I work a rather demanding job and I’ve constantly been feeling tired and underperformant compared to my colleagues for the past few months. I keep evading responsibilities or putting them off until the last minute.
Many people would kill to be where I am. Yet, I show up every day unmotivated.
There were several stressful years leading up to my current job and I’m wondering if I’m burnt out at this point or if I’m just not pulling my weight.
Edit: Thank you all for your support and guidance. I haven’t given too many details here, but personal life has been moving along smoothly, chores get done, etc. But I definitely need to reconsider where I’m going with my job.
There’s no such thing as “lazy”. It’s always, always, always a word used to make someone feel guilty for hitting a personal limit or threshold.
Even if you want to work on those thresholds and improve them, you can achieve that without framing yourself as fundamentally selfish and uncaring.
Lazy exists. I am a fully capable person, but some times I just don’t want to get up off the couch and wash the dishes, or finish painting the wall trim. Its not that I am sad, tired or depressed, it’s just I’d rather be doing something else or nothing else.
That’s not laziness, that’s looking after yourself and your own needs, and prioritising that over non urgent chores.
At some point, the balance changes, and you do the stuff.
And if the balance doesn’t change, and you always put it off, even when you shouldn’t be, there’s something going on behind it.
What going on is I don’t feel like doing it LOL.
I worked with a former autoworker, his job was inspecting roof seal adhesive and hitting the button for next car. He said he sat in a chair and read a book and would push the button with his foot. I asked how he could see roof glue, he said “I could not see it, I just pushed the button” . Too me that is the essence of a lazy person. It was not related to physical or mental overload, he was a sports guy etc. He just didn’t want to inconvienece himself with getting out of the chair or interrupt his book reading.
That’s not mental overload, it’s the opposite. It’s a job without mental stimulation, boring, repetitive and requires very little cognitive processing. And people doing jobs like that seek stimulation to escape perpetual boredom.
Give that guy a job that didn’t bore him to tears, and the picture would have been very different.
As I said, it’s always about hitting a threshold, and boredom is a threshold. And if an employer cares about quality, rather than the appearance of quality, they’d have designed that job differently.
We worked in a high paced Engineering office together, after the auto job, he would put his feet up and pile boxes near his desk to avoid working and read a book. There was more than enough stimulation available, he would just rather do what he wanted than work. Not everthing is the employers’ doing, some people just make poor choices, even given opportunity.
thank you for this.
I think there is such a thing as lazy, but it’s when you push your responsibilities off onto another person solely because you can get away with it. The ex who leaves the dishes dirty and tells you, “I don’t know, they just come better when you wash them”, for instance.
Genuinely well said.
I had panic attacks just before start working, and my productivity was quite low. I hope you don’t reach that kind of reaction before looking for help.
I used to feel like I was going to throw up every morning before work. Didn’t happen on weekends.
I had one of the most desirable jobs in my field. It was one that everyone thought was very cool when I was asked. I got burnt out. I was sad and depressed every day. When I was done with work, I didn’t want to do anything that required energy. I just sat and watched tv or similar. That’s burnt out.
I am extremely lazy at my current job. It’s a pretty easy job, but I resent being assigned more responsibility (happened the other day). The added responsibility isn’t that difficult and only happens one day per week, but I’m still annoyed. After work, I pretty much scroll Lemmy and watch streaming content, but I don’t feel used up; I’m just lazy. That’s lazy.
The difference is when you can’t do more vs you choose to do less. It’s subjective. Good luck!
The word “lazy” exists for exploiters to shame their thralls if they aren’t profiting them enough. Think about anyone who might call you lazy and their relationship to you. They are not your friends; you don’t have to serve them.
If you’re not satisfied with how you’re living your life, that’s meaningful. The protection from loss you have gained through your job doesn’t balance against the stress of what you’re doing. There are no easy answers but something needs to change. I would suggest working on those changes before you get burned all the way out, because at that point you’ll be making changes whether you want to or not.
I am really sorry that you are going through this. I really appreciate all of the people in these comments who are dispelling the myth of laziness. It’s hard not to fall into the hole of guilt and shame, and it’s something I really needed to hear right now. But to me it does sound like you are experiencing burnout, and maybe depression? I have ADHD and after about the 1 year mark I get very bored with work and it starts to take a very real toll on me so I start to under perform and it makes me feel really guilty. So I am trying to be more kind to myself and give myself some grace and acceptance.
There is is “being lazy” thats just capitalism way of saying you’re not making your boss or society enough money.
Enjoy your life.
Might be depression, at least it was for me
You don’t sound lazy from your description. The people here claiming that there’s no such lazy are fucking crazy though.
My humble opinion: burnout exists, laziness doesn’t
Laziness is a buzzword concept to describe way too many states of mind, downplaying the causes of lack of motivation.
I think there are some words that, if avoided, allow deeper investigation into important things, and “lazy” is in the top 10 of that list
Are you sure you’re underperforming, or is that just an idea you came up with yourself? Have you talked to a boss or manager about their expectations for your role and if you are meeting those expectations?
It may just be a self-sabotaging thought, and getting confirmation that you are meeting expectations could let you relax and work at a preferred or natural pace without stressing about your performance.
Take a vacation and see if that improves things. If so, burnout. If not, look for other reasons that you’re lacking motivation.
Try to rule out mental health issues first.
You might have autism/ADHD/ADD/depression.Is either diagnosis really helpful in figuring out a solution?
One could be rehabilitation, the other discipline?
