Laziness is a great motivator

A nice way to spend the day

I talk to a lot of people about what I'm doing. I make my living selling products online, I work about 4 hours a day for 5 days a week. I am a fairly lazy person, which gives me a lot of motivation to find ways of avoiding work. In fact, you could say that I work hard at avoiding work! I am seen, though, as a person in the do category. This is because I found a way of leaving my job and making a living (although modest) independently. My ambition is not to make a lot of money, instead I view free time as more valuable than money and luxuries. If I make a lot of money doing what I do, then great. But I count excess earnings as a byproduct not the goal.

Many people I talk to are very interested in what I do. Most simply don’t believe it could work for them. A number of others will object that it is too much work. Until I point out that I work for 4 hours a day and that they do 7 to 8 hours. They have to go to work and I stay at home or, if I want to, I go out.

I think it mainly comes down to two factors. The first is what do you want? The second is how averse to risk are you?

There is no denying that there is some risk involved in running your own business, but I believe that if you do your groundwork and research properly you can reduce your exposure. I also believe that no job is secure, especially in the current climate. So I would say that you can’t actually rely on your job. I would suggest that in fact you can only really rely upon yourself for your future. Which brings us to the first factor.

So, what do you want? If you truly desire a career and are working your way up the ladder to your goal then nothing that I say will change your mind. That’s OK with me. Ask yourself, though, if when you arrive at your goal it will actually be what you want. Perhaps talk to people who are there already and see if the amount of effort and time they put in is worth it. Still happy to carry on? Great, enjoy it. If you change your mind there’s always another way.

If you are like me though (and I don’t just mean lazy) you will have a different agenda. A job and a career is just not a satisfactory life choice. There must be another way. That has gnawed at me pretty much from my first job right up to the last one I had. I don’t feel that I am cut out to be an employee. Also I am not a workaholic, or in fact keen on hard work at all. So I spent a lot of time thinking about a way out that would give me control over my time and would let me earn as much money as I need while not overdoing it on the hard work front.

So, what do you want? A career or enough to live on and free time? Either option is valid. But for me there can only be one choice.

Below is a link to a book that helped me on my journey.