Happy new year, everyone!
I think at this time, coming off the hangover (literally or figuratively) of the holiday season and New Year’s, we could all use a little motivation. After all the resolutions people have put forth the last few days, there is always the trap we all fall into of laziness or lack of motivation. Never a great thing as you’re starting off the new year.
Sometimes, I like to look at other people’s laziness to motivate me. Maybe this will help you too. If nothing else, it is good to laugh at human nature sometimes since we’re all guilty at one time or another. The definition of lazy could have been me on New Year’s Day, after all. But as long as it doesn’t last or become a trend, it is ok to have a lazy day. At least that’s what I tell myself.
So I’ll be making a few observations about other people’s (or my own) laziness which might make you smile, but even more, might make you think twice about your own motivation as we enter this new year.
Part 1 – The Health Club guy challenged by disposing of his towel properly. Yes, it is possible to exude laziness after being well-intentioned and showing up at a health club.
(NOTE: Damn the stereotypes, but I have a feeling this one may apply to men mostly.)
As I alluded to above, January 1 was a lazy day of watching football for me. No thoughts about business or career or anything substantive. But January 2 was when I started snapping into gear. My wife and I, like most of the population it seemed, descended upon our health club. We like our health club, and the facilities are perfect for what we need, and it is big enough that it doesn’t seem overcrowded too often.
One of the things someone would notice right away about the health club is its overall cleanliness and the ridiculous number of towels around the gym, in the locker room, etc. There are also hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of receptacles to throw your soiled, sweaty towels into. These receptacles are all over the place, and are roughly the size of a small dumpster. And there are hundreds of them scattered around the club and in the locker rooms.
I took a mental percentage yesterday of how many towels were left hanging on the edge of the receptacles. Meaning, someone used their towel and then meant to throw the towel into the bin, only they missed and left the soiled towel hanging on the top or outer rim of the bin. Meaning, someone from the cleaning crew or maintenance had to then finish the job later.
40% of the time – 4 out of every 10 bins I took note of around the common areas of the gym – had towels hanging on the rim. That percentage went to 100% in the men’s locker room. Every receptacle I saw had at least one dirty towel hanging on it, and not fully down in the bottom of the bin.
A few things to note: I’m not a “neat freak”, these were just observations. The club itself is a pretty upscale place, so you’re talking about a clientele that is pretty successful and, you wouldn’t think, predisposed to laziness (or so it would seem).
Yet, for all the good people do by showing up at a health club, motivated to get in shape in the first place – they can’t put throw their towels all the way down the huge bins so others don’t have to handle them? This is lazy, no? First of all, if you miss the bin, you’re a terrible shot. These things are like 3x the diameter of a basketball hoop. Second of all, if you miss the bin, you can’t just take the extra five seconds and correct your terrible shot?
The morale of the story: most people, even the most well-intentioned people, are a little bit lazy. If you make an extra effort to dispose of your towel properly, you’ll be ahead of most in this example. But there is a parallel here for people and business: it isn’t good enough to just show up (in this example, showing up at the health club). You have to dot the i’s and cross the t’s in whatever it is you do (in this example, finishing the job of disposing your towel) – because most people don’t, and you will stand out even more.
