Smart laziness
Have you ever sped up your pace (or even started running) when you see someone passing through a door you'll use next? Even when they're holding it open for you, you rush because you think "I don't want to reopen the door."
I’ve done this many times. In most cases, it’s not very smart—and it perfectly illustrates how we often confuse being lazy with being efficient.
The couch test
Let me explain with a simple example from my home life.
My fiancé, after dinner, prefers to lie on the couch for a few minutes before getting up to wash the dishes. I think it’s very difficult to get motivated once you’re comfortable, so when it’s my turn, I wash the dishes immediately and then relax.
Both behaviors are lazy, but I think mine is smart laziness. (I love you anyway, Marta!)
The difference? Timing the effort for maximum efficiency, not minimum discomfort.
The monthly nightmare
Since I started working as a developer, I’ve had to track my time in software or Excel files—logging which projects, clients, or tickets I worked on. In Italy we call this consuntivazione (roughly “final balance” in English).
For most of my colleagues, this is pure torture.
But here’s what I noticed: I update my timesheet every day, sometimes two or three times. Meanwhile, my colleagues postpone it until month-end, then spend hours reconstructing their work from desktop text files and commit histories. Picture this: you’re on vacation at the beach, and suddenly you remember you need to submit your timesheet by midnight.
That’s not lazy—that’s self-sabotage.
The F5 revelation
Last week my boss asked me to give a two-hour presentation about test automation to my colleagues.
Here’s my confession: I’ve read articles and books on testing. I’ve experimented in personal projects, but I’ve NEVER written tests in a company environment. That terrifies me.
But I’ll be honest with my team and hope the presentation sparks conversation.
Because here’s what I’ve realized: test automation is the ultimate smart laziness. Yet for years, I thought hitting F5 repeatedly in Visual Studio was “more efficient.”
It’s not. It’s just procrastination disguised as productivity.
The documentation trap
The pattern shows up everywhere. Writing documentation during development versus scrambling to document everything months later when clients demand training.
Your brain tricks you: “I’ll do it later when I have more time.”
But later never comes with more time—it comes with less context, frustrated clients, and the compounding stress of everything you’ve postponed.
The simple truth
Smart laziness means recognizing when a little work upfront saves you from much more work down the line.
Regular laziness feels easier in the moment but costs you exponentially more energy over time.
The question isn’t whether you’re lazy—we all are. The question is whether you’re strategically lazy.
What this really means
Here’s what I’ve learned about timing effort:
- Be respectful to future you - because present you can be wrong about what’s “easier”
- Be patient with the process - because you don’t control when problems surface
- Ask yourself: “When will this be easier?” - then act accordingly
- Think systems, not tasks - small consistent actions beat heroic last-minute efforts
The uncomfortable truth
You already know which tasks you’re postponing. You know which doors you’re running toward instead of just walking confidently.
The magic isn’t in being more disciplined—it’s in being more honest about the real cost of delay.
What if instead of running toward that door, you just walked calmly, knowing that reopening it takes exactly two seconds and doesn’t require an awkward sprint?
What would change if you treated your energy like the finite resource it actually is?