What If You’re Not Lazy—Just Bored Out of Your Mind?

When you can’t make yourself care, it’s easy to call yourself lazy. But a lot of “laziness” is actually misalignment: wrong challenge level, weak feedback loops, low meaning, or no autonomy. Your brain isn’t broken—your setup might be.

How Boredom Masquerades as Laziness

• Underload: tasks so easy you can do them half-asleep.
• Over-process: endless approvals kill momentum.
• No stakes: work with unclear impact or zero feedback.
• Value drift: your job rewards things you don’t respect.

Quick Diagnostic (Score 0–3)

• Challenge: too easy / just right / overwhelming?
• Autonomy: can you choose how to do the work?
• Impact: can you see who benefits?
• Feedback: do you get timely, useful signals?

Low totals suggest boredom, not laziness. You need design, not shame.

Redesign Your Current Role (Job Crafting)

• Task swaps: trade a low-interest task for one that needs your strengths.
• Challenge bump: propose a small project with clear outcomes and a deadline.