I just finished making a video entitled In Praise of Laziness. It is a glorious, uproarious five-minute animation starring humanity's greatest thinkers stingingly rebuking the concept of hard work and embracing the power of laziness.
In Praise of Laziness is quirky, funny, delightfully shocking, and playfully profound. I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
To view, please click here
For the maximum experience:
1. Watch until after the credits for a surprise ending.
2. Turn up the sound. The music specially composed for this video is superb.
3. If you have a fast computer, the icon in the lower right-hand corner (next to the speaker icon) expands the video to full screen.
Let me know how you like it.
Fred
An editor for a success magazine wanted to know my views on success. Here is what I wrote back:
Most people think success is a goal. I do not. I see success as a process. Most people define success only in terms of money. I do not. I think success is a combination of things -- health, happiness, material prosperity, love of family and friends, wisdom, influence, and fulfillment.
Here is how I know someone is successful -- If you are able to give from your abundance then you are successful. If you are able to donate money, spread happiness, inspire health, propagate love, share knowledge, motivate people, etc. then you are successful.
Most people think you need to work hard to achieve success. I do not think that is true. I believe the opposite is true. I believe you have to learn how to avoid work to be successful. I define work this way -- if you'd rather be doing something else, then you are working.
You avoid work by loving what you do. Loving what you do is infinitely more powerful in achieving success than all the hard work in the world. If you love what you do, Nature will show you her secrets. When Nature reveals her secrets to you, you have the golden key to being successful. Those secrets are the formulas for working less yet accomplishing more. For example, you can strain your muscles working hard to move a big rock or you can use one of Nature's secrets and use a lever. When you use a lever you work much less but you accomplish much more.
People who say they work hard are really saying they are not smart enough or creative enough or lucky enough to have found an easier, more effective way to accomplish what they want. Hard work is not the answer. Finding an easier, more effective solution is the answer. To find the easier solution, you need to be alert for a lazier way. People who work hard don't have the time or the energy or inclination to find that easier way.
Holiday Wishes
Here's wishing you a blissfully lazy holiday season, gloriously filled with robust health, uproarious laughter, fabulous culinary treats, and loving family and friends.
May the New Year bring you more of the above plus even greater prosperity and glowing accomplishments.
And finally may we all see this New Year result in a world where everyone finally learns to play together in joy, harmony, and enlightened laziness.
All the very best to you,
Fred and all the members of Team Lazy
A Star of Stage, Screen, and You Tube
I've made it to the big time, folks. There is a 51 second clip of me talking about Transcendental Meditation on You Tube. Here's the link.
I have not been posting these last several months for a couple of compelling reasons:
1. I've been participating in a special Transcendental Meditation program that I have been enjoying immensely. Unfortunately it absorbs a lot of time, leaving little left for things like blogging.
2. In the time I do have, I've been writing my next book which is currently in the hands of an editor who I revere. Once I incorporate her ruthless edits - always a shocking, yet ultimately rewarding process, I'll be ready to lay out the book and publish it. I will release it as an e-book first even before it goes to the printer. I think it is going to be a humdinger so stay tuned. If you want to be alerted when it is ready, send me an email to and I'll put you on my mailing list. For those of you who were just horrified by that complete lack of on-line savvy, rest assured that I am in the process of upgrading my entire Internet presence so that things like building an email list will be automated.
For more news, the translation rights to my first book, The Lazy Way to Success, have been sold to 8 foreign publishers. Now folks interested in my brand of laziness can read my deathless prose in German, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian, Korean, Chinese (simple character), and Chinese (complex character). The Japanese publisher who purchased the rights, failed to do anything in a timely manner so those rights revert back to me. I hope to sell them again soon. The German edition, by the way, is in its third printing.
For those who prefer pixels, The Lazy Way to Success is also available as an e-book. The e-book comes with a pile of bonus interviews of yours truly. If you are interested in it, please go to
I am extremely stoked about my new book, Perfect Mind Perfect Motion. I think it is the most important book on sports ever written. It shifts the paradigm dramatically and I think it will change the way sports are taught, practiced, and played throughout the world. Hang onto your hats, folks. It should be available as an e-book in about one month.
That's it for now.
Wishing you all effortless success,
Fred
destination Imagination and a Proud Papa
My son Jake has participated in Destination Imagination (DI) for the last eight years. DI is a team-oriented creative problem-solving competition. Each year in October, teams (comprised of five to seven kids) must choose one out of five long-term challenges -- each with a different focus (Technical/Mechanical, Theater Arts/Science, Theater Arts/Fine Arts, Theater Arts/Improvisation, Structural & Architectural Design). Each Team Challenge is designed to be open-ended and solvable in many ways and on many levels. In competition the long-term challenge counts for 75% of the score.
The Instant Challenge portion of a DI Tournament accounts for 25% of the score. During Instant Challenge, teams are given a challenge on the spot and asked to solve it in about five to eight minutes. No one knows ahead of time what the Challenge will be. Kids really have to be good at thinking on their feet.
The coolest part about DI is that adult intervention is strictly prohibited. Kids must create, build, and present their solutions without any adult direction and assistance (other than chauffeuring and paying the bills). In the early days, it was difficult to bite my parental tongue but I have come to really enjoy this aspect. First off, it is quite liberating. Secondly, I realized that if adults were involved, the solutions would not have been anywhere near as imaginative.
I am convinced these DI kids will make ideal business partners because they are extraordinarily creative and they understand the power of teamwork. They definitely have learned how to think innovatively to solve problems cheaply, efficiently, and elegantly.
Here's how the competition works. First place winners on the state level qualify to compete at the Global Finals. And let me tell you, Global Finals is a spectacle to behold when a cross-section of the most kids in the world come together. Competition is extremely stiff.
My son has won first place in Iowa and gone to the Global Finals four times. In seventh grade, his team came in 6th globally and, in eighth grade, 5th. (4th, 5th and 6th place are like honorable mention; 1st, 2nd, and 3rd bring home flashy hardware -- medals and trophies.)
When in tenth grade, Jake's team won 2nd place and I thought I had reached Parent Nirvana but this year, Jake's 12th grade team finished first in the world and they also won the prestigious Renaissance Award for outstanding design, engineering, execution, and performance. The centerpiece of their solution was a homemade computer with its electromagnetic switches constructed out of nails and copper wire. The damn thing could add. The judges were absolutely blown away.
As you can imagine, I am still kvelling. Here's a picture of the world champs. Jake is front row, second from left. As proud as he is of his accomplishment, I am more so.