Have you ever had one of those days where all you want to do is nothing? Yet you have a million things you must do because you are an adult? I am afraid that today was one of those days. 

Let’s say the day started on a lazy note, and I honestly did not want to get out of bed; so I cozied up for three hours doing all sorts of things other than waking up. I even opened TikTok, an app I hadn’t opened in weeks, and shared a couple of videos with Nyx, who was asleep then. I could go on and on about how my day could have started on such a lazy note because I hadn’t talked to her immediately I woke up but that was not it. 

I could also say that I was dreading this day in my subconscious because it meant that I had to publish a blog, and the stories I wanted to share were still pending, and I could not share them due to technical issues. I had half a mind to publish them as is, but then that would mean they have been published elsewhere, and I would have really wanted them to be published where they will be published first before I ping back on them on another blog. Since I cannot share them, I would have liked to write something mindblowing, but all you get is this rant. At times, I often say that there are stories everywhere, which is true, but often understate how hard it is to pen down those stories and let me be honest with you: one of the worst feelings is knowing that you could write something mindblowing on a whim but starting it is often the hardest part. 

“But I love your stories!” “I enjoy your stories!” “You are the best writer I know!” “More people should read your stories!” “I follow your blog!” “When is your next story coming out?” Ironically, I had been thinking of those comments right before I started ranting, and for a solid thirty minutes, I didn’t know where to start. Then I remembered a tweet I saw somewhere that went along the lines of “Maybe you feel inadequate because you are always raising the bar for yourself,” and I almost convinced myself that that was the case. I still highly doubt that it is. However, Nyx once shared a concept she was studying in her Strategic Management class, and it got me thinking for a while: Cognitive Biases and Decision-Making. 

ILLUSION OF CONTROL. One of the more common biases (mentioned briefly earlier in this chapter) is the illusion of control, which is the tendency to overestimate our ability to control events. Put simply, the illusion of control is the belief that you control things that you do not. Successful individuals such as CEOs and other top-level executives are highly prone to the illusion of control because they tend to attribute their success to their own abilities.

We can see an example of the illusion of control in the relationship between air traffic controllers and pilots. Some air traffic controllers observed that after they complimented pilots with phrases such as “nice landing,” the next time these same pilots landed an aircraft in the same airport, the landing was not as good. Conversely, when air traffic controllers expressed that the landings were not good (e.g., “You really missed the mark on that one”),  the next set of landings was better. Based on these observations, the air traffic controllers formed the mistaken belief that their comments influenced the quality of the landings. They hypothesized that complimenting pilots for good landings would result in pilot complacency, leading to subsequent poor landings. They also hypothesized that criticizing seemingly complacent pilots for sloppy landings would result in pilot improvement, leading to subsequent better landings.

Although this reasoning made perfect sense to the air traffic controllers and resulted in their providing mostly negative feedback to pilots, a more likely explanation is simply that a regression to the mean is taking place. Suppose we assume a normal (bell-shaped) distribution and the landing under consideration was perfect (thus in the far right tail of the distribution). In that case, the probability that the pilots’ next landing will not be as perfect is nearly 100%. Conversely, if the pilot team puts down a sloppy landing (far left tail of the distribution), the likelihood that the next landing will be better is close to 100% also. In sum, the air traffic controllers were under the illusion that they could directly influence the quality of the pilots’  landings. In actuality, they were observing the regression-to-the-mean phenomenon.

In The Strategic Management Process section, we highlighted that managers who implement a formalized, top-down strategy process frequently succumb to the illusion of control.  Why? They tend to rely on hard data from the past to forecast the future success of their organization. Such thinking is flawed because the past often does not predict the future. The only constant is change. When facing strategic inflection points, therefore, leaders are susceptible to the illusion of control.”

So, have I not written since October because I know I might write a sloppy story? Or have I not written because I feel like I no longer have control over what I write, but you, my reader, control what I write subconsciously? Which brought me to another scenario. Since this is a new blog, it needs to grow, and for it to grow, you have to like what I write so that you can share it with your friends for them to read, too. For you to like it, I must write stories that you will like and not necessarily what I want to write. At the moment, I don’t want to write what you will like, but rather what I will like, and of course, that will impact my readership metrics. 

Well, I do not not care about writing what you will like, but I also care about writing what I want and I presume that’s why I have always written Nyx emails without a single second thought, just sitting on my laptop every Sunday evening and writing pages on pages of stories that happened that week; she always loves them, by the way. So, in a way, her love for my writing is a positive indication that I should continue writing what I want and that my people will find me. I have just therapized myself there, so I know for sure that was not it. 

