Why laziness can be good (worksheet)

We keep telling our students that they need to find motivation and keep working hard to achieve their goals. But what if being lazy can also help them to become successful? Are you surprised? Your students will be no less surprised with the idea of this lesson.

This worksheet is designed for students of Higher Intermediate, Upper Intermediate and further levels if they are 14 or older. With these tasks, your students will be able to discuss the notion of laziness, prove their point of view, practice their reading skills and learn new phrasal verbs.

Task 1. Getting started

Do you consider yourself a lazy person?

Has anyone ever called you lazy? Who? Why?

Do you support the opinion that lazy people cannot become successful? Can you find any proof to back up this point of view?

Measure the level of your laziness with this fun quiz.

Task 2. Guess the competition

Look at the picture. Answer the questions.

1. What do you think the people in the picture are doing?
2. What type of competition can it be? Do you think these people may be competing in doing nothing? 
3. Is it a good idea for a competition? Why do you think so? Would you win this competition? 
4. How can one benefit from lazing around?

Task 3. Before watching

Discuss the questions below.

1. What do you think could be the reasons for being lazy? 
2. Are some people lazier than others? Why do you think so? 
3. Is laziness a choice or genetic trait?
4. Do the Internet and social media make our brains lazier? 

Task 4. Learning new words

Read the sentences paying attention to the words in bold. Try to figure out their meaning.

Knowing these words will help you to understand the video you’re going to watch in the next step.

1. He is looking for an excuse next time someone levels that accusation at him.
2. Society may not approve of laziness.
3. Inactive and unmotivated people are looked down upon, while driven workers are held in high esteem.
4. It turns out lazy is a derogatory word for efficient.
5. If they wanted to save some effort, they needed to get lazy and adjust how they walked.
6. You are hardwired to “be lazy”.
7. Do lazy people and their inactivity infuriate you?

Now, match the words in bold to their definitions.

1. Effort
2. Hard-wired
3. turn out
4. Infuriate
5. Approve
6. Adjust
7. look down upon somebody
8. hold someone in high esteem
9. Accusation
10. Derogatory

1. a statement made against a person that they have done something wrong;
2. to prove to be the case;
3. to have a positive opinion of someone or something;
4. to admire someone; 
5. to consider someone less intelligent or less successful than you;
6. showing a disrespectful attitude;
7. change so that you can fit in, conform, or keep on going;
8. a basic ability that cannot be changed;
9. make (someone) extremely angry;
10. attempt to do something;

Keys: 1 -j; 2 -h; 3 -b; 4 -i; 5 -c; 6 -g; 7 -e; 8 -d; 9 -a; 10 -f;

Task 5. Working out with vocabulary

Fill in the gaps with the words from the previous exercise:

1. Are you doing this on purpose just to … me?
2. It took ancient people too much … to look up at the sun to measure time.
3. No one believed her wild … against her husband.
4. It didn’t take long for Adrianna to … to her new job.
5. I told my mother I wanted to leave school but she didn’t …
6. The stalking may be done online, where a person posts … comments on your profile.
7. The house they had offered us … to be a tiny apartment.
8. I’ve always held my father … for his hard work to provide for us.
9. There’s a popular opinion that animals are not … to feel regret, rage or even fear when they die.
10. I have no idea why some people … those who speak with an accent — that means they know at least two languages!

Keys: 1. infuriate; 2.effort; 3.accusation; 4. adjust; 5. approve; 6. derogatory; 7. turned out; 8. high esteem; 9. hard-wired; 10. look down upon.

Task 6. Watching the video

Watch the video. Tick the points the speaker in the video mentions.

The speaker mentions that:

1. there is a gene for laziness;
2. being lazy is an evolutionary advantage;
3. people are hard-wired to be proactive;
4. laziness results from a desire to be energy-efficient;
5. heart attacks aren’t connected with laziness;
6. being lazy is good in the long-term perspective;
7. one should find a balance between being lazy and working.

Keys: 2, 4, 7

Task 7. After watching

Agree or disagree with the following statements. Prove your point.  

1. People are hard-wired to be lazy.
2. Necessity is the mother of invention, and laziness is invention’s dad.
3. If you are really clever, you’ll know when it’s time to get off your backside and do work.
4. Technological inventions are all a product of people’s laziness.
5. There’s no such thing as laziness. It’s just a habit of resting.
6. Even though laziness might appear attractive, it doesn’t give satisfaction.

