Lazy people are always poor risk managers. They always fall victim to uncertainty’s will in due time. Controlling risks takes effort and in some cases extra effort! When we attach concerted effort to control risks attached to our actions, or our lives, we see a decline in the frequency of adverse events or the impact of adversity if something bad does occur.
Let’s face it, sometimes we as humans are lazy when it comes to managing risks around us to ensure we protect ourselves, our families, our employers and even our communities. Think about how many times we take shortcuts on a daily basis to avoid managing risks that could easily lead to a calamity in our own lives – or even worse, one that impacts others. Shortcuts are the actions of the lazy. They save us time and effort in the short term, but are a narrow-minded solution draped in absurdity.
Let us run through a remarkably simple example:
My girlfriend gives me a chore to replace a light bulb in the kitchen ceiling which has been flickering for a few days. Now I may have noticed this flickering the day it began but due to my laziness for this simple task I simply decided to let the bulb die a slow and deminishing death. My reasoning being that this light bulb is not hurting anyone and barely annoys me enough to motivate me to act. So due to my girlfriend’s directive I go to the garage and grab a fresh bulb.
Now I am faced with a decision. Do I climb up on the kitchen counter where it could be wet or where I could succumb to a loss of balance in my older age (hey my 20s were rough)? Or do I put in the extra effort to go to the laundry to retrieve my step ladder to make the job easier and safer? Well, being the risk manager that I am, I decide I would rather spend the extra few seconds and muscular effort retrieving the ladder versus running the risk of stumbling down from the kitchen counter and having a bad accident. It’s only a few months past 2021 so I certainly know luck is against me, as it appears it is against us all.
Now let’s play Monday morning AFL fullback and instead decide to climb on the kitchen countertop where unfortunately I lose my balance and fall onto the floor below hitting my head quite hard. After completing my finest rendition of Humpty-Dumpty-has-a-great-fall, my girlfriend comes running over where I am quite concussed and in need of emergency assistance. She calls triple zero and emergency medical responders dispatch to my home. They decide I need to be rushed to the hospital, as I am in worse shape than originally thought.
Once I get to the ER a team of triage nurses works on me while the doctor preps me for a surgery to repair my cracked skull. Now if we look at this scenario closer we can see how my lazy-induced selfishness has adversely impacted the world around me. Due to my decision to take a risky shortcut in changing a light bulb I have taken EMS workers away from possibly more dire calls like an elderly man’s heart attack or a life threatening event to a young child. The same with the triage nurses and doctors at the hospital, they could be spending their time on serving others who are in medical need instead of spending time fixing my head due to a less than intelligent choice in home maintenance.
What if my head injury leads to long-term brain damage? Now I have impacted my girlfriend’s well-being as we will not be able to enjoy the same quality of life and she will be forced to care for me while I regain my cognitive abilities, if they ever do return.
I have now painted a picture where one insignificant, tiny choice to take a shortcut and heighten my level of risk due to laziness could have long lasting adverse impacts on myself, my family, and the community I live in. This same scenario applies to taking the effort to wear a seat belt in a short ride in the car, looking both ways before crossing the street, or moving a hazard out of a hallway to ensure no one gets injured. All these examples represent small actions coupled with extra effort to make the world an overall safer place for all of us. Think about if we all put more effort forward to make better choices resulting in reducing risk in our lives, how this could make the world a better place.
A little effort is all it takes to cure ourselves of laziness and complacency which does nothing but put us on a path towards future destruction. In a world of randomness there is no place for laziness, shortcuts, or complacency. Complacency in itself is the nemesis of effort and the poster-child for a mediocre existence.
It is interesting that those who do not wish to make waves or simply wish to blend in with the office furniture are at a higher risk of adversity derailing their lives in some form. The lazy or complacent let their guard down on life, as they simply try to meet the day’s status quo, have no desire for growth and are wary of meeting any challenges which would require the virtue of courage. Randomness and life in general does not play well with cowardly lions. They will turn from the hunter to the hunted, simply waiting for the day when they come become the victim of their own existence.
We are all risk managers every day of our lives. Some are better than others. But managing risk is a skill, not something you are simply born with. You must practice taking and controlling risks consistently, in order to grow and turn dreams into realities. How cliché, you might say, but it is certainly fact that without risks, dreams are just that – dreams.
Do not be not like the lazy dog or the cowardly lion. Seek not shelter but challenges. This is how you alleviate laziness and turn effort into a habitual action which drives your every move towards success. Let’s not make controlling risk some sort of rocket science needing to be taught by universities. We all have the minds to make it work, we simply have to put forth the effort.
“Risk Management is the science of common sense for the strong willed.”
