Top 10 Excuses Used by Unproductive People

Lazy workers (and bosses!) always have a wide arsenal of excuses available.

It is common for some employees, usually those with the worst attitude towards their work, to spend the day complaining and moaning. They wander around the office trying to snatch candy or playing pranks on colleagues. They're not the only ones who do this: we've all noticed that there are many middle managers and even company managers who, although their responsibility should be paramount, don't even bat an eyelid during their working day..

They are a minority, but with their lack of work ethic or their insecurity can contaminate the good atmosphere and the productivity of the whole office.

Unproductive people and their justifications

The following phrases are the ones that this type of workers use to throw away their tasks and their unproductiveness.

1. I have too much work

Unproductive people do not realize that the vast majority of workers in the world have plenty of work to do. the vast majority of workers in the world have a lot of work to do.. 

Unfortunately we live in an age that comes hand in hand with a frenetic work pace. The difference between the unproductive subject and the good worker (or boss) is that the latter does not complain about his burdens, he simply does his job.

2. That's not my job

Each worker must know what his or her function is within the organization and know how to achieve the objectives.. However, there are times when an employee, regardless of his or her position in the company, must pitch in. It is curious that unproductive people are the first to realize that they are working more than they should or that they are helping a colleague that in theory is outside the margins of their functions.

They tend to pay a lot of attention to their role and what others are doing or not doing. Productive people don't worry about these issues, and try to contribute what they can to make things work, in a more flexible and generous way. flexible and generous.

3. I'll finish it tomorrow

Unproductive workers waste a lot of time by living in a permanent state of incongruity. They end up always postponing their tasksThey end up always postponing their tasks, putting them off for the recent future.

They open a worddocument, write a paragraph, then start another powerpoin document. powerpoint... This constant opening and closing of tabs is a bad management of time and energy. It is what is known as Procrastination.

4. I don't have all the information yet

Detail-oriented people can also be unproductive.. They wait until all the stars are aligned to start any task. And when this doesn't happen, which it often does, the work falls on deaf ears. In this way, it is impossible for them to move forward at an acceptable pace.

Productive people do not wait for the exact moment but work on their projects and polish or modify the course when necessary.

5. I will wait for the boss to tell me what to do.

Lack of independence is a factor that minimizes productivity, especially in small companies.especially in small companies. When someone is waiting for someone else to tell him what to do, the common project can falter: the lack of rhythm spoils the good dynamics.

The productive person analyzes the needs of the group and gets down to work, while the person who waits to be told every little detail will probably be unable to contribute more than a mechanical function. will probably not be able to contribute more than a mechanical and reduced function to the project..

6. I don't understand all the variables

There are workers (and also many bosses) who do not start a task until they know exactly how to act.or until they do not know all the answers to every inconvenience. No one has all the answers beforehand, and it will be necessary to face challenges in order to gain the necessary experience.

Without going any further, projects such as Airbnb o Uber would not have been launched on the market if their creators had waited until all the legal regulations had been perfectly checked. Sometimes, technology and human projects are ahead of the slow legislation, and this point is key to understanding the progress progressin both business success and in the development of societies.

7. I don't get anything out of it

It is not uncommon to meet narcissistic people who spend the day taking pictures of themselves or tweeting about every step they take. The underlying problem with these unproductive people's attitudes is that when it comes to work, usually examine each action on the basis of whether it brings them a direct benefit or not.. 

Productive people, on the other hand, contribute to the project because they feel they are part of it, and that is precisely their main motivation, to be able to contribute to improving the project. to be able to contribute to the improvement of the project..

8. They will not value my contribution

Another point that buries productivity: the need to be constantly valued and praised for the tasks one performs.. 

The process of overemphasizing one's own contributions, demanding appreciation and being noticed so that everyone realizes how much you contribute, sows the seeds for unproductivity because, as is obvious, other people are not constantly attentive to you, other people are not constantly attentive to what another to what another worker does or does not do.

9. I worry about the quality of my work

Lroductive people know how to translate good work into a constant stream of skill and creativity. creativity. They care about quality, but they are also aware that sometimes a push is required to maintain productivity. If the main goal is to always achieve perfection, productivity plummets, productivity plummets. 

You have to know how to combine quality and productivity without one of the two factors constraining the other.

Incidentally, it can sometimes be quite efficient to let oneself be carried away by the the law of minimum effort. We explain it to you in this post:

"Law of minimum effort: 5 keys to understanding it".

10. I will fail

An immanent characteristic of every unproductive person is the concern about failure. worry about failure. If the worker never has any initiatives and projects of his own, obviously he should not worry about failure at all.

When one fails from time to time, it is a sign that he is trying to improve himself, he is trying new things and therefore, is contributing to the project by giving the best of himself.. If you expect all your initiatives to be resounding and unquestionable successes, you are likely to fail to propose others that would have been very positive as well.