The Art Of The Goof-Off

I have always preferred goofing off to obligations. You know what goofing off is, because we all do it from time to time. It's the art (good goof offs are true artists) of engaging in recreation or an idle pastime while obligations of work or society are neglected. That's a fancy way of what your mom and dad you so say about you when they subtly declared, "sometimes I think you are a bum." But then when wasting time and getting away with it we feel we are winning the game of life. Under those circumstances being called a bum by mom is a badge of honor.

I think we goof off many different ways because our personality guides us to choose which way. There are many traits that also make us goof off in certain ways. When we are old we goof off differently than when we we did when we were young.  An old person might goof off by taking a number of naps during the day while a young person may goof off in a bar at 3 am. There is no way they will reverse roles at their age because the body, mind and soul won't allow it.

I always thought an employer could better choose from applicants for jobs by asking about how the applicants goof off. Forget those phony resumes' and recommendations.  If you were an employer, for instance, would you hire the brilliant Harvard grad with pristine job skills and experience instead of the average slob, of the Harvard goof off played with his cell phone all day (probably at work too)? Not I. Give me the average goof off who wastes his time more productively than showing an addiction to a cell phone device.

Our environment largely determines how we goof off. If we are busy with real obligations we will goof off much less and do it productively. The educated goof off reading too much. The product of an environment in which education was not stressed goof off too much watching TV or playing video games. People who have responsibilities to children or others who need help goof off the least. 

Hollywood air heads goof off the most, but they are good at pretending self-importance and involvement.  One would think the wealthy goof off more, but they probably don't because to become wealthy often requires hard work and little distraction. But then people who are wealthy through the lottery or inheritance seem to especially goof off prone.

The gig question is whether we can be happy if we don't goof off at least a moderate amount of time. Probably not. People who are driven and have all of their day committed to obligations are often too stressed to be happy. That type never retires from work because all they want to do is work themselves to death. I think that I have written enough about this because t's taking away too much of my goof off time!