I am, too- that was a very perceptive quote! I got out of college with a 3.25 GPA, which probably wouldn't get me an interview these days. I didn't push myself all that hard because I wasn't headed to grad school or an investment banking job, so didn't feel any pressure to get a 4.0.
Then the actuarial exams entered the picture. I can say that at that point I turned clever and diligent. Promotions, raises and sometimes even your job depended on passing them regularly, and there was a very marketable credential at the end of the road, as well as meetings in nice places. I went into overdrive although it still took me 8 years to pass them all.
I've gone into "clever and diligent" mode at other times when the occasion called for it, but that's not my real nature, which is probably why I never rose above VP in a business where VPs are a dime a dozen.
Oh, yeah- the Society's November 2019 meeting will be in Hawaii. I'll be on the beach during all but the cocktail receptions and the most interesting educational sessions.
I was pretty clever and lazy at the same time during my college years and while working.
In college, once I got my bearings straight, my philosophy was this: Strive to get an A in the courses which were "Up my alley," and salvage a B in the courses which were "Not up my alley." This led me to put the most effort into the courses which I had the most motivation to do well in and not waste time trying to bust my butt in courses I wasn't too interested in.
This strategy worked out very well. I made Dean's List twice and got As in nearly all of my preferred, favorite classes, while coasting, more or less, in the rest of the courses. The ultimate success with this strategy was to take a free elective course pass-fail (I had to take it to fit into my class schedule nearly 2 weeks into the semester) so I could devote all my energies into the other 3 "up my alley" courses. I got a C in the P/F course, so the C had no effect on my GPA, while getting As in the other 3 tougher, but more satisfying courses. I ended with a 3.7 GPA.
In my career, which like yours Athena, was in the actuarial field, I gave up on the exams 2 years into it because I just didn't want to be a student any more, hitting books after a full day of work. Lazy, maybe. But it made me a more diligent worker, using my programming skills to make a name for myself in my department.
As my enjoyment of the job began to wane in the late 1990s, I happened to be assigned to a project I couldn't stand and had no further interest in busting my butt to try to do well in it, if I could do well in it at all. Rather than continue pursuing the project, I begged off it, even though I knew I'd take a hit in my next performance review. Lazy, maybe. But I was far, far happier being off the project than I was upset by taking a hit on the next review. When I saw the hit on my next review, I said to myself, "no big friggin' deal."
Switching to working part-time 2 years after that also stunted my pay raises a bit. But why should I care about pay raises when I was actively seeking to REDUCE my pay 40%? I wanted my freedom to be lazy by not working full-time any more. Six years after that, I was so lazy that for the second time I asked to have my work hours and pay reduced AGAIN! and 17 months later, in the ultimate of laziness, I asked to work ZERO hours per week, as in retiring.