Are You Lazy? How to Tell in Ten Seconds

There is no doubt that not doing schoolwork is a bad omen, but laziness is an over-applied reason. I can point out you're not lazy in about ten seconds through one simple question...

Do you have any hobbies or interests that excite you? Things that can engulf your attention non-stop; potentially to the point of losing track of time? That is, is there anything you're extremely passionate about doing that takes hard work? If you answer yes to any of these, you're not lazy. There are many examples of this that prove exactly the opposite of the laziness lie...that someone is really incredibly industrious.

Examples are performing arts, whether it be an instrument, dance, or especially group activities like show choirs or theater/stage performing is NOT lazy. Actors can work incredibly brutal schedules, spending 15 hours a day preparing, performing, and rehearsing. Anybody who plays a sport - even if they do NOTHING outside of practices, is still giving as much as they possibly can all the time. Extracurriculars in general give people an outlet as something to take pride in...and are a key debunker of 'laziness' and a savior of self esteem.

Another example is a student who can spend 2-3 hours a day faithfully playing a video game - in particular, I'm talking about players of MMORPGs - examples of which are World of Warcraft, Everquest, Guild Wars or Maple Story. The reason I bring up video games is because they are typically blamed for a student's problems, or worse, the students themselves are called lazy for engaging in these games. Parents and teachers may be aware of the addictive qualities of these games, but they more often than not (unless they are players themselves) fail to understand just how much WORK, TIME and PASSION players pour into improving their characters.

Case in point: I worked very hard on a character I had in a MMORPG (a game like Everquest or World of Warcraft) called Dark Age of Camelot (a level 50 Warden in Hib/Kay with over 1130 AC, if you're wondering); after a year and a half of playing, I checked how much total time was spent in game in this one character: to my embarrassment and astonishment, over 55 days were spent in game. That's over 1300 hours.

Is it fair to call anybody who works on a single project for that long over that kind of timeframe lazy? I don't think so, and I wanted to make a point of this. At its worst, it's misapplied time - but this kind of dedication is a mark of industriousness. Players who have such characters have every right to take a great deal of pride in their accomplishments. They've worked for it! How, then, if all of the above people are so industrious, can they not spend even twenty minutes on their homework? Simple. It's not at all stimulating, and I would hardly call a letter grade "feedback."

Even though I was diagnosed with ADD in second grade, the damaging labels did not creep into the picture until much, much later. How much sense does it make to call a primary schooler lazy? It wouldn't happen until workloads get more intense (middle school, roughly 7th and 8th grades)...which is when the label of 'lazy' starts to creep in like a slow poison. It's just not true - counter any thoughts, implications, or outright accusations of laziness with the above. You deserve better than that. Laziness is not the real issue. The real issue will be covered in another post.