We like and admire people who are useful to others. But what are the ultimate benefits of being useless? Is it even possible to have benefits for this? Let’s find out.
A few years back, when I was still in my teens, I always had this deep sensation about my usefulness. I was curious about how I can make a difference in the lives of many people out there who were desperate and needy.
Obviously, the social workers and NGOs inspired me to act selflessly in the pursuit of my goal to be as much use to others as I could. After all, if you haven’t served people enough, you can never identify with their troubles.
Oh! naive me. I was too immature to understand the nature of ordeals and sacrifice to get to this path. Besides, I viewed it as a desire rather than a passion to help others, only to improve my self-esteem.
But, over the years, my ideas have changed a lot, and fortunately, I could reconsider where I was going wrong all this time. Yes, I mean the fruitfulness of being useful. I have realized that there are pretty good benefits if we consider its counterpart. Uselessness.
Well, here I was thinking about how being useless can be good. Ultimately, I decided to discuss it here with an elaborate and descriptive article, to shed some light on this issue.
Firstly, the nature of uselessness is very different compared to usefulness. Secondly, one can simply say, uselessness is an unconventional trait that defies all norms of bringing any good to others, but self.
So, “What are the disadvantages of usefulness?”
“What are the ultimate benefits of being useless?”
Let’s find out.
What are the drawbacks of being useful?
I am not the first one to discuss the advantages of uselessness. Many people have already done it before me. But, I do have some unique reasons why we underestimate uselessness in a conventional sense.
To know how uselessness benefits us, let us understand the ultimate drawbacks of being entirely useful. Now, most of us know that being useful is highly valued in society. Nothing is better than having a good reputation for being task-oriented and getting the job done on time.
But, the more useful you are to others, the more they are going to take advantage of you. You might benefit from things like a high paycheck, comfort, and fame. However, it ends up ugly and messy as you will lose your time and energy in the long run.
So, here are the 3 most important drawbacks of being entirely useful.
1. People are going to exploit you:
No matter who you are or what you do, people are going to exploit you for various reasons. You might feel that you are just doing your job. But, in the end, it is going to affect you mentally and emotionally.
It happens with people who are dedicated to their work and fail to understand the underlying intentions of the person or a company. Now, it isn’t to say that you shouldn’t work for others. But, if you know the person or the organization you are working with, you can prevent so many things without sabotaging yourself.
Hence, people will exploit you if you are entirely useful without being careful.
2. You will always have rivals in the disguise of friends:
“Do you think being useful attracts people who are genuinely interested in you?”
If you do, then you are wrong.
Being useful attracts people, but not everyone wants to be friends with you. In fact, most of these ‘so-called friends’ are rivals who just try to spy on you for their personal gains.
They are the ones who are ultimately going to stab you in the back if you are not careful. Hence, being entirely useful does not only drive friends but also rivals in the perfect disguise of a well-wisher.
3. You will be affected the most with failures:
This is not a necessary thing for people in general.
However, we shouldn’t ignore the difference between useful and successful people. Successful people are useful, but not every useful person is successful.
Moreover, the more perfectionist you are, the higher the chances of experiencing failure or dissatisfaction. In some cases, it can be as unhealthy as maladaptive perfectionism.
Hence, you will be affected the most by failures and imperfections in life when you are useful.
So, until now we have discussed the drawbacks of being entirely useful.
Now, let us take a look at how being its opposite, i.e., useless is better, and what are its benefits.
What are the ultimate benefits of being entirely useless?
It doesn’t make sense, right.
“How can a person reap the ultimate benefits of being useless?”
That seems ridiculous.
But then, if usefulness has certain drawbacks, uselessness has certain advantages too.
So, “what are the ultimate benefits of being entirely useless?”
There is nothing good about being useless in the same way as there is nothing good about being useful. We have to be both of them in different situations to suit our circumstances.
Besides, not everyone can be entirely useless or useful in all situations.
Here are 7 unexpected and unexplored benefits of being useless.
1. No one expects anything from you:
One of the benefits of being useless is that no one expects anything from you. Expectations are the roots of disappointments. Every time you expect something from someone, it often ends up in huge disappointments that are difficult to handle.
Being useless has the ultimate benefit of overriding all expectations as fruitless as people end up underestimating you. Moreover, if you are a procrastinator, then it becomes even easier to put a final nail in the coffin for manipulators to expect nothing from you.
Hence, one of the benefits of uselessness is no one expects anything from you.
2. You are basically away from competition:
Competitiveness is one of the most desired traits in society. Even though cooperation is better in the long run, competitiveness cannot be ignored for its enticing and hedonistic benefits it imparts to an individual.
Now, if you are useless, you are almost uncompetitive because you know your limitations and how they affect you. You remain far away from competitive people, and no one bothers to challenge you in anything either.
Hence, if you are useless, no one is going to compete with you over anything and you will always live away from the harmful effects of competition.
3. Toxic people ignore you all the time:
It is not to say that toxic people are always interested in useful ones. However, when you are useless, people just don’t have anything to gain from you. Especially, the toxic ones, who are always in pursuit to find a capable and useful person.
These people are very harmful to our mental and emotional health. Besides, they also try to feed us with all sorts of negativity around us that ultimately results in our doom.
Therefore, if these people ignore you, there is nothing to worry about. It is one of the many benefits of being useless.
4. No one exploits or takes advantage of you:
“Do you feel like people are taking advantage of you, or exploiting you for their personal goals?”
Well, there is only one reason behind that. You are useful to them.
Humanity has a long and tiring history of people manipulating others to get their job done without hesitation. Not only bad but also good people who are kind and benevolent end up using someone as their pawn and manipulating them to do their tasks.
Today, these times have seen the emergence of industries that manipulates people and exploits them for self-interests.
But, who cares.
You are useless, right. Absolutely nothing to worry about being controlled by others.
5. You get to enjoy your life the way you want:
“What is better than living your life the way you want without disturbing your inner peace?”
In fact, most people have the same desire to be at peace with themselves in the long run. But, being useful to others is a little bit difficult to attain as you are always busy serving others in some or other way.
While being useless has its own share of drawbacks, people seldom have to compromise their inner peace for something else. They are best at working at their own pace. You will also find most of them to be self-employed.
Hence, you can enjoy your life the way you want.
6. You will always be unconventional:
Being useful comes with the desire to lead a conventional life. The more conventional you are, the more useful you are. Most useful people are highly practical in nature.
They are the ones who serve others the most by working in corporate jobs or industries and following a tedious schedule of continuous working hours. But, useless people are highly unconventional and iconoclastic. They do not fit in anywhere. As a result, they are not very much practical, making them practically useless.
Hence, being unconventional and an iconoclast is necessary to prevent yourself from wearing out.
7. Lastly, you are happy and satisfied with what you have:
If you think that being useless comes with depression, sadness, anxiety, and sadness, then you do not understand the other side of uselessness. Useless people seldom care about anything beyond their limitations.
They are busy doing their own jobs and finding the best in their lives, thereby living with a strong identity. Moreover, they are also never affected by failures or obstacles in life. They are happy in who they are and carry on their purpose with nothing to lose.
Therefore, uselessness makes you happy and satisfied with your life and help practice gratitude.
Final Words:
To sum up, uselessness may not be a widely desired nor accepted trait, but it is also not entirely fruitless to be useless. Usefulness has its own benefits and drawbacks.
However, one should never underestimate the benefits of being useless. The above points are strong enough to prove the ultimate benefits of being entirely useless.