When the lazy man yawns the market women hear
The lazy Man likes to prolong action, he wishes that it rains so he can sleep
It’s no use telling a lazy man not to sleep, the day of his shame is nearer than ever.
The lazy man hears about a sumptuous meal of pounded yam, and draws a chair
He hears of a journey to the farm and carelessly throws away the cutlass
The lazy man cannot strike the palm tree for wine
Neither can he shoot at the dove for meat.
The lazy man gets to the palm tree and opens his mouth
Yes, it must drop for free!
What you have just read about is my conversion to English of a poem I learnt in Yoruba class in Secondary School. Let me give you the raw form so that just in case you understand the language it can make some sense to you. If you don’t understand Yoruba, please feel free to skip this part.
{Ole yan oloja gbo
Ole afajo, o in ojo ki ba ro, ki oun raye sun
A kii so pe ki ole ma sun, ojo ete re ku is dede
Ole gbo ti iyan, o fa ijoko mora
Ole gbo ti oko, o so ada nu pereku pere
Ole o le sagi logbe, Beeni ki le ta adaba lofa
O de idi ope, o gbenu soke,
Ofe nin ro}
In my recent meditations, I have come to realize that the majority of human beings are lazy. How do you know when someone is lazy? It is quite simple, from the poem above, and most importantly from the holy book, we can arrive at clear characteristics of a lazy person.
1. Delay
A lazy person likes to delay. Delays action, delays decisions, delays to do the things he knows he ought to do. Laziness is characterized by delays. I will do it later, next week or month end. The lazy person silently wishes that while he or she is waiting, something will happen that will make the wait eternal.
“The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth” – Prov 26:15
2. Sleep
A lazy person loves to sleep. The day breaks just too early, to early for the lazy person to be well rested. When you are idle, there are many things you can do other than sleep. The lazy person sleeps. Sleep here does not always however mean closing your eyes and lying down. You are sleeping when your brain is not in gear, you are sleeping when you have a love relationship with nothing, that is you are doing nothing and nothing is doing you.
”As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed” – Prov 26:14
3. Excuses
The lazy or slothful person invented excuses. Excuses are also reasons, but they are reasons for failure not reasons for succeeding. They are excuses for not doing what they should have done, or not being where they should have been. The lazy man cannot go into the market because he figures that there is a lion in the street. He perceives hindrances to his achievement and creates more reasons to fail than to succeed.
”Loafers say, “It’s dangerous out there! Tigers are prowling the streets!” and then pull the covers back over their heads.” – Prov 26:13
4. Planless
They say to fail to plan is to plan to fail. If you have lofty goals or great dreams, those define the upper limits of your achievements. If you prepare and have plans, those are the lower limits of your aspirations. In other words, your dreams define how high you’ll ever rise, and your plans show how low you can fall. If you have big dreams and no plans, you life will be frustrated and out of order. Lazy people do not plan. The same spirit of delay and procrastination makes them put off planning until execution. You can look at the work of a lazy person, and identify laziness by how much planning went into the enterprise.
“One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones, and then passed the vineyard of a lout; They were overgrown with weeds, thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.” – Prov 24:30-31
5. Poor
The word POOR has been reduced into a useful acronym for Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly. The lazy man regularly passes over opportunities. He takes things absolutely easy, he plays it safe, and he ventures nothing and vanquishes nothing. The lazy man usually ends up poor. I know many people are likely to reason that poverty is not always caused by laziness, but tell me, is poverty a result of hardwork? Laziness and poverty are covenant partners, where laziness abounds, poverty is around the corner. If you want to host poverty, simply nap frequently, take a few days off, sit back and take things easy.
“A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy–do you know what comes next? Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, with poverty as your permanent houseguest!” – Proverbs 24:33,34
Laziness is a plague besieging lots of people in third world countries. We need to wrestle ourselves free from laziness, idleness and cowardice.
You are right.A Lazy person should be left to suffer.
Hmmm, Deolu again!
One thing I have come to accept is the that the key to succcess = the speed of application. Delay is dangerous. Nice piece.
Oro loso ore mi. Many people actually will not agree that they are lazy, but they have been doing the same thing for years with little to show for it and they are too lazy to look at alternatives.So in order to cover up their laziness in considering other alternatives and staying in their comfort zone, they put up seeming acts of hard work, doing the same things and expecting same results!