Task 8.Before reading

Look at the pictures and say if you know any of these people. What do you know about them? What do you think they all have in common?

The speaker mentions that:

1. there is a gene for laziness;
2. being lazy is an evolutionary advantage;
3. people are hard-wired to be proactive;
4. laziness results from a desire to be energy-efficient;
5. heart attacks aren’t connected with laziness;
6. being lazy is good in the long-term perspective;
7. one should find a balance between being lazy and working.

Keys:

2, 4, 7

Task 7. After watching

Agree or disagree with the following statements. Prove your point.  

1. People are hard-wired to be lazy.
2. Necessity is the mother of invention, and laziness is invention’s dad.
3. If you are really clever, you’ll know when it’s time to get off your backside and do work.
4. Technological inventions are all a product of people’s laziness.
5. There’s no such thing as laziness. It’s just a habit of resting.
6. Even though laziness might appear attractive, it doesn’t give satisfaction.

Task 8.Before reading

Look at the pictures and say if you know any of these people. What do you know about them? What do you think they all have in common?

Keys: Pablo Picasso, Isaac Newton, Dmitriy Mendeleev, Albert Einstein.

Task 9. Reading

Look at the title of the text you are going to read. What 7 reasons do you think will be mentioned?

7 Reasons Why Lazy People Are More Likely To Be Successful

Read the text and put the heading above the suitable paragraph.

— Prioritizing

— Energy-saving mode

— Creative thinking

— Entrepreneurial skills

— Helpful technologies

— High efficiency

— Regular string

Many great people were said to be incredibly lazy including Einstein, Newton, Picasso, Mendeleev and others. Nevertheless, they managed to achieve unbelievable success and become well-known all over the world. That proves lazy people can actually go far. Here are some reasons lazy people are more likely to be successful.

_________

Lazy people are very creative when it comes to organizing their work. They don’t waste time on unnecessary things and get strict to the point. A lazy employee will always find a way to optimize a repetitive process.

_________

Often lazy people are very enterprising. They have many ideas and projects as their minds are not filled with excessive thoughts and responsibilities. They think in different categories. It is important for them that the work process is not boring and there are guaranteed results at the end.

_________

The most important thing is to know when to relax, as the more energy people expend, the less you have of it to fulfil big plans. People who strain themselves all the time age faster; their memory is falling much quicker.

_________

Lazy people don’t rush everything and don’t jump from one thing to the other all the time. They take the time and get to task after task. 

_________

Lazy people know how to prioritize and to focus on their own goals, not on those imposed by other people. They are simply too lazy to pay attention to other people’s priorities, so they focus on their own.

_________

It actually takes a great mind to be lazy at work. You need to find ways to do nothing for a while and then to complete all the tasks on time. Employees tend to be either smart or stupid, lazy or painstaking. If you are smart and lazy, you probably are the most efficient worker in your company.

_________

Lazy people know about all those things and use them to get the tasks done twice as fast. For example, if they work on a document, they wouldn’t just write it and then send it to a lawyer, editor, manager and other people to check – that would take a lot of time. They would just create a Google Doc, give people access to the document so that they can review the document or make any correction at the same time.

Adapted from www.lifehack.org

Keys: Creative Thinking; Entrepreneurial skills; Energy-saving mode; Regular string; Prioritizing; High efficiency; Helpful technologies.

Task 10. After reading

Discuss the questions

1. What are the benefits of a lazy employee according to the author?
2. Do you tend to proceed slowly between the tasks or jump from one thing to another?
3. Why are lazy people good at prioritising?
4. Are you smart and lazy enough to be an efficient worker in your school/ company?
5. What are some technologies that let you be lazy?

Task 11. Discussion

1. Why do you think laziness isn’t approved in society?
2. Do you look down upon people who are extremely lazy?
3. What kind of people do you hold in high esteem?
4. What kinds of things or people can infuriate you?
5. Can you easily adjust to a new schedule? If you are lazy-bones, how can you adjust to the change with minimal effort?
6. Do you find it derogatory to skip classes? Do only lazy people ditch school?

Task 12. Argument

Agree or disagree with the statement. Find as many points to prove your opinion as possible.

A lazy person is efficient because he always gets things done the easiest way possible.