BEING lazy has got me to where I am today. Granted, you probably don’t have a clue who I am and if I were a bit more pro-active maybe that’d be different, but go with me on this – there should be no shame in it.

And for your new year’s resolution (lazy people shouldn’t have to start until February), why not embrace that?

I’m not advocating sitting in your sweatpants for the whole day, eating junk food and letting the Netflix algorithm pick what you’re going to watch next (although that does sound appealing). Nor am I saying you should be particularly like me; my laziness manifests itself in many negative ways – I’m never on time for anything (ever), I’m often far too indecisive to choose what to eat and I’ll even trail off sentences before they… you get the picture.

The kind of lazy I’m talking about is far more fundamental – it’s about being less precious with the big stuff and letting life lead you through the path of least resistance. And – here’s the big one – attaching yourself to others who are far more driven than you and know exactly what they want, and how to get it.

As far as advice goes, this is quite niche, but if you ever find yourself in the position to get a comedy double act partner, like I have with Max, then go for it. Sure there are downsides, like having to split everything you make straight down what Max calls “the middle” (it’s 70:30 in Max’s favour), or agreeing to write a newspaper article instead of doing a 10-minute radio interview because you didn’t want to get up at 7.30am. (This was incredibly short-sighted of me – I hate essays. I mean I turned down a whole university to avoid writing one… more on that later). But ultimately it’s the best – not only do I spend every day working with my mate, all the pressure of making those big decisions is taken away from me!

Stressing about a massive life-altering choice you need to make? Get someone you trust to make it for you.

Back when I was finishing sixth form and everyone around me was applying to universities to spend their next three years at, I didn’t bother with “research” or “figuring out what I wanted to do with my life”, I simply got a friend to fill out my UCAS form for me. Then when it came to interviews, my policy was if any of the institutions asked me to prepare anything in advance I’d simply strike them from my list (want me to prepare a monologue?! No way, York! Want me to write an essay?! Sorry Manchester, your loss!). This whittled my choices down pretty quickly and before long I had a place at Royal Holloway (a university of London, but it turns out not actually in London. Research may have helped me figure that one out, but never mind).

So off to uni I went, all thanks to my care-free, easy-going attitude! Well, that is after two gap-years of trying to make it in the band. No, Voodoo 7:2 never quite made it (despite the epic name), but because I took that time out and turned up much later than anticipated, I met Max, my comedy double act partner, and my wife (a different person who, rather conveniently, lived next door to me in my first-year halls). And the rest is history.

I owe it all to my laissez-faire attitude. And, in a roundabout way, even this comedy show we’re bringing to Glasgow is a result of that. It took me 12 years to propose to my wife (obviously) and when it came to my stag party I chose Max to be my best man, not just because he’s my best friend, but also because I knew he’d work extremely hard in creating an incredible night.

And, oh boy, was I right. It was so good that we actually scrapped the show we were originally writing and focussed on this instead… I won’t give anything away, but it did involve Max attempting to, amongst other things, reform Voodoo 7:2 for one final gig. Did he succeed? Well, you’d have to see the show to find out of course.

Where will my care-free attitude take me next? Who knows? (Ask Max, he has it all planned out.) But as for you, I wholeheartedly recommend being lazy.

And if you’re not sure you want your whole life altered just yet, how about we start with something much smaller. Let someone else (me!) tell you what you’re going to do this weekend – come see our show Max & Ivan: Commitment at The Stand and I promise you’ll not regret it (just as long as I get there on time, that is).

Max & Ivan: Commitment – The Stand Glasgow, 9th February, 8:30pm

Tickets available online at berksnest.com/maxandivan