Why You Should Delegate Your Tasks and Simplify Your Life

Many people struggle with procrastination or laziness and look for solutions in various courses, books, or techniques that claim to cure them. However, most of these methods are just variations of the same advice: "do NOT be lazy". This is something you already know, and it does not help you much. As Kabir said: "Kaal Kare So Aaj Kar, Aaj Kare So UbPal Mein Pralaya Hoyegi, Bahuri Karoge Kub".

In this post, I will offer a different and scientifically grounded perspective on procrastination/laziness. I will use economic terms to explain why you procrastinate and how you can overcome it.

Procrastination means that you value your leisure more than the other alternatives you have. For example, if you were super rich, you would not have to do any work that you do not enjoy. You would hire people to do everything for you, and you would focus on the most important and interesting things in your life. You would also have more time for your family, hobbies, and vacations. You would not be called lazy for doing this, because you would be living the life of your dreams.

Unfortunately, most of us are not super rich. But we can still use the same principle of delegation to reduce our workload and increase our productivity. We can outsource the tasks that are less important or less enjoyable to us, and focus on the ones that matter the most. This way, we can free up our time and energy for the things that we really care about.

How can we do this? Here are some suggestions:

- Hire domestic help or use apps like UC to take care of your household chores.

- Find a reliable home delivery service or a cook for your food needs.

- Use agents or websites like Jeeves to handle your paperwork.

- Move to a serviced apartment if you are single instead of saving money by sharing an apartment with your colleagues.

- Have a laundry service for your clothes.

Of course, these services will cost money. But you can save money by downsizing your life and getting rid of the things that you do not need or use. Imagine that you are traveling to Leeds or Cardiff (or London) for a month for your IT job. What would you pack in your suitcase? As a man living in a service apartment, you probably only need:

- 4 sets of office wears

- 4 sets of home clothes

- A pair of nice shoes

- Toiletries

- A folder with documents

- Phone-iPad-laptop-noise cancelling headphones

- An analog watch

That's it. You do not need to spend money on smoking, drinking, parties, theaters, store bought coffee etc. Instead, you can take real vacations once in a while, even if by yourself.

Now that you have simplified your life and delegated your tasks, you can focus on your work, career, relationships, health (jog whenever you get free time). If you have ample free time, you can also learn something new that interests you. It can be related to art, finance, programming, engineering, economics, or anything else. Avoid watching TV, movies, sports etc as much as possible. They are passive and addictive forms of entertainment. Instead, use audio entertainment such as music, podcasts, audiobooks etc.

This approach may not guarantee that you will become rich and successful. But it will certainly help you avoid wasting your time and energy on things that do not matter to you. It will also help you enjoy the things that do matter to you more. The key to success and happiness is not wanting anything other than the few great quality things you already own.

If you want to understand the economics of delegation/outsourcing, I recommend that you read page 8 of this article: econbriefs.pdf (economist.com)

It explains the Stopler-Samuleson theorem which is relevant to this discussion. I have also attached a screenshot of the most important paragraph below: