Outsourcing Laziness

Today I would like to share one of my guiding principles when it comes to helping people. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and over the years I have come to the personal conclusion that humans are social creatures and their potential can only be maximized when they assist or “help” each other. No one will stop you if you want to get an iphone 4S without data plan, but to maximize its potential, a data plan would be a good idea. No one said that humans cant live alone, but having healthy relationships with others would be a good idea.

We have helped many people throughout our lives, sometimes we end up with a warm fuzzy feeling inside, other times we often feel underappreciated or worst feel cheated for lending assistance. Sometimes we help others only when they ask for assistance, other times we take the “initiative” to help others even without them asking for it. Silently thinking in our hearts that aiding without being ask is somehow a more premium type of assistance compare to if one is asked to aid. I will not address specifics, contextual, circumstantial or hypothetical situations, instead I will introduce a concept to assist the decision make process.

“Outsourcing Laziness” occurs when someone summons for assistance because he or she lacks the *discipline to execute the task according to acceptable standards or even going through the motion itself. Note here that the individual is both able and possess the time to bear the task him/herself but instead decides to off load the task(s) to another individual or group. Here the person is considered as “lazy”, this “lazy” individual would than via discourse, rhetoric, deception or any other means outsource the task at hand to another person or group to commence or complete.
As a principle, social human beings in my opinion should always and without fails aid and assist those who are unable to aid themselves, as long as one is able to aid, one should aid. Note here also that ability or able-ness is not narrowly defined as physical ability but also takes into consideration time. If one is physically or intellectually able but pressed for time, he or she is considered unable as well.

Let us consider a scenario, I am a person who always aids others unconditionally and I consistently assist two individuals, one who outsources laziness (Thomas) and other who is unable to aid himself (Jason). Over time, Thomas would take me for granted because he knows that even without me he still can execute the tasks, and in all likelihood continue to enjoy my services and become even more lazy himself. But James, who is clearly aware that he is unable to assist himself, would value and appreciate me. At every opportunity, James would try to find a way to take on the task himself so that he can be independent. Should that happen, he would be able to free me and I would be glad that I helped me and both parties would walk away feeling positive. Even if he is unable to replace me and I end up aiding forever, he would likewise forever be appreciative and goodwill will be generated.

But for Thomas, the vicious cycle can only be broken by me, the aider and not the aided because at the core of the issue, the intention is destructive. I am being exploited by Thomas, and over time I will feel underappreciated and sore, soon I will break the cycle on bitter terms and Thomas would have to find another to outsource his laziness to.
My examples are mono tasked, overly simplistic makes heroic assumptions about the nature of humans. But operationally I find it useful, aid those who cannot aid themselves, reject the call for assistance of those who summon you because they were too lazy to do it himself. Goodwill cannot be found in aiding those who seek to exploit the good nature of people, whereas it can be found in abundance when aiding the unable.

Time is our most precious resource, why? Because it is a non-renewable resource, it is limited and each of us does not know how much of it we have. Be selective about who and how we are spending this resource on. The synergy of “who” and “how” creates a tinted lens over our mind’s eye, affecting how we see other human beings. Spend time helping the unable and you will find that your life is full of appreciative people, spend time with people who exploit you by outsourcing their laziness to you and you will find yourself surrounded by crafty foxes.

So… what are you doing with who later?

*Here discipline is conceptualized as the quality possessed by a person to execute actions considered undesirable by the person.