Several of my favorite people describe themselves as lazy. I always argue this point with them. Because if it were true, they would not be my favorite people, all of whom are type A for ACTION. I was also projecting my terror.

Curious, I decided to stop arguing with them and ask what lazy means.

My stage manager told me that he goes to great lengths to avoid repetitive tasks by building systems for them. He’s aware that this takes more time .

He also explained that there’s a list of things that go undone. I called it his “lazy list”. I have one of those too. And our lists have something in common. Those are all the things that don’t have a real person attached to them. They might be quite crucial to our wellbeing, but if no one else is paying attention, they don’t rise to the top of the priority lists. The things we do are things that are deliverable. Someone else is waiting for them. And, importantly, we anticipate being praised when we finish. If that moment of completion and accomplishment doesn’t come, we feel empty, confused, and frustrated.

While other people are allergic to accountability, we’re addicted to it.

What’s interesting about this is that we are both rather solitary sorts. We can work for days without missing human contact. We do have social needs. They are to be recognized for our work.

I think some folks might pathologize us, saying that we don’t need to earn recognition through work. That may be true, but perhaps we just like earning it that way. A case in point is that we are happiest together when we face a task together. When we just face one another, it’ a bit boring. For us work is a way of feeling intensely connected.