From the article.
I think the young lady wanted to coin a term that would draw attention to the lifestyle she thinks she created.
In essence she says, It’s not the work/labor/effort that is lazy. Or not even that the things one fills her/his free time with are lazy pursuits. It’s the aspiration to have so much self time that other people might assume you’re living a lazy life.
“Allows-Enough-Non-Work-Time-For-Me-To-Do-More-Things-I-Want-To-Do Job” doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily.
I agree. If you manage to do this, awesome! I just posted this article because it’s an opinion piece on our discussion. I feel like the writer is attacking these hashtags when it’s the women themselves creating them, so be what’s the issue?
I for one admire those who can think outside the box when it comes to work/life balance.
True. The WSJ did not create the term. You’d think a reporter would get that one correct. And in addition to getting that wrong, she went on a long tangent totally unrelated to what the #Lazy-GirlJob young lady was doing.
It’s like she missed the point of the “movement.” Then again, I think a lot of people misunderstand it.
Or if you were smart enough to get a full-ride.
I have some friends in their mid 20’s. One just quit college (with one year left) to become an influencer (influencing for what I have no idea)
The other quit her job without another job. She’s been looking 8 months now with no luck. Mommy and Daddy are totally supporting these two.
Third friend, same age group quit professional job to travel. Traveled for 6 months and has now been lookin for a new job for almost a year. Turns out the life experience of travel as a resume builder is not as beneficial as they thought. Lives at home but does live frugally.
When I see this it’s hard to get behind their cries of “I can’t afford my student loans” or “I can’t afford to buy a house”
Doesn’t look like work/life balance to me as much as no work but lots of fun.
A friend of my D is a hospice/home care nurse and just had her second baby. She has decided to give a shot to earning an income on social media with a family blog/instagram/don’t know what else page. She came out and said she hopes to not have to go back to work and stay home with her kids.
Besides the usual “cons” /difficulties of getting a following and sponsorships to make that living you want it was not long on me that……
You want to stay home with your two young children and be an influencer…which means that time home with your kids is going to be with a phone in your hand much more than ever, exposing your home (hers is like a home/family/lifestyle effort), potentially your family on social media. Not only do you have to create your content but you also have to RESPOND to your content comments - likes, actual comments, questions, negative commentary….more phone in hand, more NOT eyes on the kiddos.
I’ve asked this before as well 
Being willing to expose yourself and loved ones to the glare of social media, complete with the crazies and potential stalkers seems a steep price, especially where there are minor children involved. Somehow it’s not a trade off I find attractive, though I understand others of course think it’s “easy $$$$.”
She’d be well advised to read about Dooce:
My D was in a cohort of full ride kids in the Mountain West. A few of her close friends (in fact all guys) have pursued a less conventional career track since graduation, mainly because they wanted to spend more time in the outdoors, doing things like ski lift attendant, rafting guide, wildland firefighter etc. Some of these could be characterized as lazy jobs, but it’s more like a continuation of student life, because they didn’t deliberately step away from a high pressure job. In fact their professor, who they were all very close to, was keen to encourage these sorts of pursuits (he formerly ran Deep Springs College).
Clearly that’s an extreme case. And I’m not against someone trying the influencer route - I mean, I follow many myself and some of my purchases have been influenced by them and I’m happy to click their links to pay it forward for the entertainment they’ve given me.
But it’s no cake walk and rarely happens overnight.
I’m daughters friends case her husbands job is pretty stable and supporting for them and there is potential for more promotions for him coming down the pope. I think while she’d like to see some success the truth is this may be sort of a hobby idea - or side hustle for the time being
My mom’s cousin went to school for pharmacy (his dad was a pharmacist and owned a store). Her cousin loved skiing, so he moved to Colorado, skiing all day and bartending at night. His life was his dream come true. When he got older, he decided that he wanted to be a beach bum by day. He moved to Florida and became a bartender there. He has never regretted his decision. It was a decision that involved the knowledge that he might struggle financially, but he actually has done decently well for himself. He never married or had kids, so he was always free to live in whatever manner pleased him. I always thought his life was cool, but I never aspired to be like him. Financial security was always really important to me. But I admire him for admitting that he’d rather ski & hang out at the ocean than do whatever would have brought him a more secure financial life. He’s in his 80’s, so I guess he was a lazy boy before it was a thing.
As long as people are able to support themselves with their choices, I say live and let live! We need all sorts of people to keep our world interesting and functioning.
I have a relative like this. He was a stock broker and decided he hated it. He spent the rest of his life as a surf bum running a janitorial service at night. He never made any money, but he didn’t seem to care.
Some people have encore careers that they seem to prefer, even if the salary is a drop. The local hardware store has folks that retired from whatever they did before and are now answering Qs and helping folks who want to buy the right tool to fix their whatchamacallit. They seem to prefer working instead of volunteering to get out of the house.
There was a CC poster whose H stopped being an md and became a teacher as his encore career—much lower salary but higher job satisfaction.
One of my relatives was in Travel Industry, hated it, became an attorney—insurance defense—hated that. He now is bank counsel and pretty satisfied.
My sister knows another md who hated practicing so he became a financial advisor instead.
My D worked for fifteen years as a canvasser for environmental issues. She made very little doing it, but she’s a wizard at living on very little. She loves talking to people, especially changing their minds through extensive knowledge and a whole lot of charm.
Now the mom of two littles, she can’t do that anymore. SIL makes a bit more money in the nonprofit world, though not a lot, and they continue to live very frugally. She is reinventing herself in freelance comms for enviro organizations as a second “career” working from home, and basically “canvasses” everything they need to buy for kids through curb alerts, Buy Nothing groups, etc.
She enjoys life more than anyone I know–throws herself into what she cares about, and prioritizes a good life. I’m in awe of her.
I was an associate with a prominent trial law firm for a number of years, then was a deputy AG, then was volunteer PTA mom, then hearing officer, judge and now am running a nonprofit and doing some small consultant gigs. It’s worked pretty well for me and allowed us to pay our bills and put our kids through private college. I’m probably considered “lazy” as I haven’t had a full-time job in decades, but it’s worked for me and my family. We prize the flexibility and earn enough for our needs and most of our wants as well.
I think that’s pretty common by the time one reaches 60-career paths are rarely linear, particularly for women.
My flexibility allowed H to have his traditional and linear career. I was the one who juggled the countless MD appts for the kids, all their practices and dealing with the school and teachers. Many of my friends who had inflexible careers who were married to spouses with similarly inflexible careers ended up divorced, I believe in part due to the huge toll the careers took on family life.
Many of the women I know who had the option chose to cutback on their hours when their kids were young. Some never scaled back to full time while others did. I didn’t know any men in our circle who scaled back their careers.
I would not consider wildland (or any other) firefighter a “lazy job”, and it can be a high pressure job at times.