doesn't require that much out of you in
terms of brain power and creativity or what have you,

(11:28):
do it then okay. Now, Strategy number two is embracing
the power of time blocking. This one may take some
getting used to and also do it in a way
that feels right for you. So if you're a hard working,
lazy girl, you likely work in intense bursts rather than

(11:52):
like this steady pace of working all day which makes
you feel lazy. But time blocking that can be your
best friend and your best explainer of how you operate
in the way that you do. So don't tell your
boss about this. But instead of trying to spread your focus,
you know, all over this eight hour period of time

(12:16):
and you are like not really focused during that time,
maybe you try the Pomodoro technique. This is the twenty
five minutes of focus work and then you do like
a five minute break. That break can be whatever you want.
It could be a little walk, it could be a
snack break, whatever you want to do in that break,

(12:36):
give yourself five minutes. When you know that there is
a defined endpoint to your focus work, it can make
it easier for you to really dive in and go
all in. Personally, I don't use a timer, and I
don't like follow this method hardcore. In that way, I
feel like I have a really good internal clock, Like

(12:58):
sometimes I can look at my phone and think like, oh, okay,
it's probably eight thirty now, and it'll be like eight
twenty seven, because I have a good idea of like
how much time has passed. So if you operate like me,
don't be strict with yourself trying to use a timer.
I don't know. Timer also kind of scares me when
it starts blaring off, like who needs that unnecessary noise?

(13:19):
But anyway, I also put my phone aside and away
a little bit, if you will, and I put it
on do not disturb so that I won't be distracted
by any chimes, noises, vibrations or anything. And then I
tell myself, Okay, I just need to sit here and
focus for this twenty five minutes and then I could

(13:41):
take a break. So usually once I get started, though,
I find myself motivated in the moment and I just
keep going. So if I go past that twenty five minutes,
that's okay too. We don't have to be strict on
ourselves as lazy girls, Okay. Strategy A number three. Automate
and eliminate whatever possible. Here's what the lazy girl part becomes.

(14:07):
Your strength. Does this task actually need to be done
by me? That's a question you can ask yourself. And
if so, does it need to be done by me
in this particular way? Take some time to audit your
regular things that you have to do, those regular tasks

(14:27):
and look for automation opportunities. It could look like setting
up email templates, something I love to do. In my
draft folder, I will have a subject line of whatever
type of email it is that I'm drafting responses for,
and as I'm replying to things, if it's a generic
enough response, let's say, for like guest inquiries or something

(14:50):
like that, I will set up in my drafts folder
some popular responses so that every time I have to
respond to something in in a similar way, I don't
have to think of it and start from scratch. I
can just copy and paste, right, So those email templates
are helpful. Standard responses helpful. Creating filtering techniques for yourself

(15:13):
within your email that's also helpful. Another thing that I do,
if you know me and you've been a long time listeners,
I love a meal kit box type of situation. So
using any type of meal planning service, grocery delivery, however
you want to set it up that works best for
your life, as long as it takes something off your

(15:34):
plate and it's automated, like the meal box kit service
thing that I use. It comes every Monday. I have
to decide my order by Thursday. It's a routine. The
box is there on Monday, all is well in the
world and my belly. You can also do things like
setting up autobill pay for me. My electricity is on

(15:56):
autobill pay, my cell phone is on autobill pay. Just
a lot of even your investments. If you know that
you want to have money invested in certain accounts, set
it up on autobill pay so that these are things
you do not have to worry about. Basically, what you're
doing is creating systems that do some of the work

(16:16):
for you, because remember, being a lazy girl is about
doing the right things so that you can free up
your time and energy for what truly deserves your attention.
As I just mentioned, lazy girls still have to pay bills.
So we'll be right back with more strategies that you

(16:38):
can utilize after this quick break, and we're back with
strategy number four, harness the power of implementation and intentions.
So this is just like a fancy psychology term for
a simple concept deciding in advance and where you'll do something.

(17:02):
Instead of saying I'll work out more, you say, when
I wake up on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'll do a
twenty minute pilate session with YouTube or whatever however you
do it before I get my day started. These implementation intentions,
or let's just call them intentions, right action intentions, whatever,

(17:26):
let's simplify it. They are really good for the hard
work and lazy girl because it helps us to reduce
the decision fatigue that is what often leads us to procrastination.
I remember saying to somebody one time, you choose where
we're going to dinner, because I have decision fatigue right now.

