Brian Tracy explains why people conserve time and energy, calling it laziness. It's neutral: it drives innovation when it pushes us to find faster ways to work, but it also makes us cut corners and waste potential.
Hi, I'm Brian Tracy. And why do people do the things that they do? I've studied behavioral psychology for more than 40 years. I've studied economics for three decades to try to figure out why people behave the way they do. And I've come to the conclusion that each person has certain characteristics which are called human nature. Whenever you hear somebody say, well, that's just human nature, well, that's what they're talking about. Now, the first characteristic of human nature is very easily understood. It's probably the driving force of all behavior. We say that life is made up of the minutes and hours and days of your existence. Well, life is also made up of the amount of energy you have to expend. And since everybody thinks economically, they call human beings homose economicus. We all think economically. We try to conserve the amount of time and energy you spend on any element in their life. The result of this instinctive way of acting is laziness. Everyone is lazy. Laziness is a natural trait. It's neither good nor bad. And it can be expressed in both a positive and negative way. The good side of laziness is when you are finding faster, cheaper and easier ways to accomplish your goals. This is the motive force behind all advancement in human civilization. Laziness in a positive way has driven improvements in technology, manufacturing, production, agriculture, transportation, medicine, education, always finding faster ways to get the same result with a lower expenditure. Top time, energy and money. It's the driving force of all progress. Now, there's a dark side of laziness as well. This is the part that you're familiar with. Laziness causes people to cut corners, to slack off, to waste time and to contribute less. And the less you contribute, the less value your contribution has. Laziness is bad in this sense because it robs the potential of the individual who practices it. It undermines his possibilities in the present and undermines his hopes for the future. But laziness in and of itself is neutral. It is only the way in which it is expressed that allows one to make a positive or negative judgment about it. In our next session, I'll talk about the next characteristic of human nature.
