"There are some people who fake it, some people who try too hard to make it yet there are very few who really live it.."
This priceless quality of wasteness, in today's world of competition and perfectionism, is rare.
Being a waste simply means doing only the minimum (or even lesser) required in any situation.Be it anything..
Now that is where the whole trick lies.
A waste, over the years, develops his instincts to such a degree that he can simply sense danger.
In any situation, a waste will keep going down n down till he smells danger and there he stops.This is the 'minimum effort level'..
And needless to say, to develop this instinct/skill is the toughest part of being a waste.
That is why some people never make it to even fake it....
A waste literally lives life 'on the edge'. When a waste does only the minimum, he barely keeps himself out of danger. He stands exactly on the periphery. It is on this periphery that each an every ounce of his effort makes a real difference. And this is exactly what the waste really really enjoys!
It is at this edge that waste gets the highest ROTI (Return on his time invested).
He laughs at those people who strive too hard to stay within the safety limits.
He simply sees no sense is putting efforts to be in the safety zone, coz the ROTI on that effort is certainly much too low!
He prefers to use it instead for some other activity. Pleasure is also a return.
He gets a better return on his time thereby. So after doing the minimum to keep himself out of trouble (but not in the safety zone), he invests the rest of his time and effort in having fun! He will do all those things that others will not, coz they are too busy fighting to get inside the safety zone! But remember, insuring yourself, reduces the return big time.
And that is where the wastes triumph and the others lose.
Of course very few apart from the wastes themselves realise understand this philosophy and therefore are blissfully unaware of the opportunity cost of their overpriced safety.
Of course a few privileged people like me, who get to work with the wastes, realise the magnificence of this simple philosophy. This is when the wasteness is said to have rubbed off onto them too.
However, there is a continuous struggle between the waste and the non-waste, especially when they are to work on the same thing. This is where the genuineness of the waste is tested.
With two entirely different philosophies at work, one can imagine what would happen of the work!
In this quest, the non-waste puts in his best effort to do the work his way. To do so much that it is well inside the safety zone, and pushes the waste to do so too.
A fake waste will give in at a point in time but never a genuine waste will succumb to it...
In fact he will show the non-waste the fun in keeping things ‘on the edge’. Of course, the non-waste will refuse to acknowledge it at first, but over the time, the true and genuine beauty of it will dawn upon him in full measure!!
It is at this point that the waste has his laugh....
When he sees that he has managed to show a person a more fun way to live life..
When he realises that he has proved it yet again that......
... In wasteness lies the beauty of life
Any resemblance to 'The Waste', who i have been working with since the past 1 yr, who gave me a learning experience not in how to do things, but why it is best at times to not do them, is not coincidental...
Seriously a 'niche' lesson that was I must say... :)
5 comments:
Truly commendable blog. I surely have been part of the learning experience with you or shall I say "Waste in making"!!
Well One of the best posts in this blog [Biasing Error ;)] To learn and UNLEARN is the way of life but in the rat race of life most of us forget the 'Unlearning' part..... :D
Hahaha. Took me a while to get the 'niche' thing.
Don't know if you read Wodehouse, but this was classic P.G Wodehouse style.
But I know exactly what you are talking about. I am one of the wastes. But I'm not sure about my genuineness.
The best way to fill time is to waste it!!
Took me time to read the whole article, the article is great but the comments bring more brainstorm ideas, thanks.
- Johnson
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