Have you seen the latest La-Z-Boy ad campaign? It’s the perfect sentiment for Fall because it celebrates your right to chillax and be lazy!
There’s a humorous kind of lazy vs. the not-so-great kind. You probably know what I’m talking about: The rise of the Lazy Girl jobs. You may have read about Lazy Girl jobs and thought, Excellent—Where do I sign on the dotted line?! But hang on a second—the Lazy Girl phenomenon is filled with fine print.
Make no mistake: The over-indexing, 24/7 culture that drove the Lazy Girl craze needs to go. But the trick is to take the best of the trend and leave behind the gotchas that don’t serve your best interests. So, in the September series, Beat Three Lazy Girl Career Killers, we’ll talk about potential mistakes and how to correct them with work skills.
First, let’s take a run at the Bare Minimum Monday mindset.
I could tell something was off when Julia and I sat down to lunch. She’s usually upbeat, but today, she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
“My cousin is furious. Her new manager gave her a lackluster review,” Julia sighed.
“Wait a minute—are you talking about your hotshot developer cousin?” I asked. “She sounded incredibly qualified.”
“She is, but her new manager saw that she had some time on her hands. So, she encouraged my cousin to pitch in onboarding new hires.”
“That’s great—it means she’s a role model. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is that she’s used to bouncing as soon as she finishes her daily tasks. She’s so efficient that every day seems to be Bare Minimum Monday,” Julia said, shaking her head. “But then she complains she hasn’t been invited to Thursday night happy hour.”
Do you want to know the other name for Bare Minimum Monday? WIIFM. As the case study shows, thinking only about yourself in the short term can be a career killer. Yet here’s the surprise—WIIFM isn’t all bad. It’s reasonable to ask why you’re part of a project or why certain tasks are something only you can do. The gotcha is ending the conversation there. That’s because there’s plenty in it for you.
So, let’s zoom out to consider the big picture. Next, let’s combine people skills with How tactics such as discernment, creativity, and compassion. For instance:
* Do certain tasks recur? Develop astute hacks, like cut and paste clauses, to complete them faster so you’re available for more complex or exciting work.
* Share your insights with others to help them deliver quickly.
* Say yes to colleagues to become known as someone who is knowledgeable, well-intentioned, and willing to invest in others.
As you read the list of quantifiable, marketable competencies, did you see how they also improve your likeability? And when you’re likable and available, you get invited to fun social events, like happy hour!
You might be shaking your head and thinking, But I like keeping to myself—I’m kind of shy. Fair enough. Just make sure to make connections so you don’t accidentally build the here-then-gone reputation of a Lazy Girl. Even superstar producer Shonda Rhimes had to push herself. She said, “If I don’t poke my head out of my shell and show people who I am, all anyone will ever think I am is my shell.”
Here are three ways to beat the Bare Minimum Monday career killer:
Think twice the next time Bare Minimum Monday seems like a good option. Make relationships as important as results.