Funny enough, I knew one way or another that I would have published something today, and for a moment, I wanted to be sneaky about it. In case you haven’t noticed, I have a tick of publishing every ten days, and coincidentally, today was the tenth day of 2025, and I was feeling particularly lazy all-round. My idea was to publish a page with a title and five sentences, and when the day had passed and I felt productive again, I would come back and edit the post with a story, and it would have been no harm, no foul, right? Then I remembered how Michael Kyle always went on and on about principles, and I reprimanded myself and nikajiita kamkutano and told myself to have some principles. I have done it once by the way, and if you can find that post, I’ll owe you a plushie. 

Person lying on sofa

I could also say that I felt lazy because, for the first time, I missed doing pushups the day before, and it honestly skipped my mind. So, in a way, my body told me something was wrong, and my vibes were off. 

I could also say that it was Quitters’ Day (It is a real day; look it up!) and that I was in touch with the universe. I have to ask you, did you also feel lazy this particular Friday?

I could also say that I have been everywhere since December started because of my graduation, a church vacation, a Moana 2 screening, and Machakos shenanigans (I was a Doctor’s assistant on Christmas Day, and let me tell you Maina, I SAW things that night shift). As a natural introvert, I could say that my social battery was more than drained and that since I showed up for every single event that month, I was running on fumes the new year, and my hens had come home to roost. That I needed a recharge and today was the day I would get my recharge. 

I could also say that it was an after-effect of having a wretched sleeping schedule, and I was exhausted from sleeping at 4 am for months now and waking up no earlier than 11 am this entire week. 

Finally, I could say that I was just hungry and didn’t want to get up and make food for myself. I’ve been buying fries the entire week because I was fatigued from cooking for myself the last couple of months, and today, I felt exhausted before I even thought of entering the kitchen and making a proper meal. On the bright side, I now know I can put off washing dishes for two days before running out of utensils. 

I could continue being lazy or suck it up and stop being lazy, which is precisely what I did. I got up, did the dishes while watching Bob’s Burgers, Mr. Kaplan’ed the house, fed Gracie, and completed an urgent work audit before heading out in clean shoes for my daily walk (and to look for food, too). Maybe I needed a shock like what Manchester is going through at the moment and opted to go in reverse for my daily walk, and it was interesting, to say the least. 

Granted, I didn’t get the meal I was hoping for (Chapo Dondo because they had Chapos but lacked the Dondos bit), but I ate two samosas (one with chilli and the other normal) and reversed my track, clocking 6,000 steps, and I came back to the house in a better mood for my 7 p.m. meeting, that I aced! I was also given some chilli sweets by my local shop because I overpaid for bread by 5 shillings, and I didn’t want some gumballs; and here we are.

So, which one do you think was it? Help me diagnose myself! 

From Me to You

An image of lazy people lazying around.
“Dreamers” by Albert Joseph Moore (1882)

If you ever need a break from anything, I officially permit you to have a lazy day. If your boss, parent, or significant other asks why, direct them here and tell them that by the powers vested in me through good vibes and my gown, they should let you be lazy for that day. 

P.S. This is redeemable once every quarter. 

Signed. 

Lee. 

In your own laziness, you can read my last story here: A Mile Away.

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4 Comments

  1. Ianaluda January 10, 2025 at 11:04 pm

    👍

    Reply
  2. fkhaoya99 January 10, 2025 at 11:14 pm

    😂😂😂😂after careful consideration , I believe you were having one of those turn point days. You been running on fumes for a while and your body and brain are letting you know you are out of fumes so just lie there and then you pick yourself up and starting running on whatever the opposite of running on fumes is 😂😂😂why do you think you had energy to Mr.Kaplan after the “episode. ” It’s your turn point there. Transition from the lazy to the crazy; where you get to live life on your terms enjoying every bit of it and having a little bit of illusion of control which is very liberating .

    Until then, 😂😂😂I am a fan who is gonna say the words you dread, “I look forward to what you write next.”🤭🤭🤭 and since fans have a say in this things apparently 😂😂write something about a day in Gracies life. I would wanna know. 🥰

    Reply
  3. podahpek January 14, 2025 at 4:21 pm

    I wanted to type something looong but  I am also feeling lazy after reading this . Or, as the Gen Zs  put it… Naskia sijui aje. Hivi hivi? Something along those lines. But si you have given me the powers. Nice read, stay consistent in 2025. But if you won’t write something else on 20th or 30th or 10th … You will be con-sistent( or a con instead. But most importantly you will be a con artist) 😂😂

    Reply
  4. Pingback: 2024: When We Became Unbwogwable, Again. | Coffee with Lee

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