They pass over opportunities repeatedly and remain poor! One of the best opportunities for anyone today is to get involved in Holidays and cash and secure their future.
Head on to http://www.holidaysandcash.com/mayorking and register for a great product and free business opportunity.
All you lazy people take heed now and …….
I enjoyed the post but so bad I could not read the Yoruba ….well I skipped it.
I got the juiciest part of the comment space….
Good post CM,
So much attention is paid to the aggresive sins, such as violence, greed and cruelty with all their tragic effect, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and LAZINESS, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.
I like the way you approached the topic and the quotes, they work perfectly!
it is a real fact procastination is the thief of time.What pain me most is that people that procastinate and lazy did not know dat they are playing with their life.keep on deolu we are enjoying u.
A little sleep, a little slumber … A little folding of arms …
Onething i’ve discovered about lazy people is that thet have ideas, skills, dreams and infact all God has deposited man to rise to stardon but the issue is that they are never willing or eager to act even with the awareness that all these are in them is there.
lazy people live around us and infact are closer to us thatn we least expect but we can help them realize that “YES WE CAN”- OBAMA.
CAUTION! CAUTION!! CAUTION!!!:: do not be too carefree with lazy people because laziness is contageous.
thanks Deolu you made a cogent point. i’ll tell somebody about it. its very loaded with lessons
tell the lazy man that: it is not a crime to start small but a chronic sin to remain small
Hmmmm Deolu, this is good food for thought and an interesting admonishment…infact its a revelation on laziness we required to make necessary adjustments in our lifestyle… thanks a lot…
I wish some of us that respond would own up to the fact that we exhibit some of these behavioral traits once in a while..
Tis is inspiring.I like this,”Your dreams define how high you’ll ever rise, and your plans show how low you can fall. If you have big dreams and no plans, you life will be frustrated and out of order.” Thank you, Oga D!
Laziness also includes unproductive, underutilized, doing less when you can do more. not maximizing one’s capacity, not doing the job you are getting paid for. God has deposited in everyone what it takes to maximize productivity. Deolu, thanks for those words.
Lovely
Great stuff!
Great piece, bro deolu
Word
thanks for this
Cross checking my life against these lists.
Thank you brother.
Laziness has rob so many people of their destinies.
Reading this wonderful piece has one or two lessons to teach me.
God bless you.
sumtimes too much procastination is a result of laziness and u can lose so much by doing so. I’ll rather be running around and be looking for opportunities than sit at a place with all the wondreful ideas that am not putting to work. Once again Deolu u did justice to this topic.
i love the acronym of poor.i want to believe that what makes one rich or poor is the opportuny one maximises. this is really a wonderful write up with all the quotes to always keep us in check.
He that do not work must not eat 2Thess 2:10, also the poor shall not cease in the land Duet 15:11, well it all about choice. You can choose to be hard working and be poor or Smart working and be wealthy. Anyway the bible said it all, they should go the ant and learn Prov 6:6, If they are too big to learn from the right source. Thank you Chairman for the piece you will never run dry.
Deep stuff.
At times, Laziness also includes just meeting required expectation. the required time and energy to earn a minimum wage. the reqiured job description from your employer. the required reading to just pass an exam. . . itusually begins from when we give excuses that it’s not too bad yet. Oga D, if you would remember,
“Excuses are for the incompetent,
they are monuments for fools
those who use them are not wise.”
Actoin is the manifestation of learning just as “faith without work is dead”learning without action isn’t learning
Inspired piece..dem say when person when be orphan see where parents de advice their children, he go listen! Thanks for this admonition..i dey try but i still lazy!..knowing Jesus Christ went about doing good, healing , speaking and moving from city to city through mountainous terrains on feet..yet he had time to commune with God ,waking up early to do so….plus many other activities he was involved in while on earth has made me know..that though i am trying..i have to talk less and do more !..my consolation sometimes is; he no get family like me..spouse and children plus all the modern day distractions.like internet..facebook, skype, blogs, gsm, etc.. All excuses of a lazy person! lol! ,anyhow God will help us all not to be lazy in Jesus name amen! Me, myself and i especially! This piece na word o! Thanks again!
my challenge is bn able to marry reasonable & justifiable hardwork and the place of grace. Yes tendercy is man needs an external force to propel him to work which normally reverse should be the case. But then i have seen that the race is not to the swift nor battle to the strong but the LORd He grants mercy! He would have mercy(and favour) on whom HE chooses…however not the indolent & the lazy……….
