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Photo by Jeff Sanders

I took this picture while waiting for a train back to Prague in the Spring of 2006.  The two women next to the tracks were unwilling participants but I always have to take a great shot when I see it.  Anyway, I was returning from a weekend in Karlovy Vary, a famous spa town on the western border of the Czech Republic.  Karlovy Vary is a small town where the most excitement anyone experiences is being massaged by a Russian woman whose strength could rival that of an NFL linebacker.  Tourists comprise the vast majority of the population and a typical day involves napping, being massaged, gambling, drinking well water that makes you sick, napping again, and taking long walks by the river.  So what does this quaint rural town have to do with your success in the real world?  Let’s break it down.

Relax & Breathe

The art of lazy proactivity really is the art of focusing intensely on relaxation.  Being proactive is your ability to make something happen, rather than allowing something to happen to you.  Being lazy is simply an unwillingness to work.  Put those two together, and you have an unwillingness to make something happen, or rephrased, a willingness to let something happen to you.  The latter is what we’ll focus on today.

I’m going to make an assumption about the people who read this blog, you.  My guess is that you’re well-education, driven, lead a busy life, and that you know what makes you happy.  I’ll also make a venture that while orchestrating your busy life you don’t set aside enough time to actually do the things that make you the most happy.  Now, some of you reading this may actually have a great work/life balance and find plenty of time to kick back.  However, for the rest of you, lazy proactivity may be calling your name.

Re-Prioritize Just Slightly

In order to get started on the path to willingly letting things happen to you, begin by asking yourself how much of your life is planned by you and how much is planned by others?  The real gem here is that most people consider themselves to be aggressive when it comes to taking control of their own lives.  But, when you’re offered the chance to relax, do you accept?  If you have a packed evening after work filled with errands to run and projects to complete, would you consider doing the exact opposite?   Meaning, accomplish nothing on the to-do list in place of doing something impulsive.  I am by nature a very left-brained, organized, systematized freak who finds it difficult to not follow a plan and just be.  That’s why trips to spa towns and weekends of doing “nothing” are so important.  (Doing “nothing” here refers to not accomplishing anything on the to-do list over the weekend and feeling really guilty about it on Monday morning).

So, I’m going to challenge you a little bit.  All I’m really asking is for you to just ever-so-slightly prioritize some small time for yourself if you don’t already.  Lay out by the pool, ride your bike, read a book, be social, be anything, just do something!  I have recently discovered a wonderful part of nature called the sun.  The sun and I are now spending quality time together before work and on my days off.  I don’t expect the sun to leave a reminder of its presence burning into my skin every day, but a little bit every now and then wouldn’t hurt.  In fact, I think it would help.  I think my willingness to let the sun happen to me every now and then could make a positive stamp on my life.  It may not get my goals accomplished any faster, but at least I can smile a little bit more, and that makes it all worth it!

Don’t forget to check out my new revolutionary eBook for conquering life after college!

The Clueless Graduate,



Jeff Sanders

Follow @cluelessgrad