(17:46):
They were like, what is that. I'm like, hello, it's
self explanatory. I'm tired of deciding things. So let's reduce
that for ourselves. You're not deciding whether to do something
right then and there in the moment or not. You've
already made the decision that it is happening in advance,
and so now all you have to do is stick
with it. Strategy number five practice strategic procrastination. Yes, you

(18:12):
heard me right, strategic procrastination, because not all procrastination is bad.
Sometimes putting things off is exactly what we need, what
your brain needs to process information and come up with
creative solutions. The key is to procrastinate strategically so you
can set clear deadlines for when decisions need to be

(18:33):
made or tasks completed. I started using a task template
within Google Sheets, and that has been very helpful to
give myself the tasks in order and kind of mind
map it out, like, Okay, what needs to go first,
what needs to go second? And then use the dates

(18:54):
column from the template because it's already programmed in there
for you. So now give yourself the permission to put
things off until the deadline is approaching. You won't be behind,
you'll just be right on time, and you can use
that procrastination period productively because you can allow your subconscious

(19:15):
mind to start working on the problem. And because you've
already taken some action toward the things that you know
you need to do by putting together that strategic list,
you'll feel a little bit of relief as well, and
not so much pressure because you've already gotten started innocence.
I can't tell you how many times I've struggled with

(19:38):
a writing project or something on my to do list,
and then I step away from it for a day,
maybe even sometimes a few hours, and then suddenly I
have the perfect solution that pops into my mind. It
could happen while I'm on a walk, it could happen
while I'm in the shower, but it always happens, especially

(19:59):
when I just give myself a break. Now, let's address
the emotional side of being a hard work and lazy girl,
because it's not just about productivity hacks. It's also about
overcoming the guilt that we feel and this self judgment
that can come along with this sort of conflicting identity

(20:19):
that we've now identified. Like I talked about at the
top of the episode, society loves to put people in boxes.
You're either a hustler or you're lazy. But the reality
is most of us exist somewhere in this messy middle
area and that is okay. In fact, it's more than okay.
It's human. We are just humans trying to navigate and survive.

(20:45):
But so here's your permission, slip to embrace both sides
of yourself. The part that can work with incredible focus
and intensity and be an executor, and the part that
needs rest. It needs leisure, it needs fun, it needs
mindless things, and sometimes it just wants to take the

(21:07):
easy way out. Oop. So remember rest isn't the opposite
of productivity, it's an essential part of it. Your lazy
quote unquote moments are often when your brain is integrating information,
it's recovering from intense effort, it's preparing for the next

(21:27):
burst of productivity. So let's recap our takeaways from this episode.
This is for all the hard working lazy girls out there.
We have solutions, we have a plan, we have it
all mapped out because we're strategic lazy girls. Strategy Number one,
identify your natural energy peaks and schedule accordingly. Number two

(21:51):
use time blocking work with your natural rhythm of intense focus,
followed by, of course rest strategy number three, ruthlessly automate
or eliminate tasks that don't deserve your energy. Strategy number four,
create implementation intentions to reduce the decision fatigue strategy number

(22:12):
five practice strategic procrastination when it's appropriate. And finally, remember
that rest is productive activity. It's not failure, it's productivity
at its finest. The hard work and lazy girl isn't
flawed or inconsistent. We're efficient, we're strategic, and we're in

(22:34):
tune with our energy needs. Hell, that is very important.
So by embracing both sides of this identity that we have,
we can achieve remarkable things, astonishing results, while also honoring
our need for rest and rejuvenation. I hope you've been
able to take all of that in. Let it sit

(22:56):
with you, let it marinate with your spirit, and see
how it feels. I'd love to hear from you what
you thought about this conversation on the hardworking lazy Girl.
Are you a hardworking lazy girl, and maybe which one
of these strategies resonated with you the most. Drop me

(23:16):
a DM on Instagram at Ayana dot Angel, or you
can leave a comment on Spotify if you're a Spotify user.
I don't know if you knew this, but that's a
new feature now and I want to play around with
it more. So feel free to leave me a comment there,
and remember you don't have to choose between being productive
and protecting your energy. The magic happens when you learn

(23:40):
to do both. Thank you so much for spending time
with me today. As always, your presence is a pleasure
for me and I appreciate you. And until we meet again,
be well. This podcast is produced by Mazie. Maze Media

(24:01):
is a women led podcast production company that works with
small businesses and corporations. Visit mazemedia dot com for more
details on how you and your organization can go from
ideation to podcasting.

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