My prayer: Lord, please open our inner mind, hears, eyes and senses to know what our time of visitation is while we dilligently work in expectation. Amen!
In every man is a trace of laziness disease, only hard work is the drug that cures it.Let us pay now to play later.
Thanks for this my great coach, procrastination has taken a lot from men & women of virtue, the only panacea is taking doses of hardwork all the time.NB: No side effects
a lazy doesn’t lack srength, he just lacks will or motivation. hw then can it be cured? get enuf reason to do it. whatever attacks ur motivation is an enemy of ur soul. deal with it ruthlessly….pray, submit urself to be mentored…….just be motivated….
You are just too much for this generation Deolu.You know what,that’s just one of the ravaging scourges of this generation.A lazy youth would find it hard to succeed,its as simple as that.
Deolu,
this is a good piece;
there is more to learn here. this is in consonance with a piece I read in Proverb 30 this where Solomon was eulogising the industry of an ant and the rock badgers.. I discover that issue of life interrelate in 3 forms; Look at this ; idleness, laziness and slothfulness whereby the peak of it is slothfuness which is actually attitudinal.
True talk….Thanks
Great post my brother.
@Biddy Nice contribution.
We cannot afford to be lazy.
the Teacher says “a little sleep a little slumber and poverty will come upon you like a whirl wind”.
i keep pondering on this issue because laziness does not come on invitation but it comes un noticed and suddenly it takes charge of the whole life.
once again, thumbs up Baba DEE.
it is only a fool that will still be lazy in our world today.the facts speak for themselves. the ongoing global economic crisis,inflation and rise in all commodities. in fact things have become worse! so who will still wait and hope things will meet him/her in his comfort zone?if anybody like that is existing, he/she will die of hunger.
A friend of mine has just confirmed my proposition about the fact that laziness is contageous.
when you are in a place and somebody is saying i wish i could do this thing and it is practicable that indeed he can but is refusing to and you too can afford to, please hurry and do it before his laziness catches up with you.
watch for an artilce on: THAT IS NOT MY JOB!
lazy men love to reap where thy did not sow. “he hears of a sumptous meal of pounded yam and he draws his chair…” even when he did not do anything to bring the pounded yam to that state. you will know the worth of and enjoy the food you prepared yourself than a meal you interpolated.
the scripture says: God who gives seed to the sower will muliply the seed sown…” ie He blesses the work of your own hand.
THIS IS THE ARTICLE ON: NOT MY JOB!
THIS IS THE STORY ABOUT FOUR PEOPLE NAMED EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY AND NOBODY. THERE WAS AN IMPORTANT JOB TO BE DONE. AND IF IT WAS DONE, IT WILL GO A LONG WAY TO BETTER THE LOT OF THESE AFOREMENTIONED. AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS STATED THUS: EVERYBODY WAS SURE THAT SOMEBODY WOULD DO THE JOB. ANYBODY COULD HAVE DONE IT BUT NOBODY DID IT. SOMEBODY GOT ANGRY ABOUT THAT BECAUSE IT WAS EVERYBODY’S JOB. EVERYBODY THOUGHT ANYBODY COULD DO IT, BUT NOBODY REALIZED THAT EVERYBODY BLAMED SOMEBODY WHEN NOBODY DID WHAT EVERYBODY COULD HAVE DONE.
no wonder it was said that, no food for lazy man.
laziness is failure in the making. habitual laziness is an unconscious conscious invitation to failure because our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
Failure is blindness to the strategic element in events; success is readiness for instant action when the opportune moment arrives. There is no impossibility to him who stands prepared to conquer every hazard.
The fearful are the failing. They fail, and they alone, who have not striven.
We learn wisdom from failure much more than success. We often discover what we will do, by finding out what we will not do.
I was never afraid of failure, for I would sooner fail than not be among the best.