Snow day! Well, the closest thing children here ever get to one. Sunday was spent sheltering from the wind, not thinking about the two smashed shutters ripped off in the night, and ignoring the disaster of a garden. There was no internet to check e-mails, all commitments were cancelled, and no electricity to even write this column. What a lovely excuse to be lazy.

Not that I really need an excuse. Lazy is something I seem to do well … and often. I’d rather go out and buy yet another fridge magnet or novelty throw-cushion claiming ‘dull women have immaculate houses’, than actually tidy up.

On wet-hair days I just drive fast with all the windows down and my head slightly sticking out, over primping with a hairdryer. These kinds of timesavers usually do the trick. Yeh, some days when the wind is coming from the wrong direction I arrive looking like Frankenstein … there are trade offs.

Laziness does have its costs. How often has cutting corners, quick fixes or the “easy” option come back to bite me, in the long run? I think the moment that clarified the full extent and effects of my indolence happened a few years ago in England. Leaving a friend’s house, who has one of those circular driveways, I got in the car only to notice someone had left a skateboard in the middle of the road a few feet ahead. Could I be bothered to get back out of the car to move it? No. (Don’t judge). I decided it was less hassle just to back the car out instead. I was in a bit of a hurry and never even saw the … crunch! One of several large, stone mushrooms randomly placed at the edge of her lawn, at fender height, just out of view of the mirror. Stone mushrooms? Really? £300 later to have the muffler ironed out and another £50 to re-cement the darned toadstool, it pained me to laugh at the realisation of just how expensive laziness can be.

Like I shouldn’t have been aware of this, having a drawer stuffed with time-saving gadgets “as seen on TV” — intended to revolutionise my life but actually just gathering dust. I’m a sucker for a sales pitch, especially when the “perfect carrot julienner”, the smoothie-in-a-cup machine, the “no-wipe, dust-repelling, hands-free cleaner” promise to make the job so quick and simple, accompanied by pictures of people sitting, feet-up, on the sofa, drinking tea, with all their new-found time. How lovely. As a lazy person, exactly what I aspire to, one day.

But investment and experience has taught me repeatedly, that too often, in the time it takes to get the apparatus out, use it, wash it up, pack it away again, I could have done the job twice over, and probably better, just with the simple tool I already had in my hand. (Although I do stand by my microwave egg boiler — genius).

Get-rich-quick schemes, the “simple formula” to solve all life’s problems, the “magic diet” where you still eat junk food and don’t have to exercise … sure sound appealing. But I’ve also noticed the correlation between what we give and what we get. That a half-baked effort in, means half-baked results. And they are really our choice.

Taking the easy option in the short term, whether it’s the choices we make around the way we treat our bodies, or when facing (or not facing) our problems, or just in our daily habits, impact our long-term outcomes. By avoiding the “hard” stuff, we can miss out on the good stuff. By slacking on the work, we’re not rewarded with the satisfaction.

Where does my laziness come from? Certainly not the example I had (luckily the spawn of very hard-working parents). But I grew into the age of convenience. I’m used to compromising for the sake of speed and ease. Cooking ready-meals in a microwave, sending a text message instead of a thank-you note (sweet relief from the bane of my childhood Christmases), a consumer of mass-production and automation. Life, “on demand” — who’s got time for anything else? I think I’ve just come to expect everything quick and easy.

Some of my sloth though, is just natural tendency. Reading an internet description of my Meyers-Briggs personality type for example, I recognised myself with a chuckle. It warned that (ENFPs) tend “to place no importance on detailed, maintenance-type tasks and will frequently remain oblivious to these types of concerns”, considering everyday details a “trivial drudgery” and not enjoying them when I have to do them.

I’m never going to tidy my house, am I (or at least not until someone is expected round in ten minutes to visit). But some of that is actually OK with me.

What is not, is letting my lazy tendency pervade the rest of my life, where the results matter far more. So as with breaking any bad habit, it means a constant practice of little-by-little action to build a better-serving replacement. For me it’s a case of remembering to take a long-term view: what do I want in the end? Is this action (or inaction) going to get me there?

Also running a cost-benefit analysis on my actions: what could happen as a result of doing (or not doing) this action? Can I live with those consequences? Example: I’ve just gotten into bed and switched out the light, the wind is really picking up. Can I be bothered to get up and close those shutters? What’s the worst that could happen? … OK, so I’m still working on this.

And when I do feel the need to make an effort, how can I encourage myself to do it? I’m not lazy in every aspect of my life. I go above and beyond in certain areas. So it’s about harnessing those same strategies and using what motivates me there, where I need it. Like inviting visitors around more often if I want a clean house perhaps, or turning ‘chores’ into games, or remembering the actual financial cost of some past lazy choices. (This upcoming shutter bill will get me out of bed the next time).

I’m building up a habit of “doings” over “ignorings”. Practicing taking my time with things that count. Showing up rather than opting out, and learning to take pride in a job well done and in some cases, just done.

It was fabulous doing nothing on Sunday and my lazy leanings wanted to milk it: “forget your deadline — you had no electricity, what an excuse”. But the power came on at 6pm (thank you Belco) and I saw an opportunity to exercise my principles. Don’t put off till tomorrow … Snow day like today!

Julia Pitt is a trained Success Coach and certified NLP practitioner on the team at Benedict Associates. For further information contact Julia on (441) 705-7488, www.juliapittcoaching.com.