Work Laz-o: Why Recreating Home at Work Kills Focus and Output
Work Laz-o: Why Recreating Home at Work Kills Focus and Output
We bring our dogs to work. Our kids. Our personal items. We show up in pyjamas.
At this point, why don’t we just bring a bed and call it a night?
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When the workplace starts looking like home, the brain stays in home mode.
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Many workplaces are slowly turning into living rooms.Dogs under desks. Kids wandering into meetings. Blankets on chairs. Snack drawers that look like pantries.
The office becomes a soft extension of home.
Enter the term we coined: Work Laz-o.
Not laziness as an insult. Laz-o as a state: half-work, half-home, permanently softened.
How Did This Start?
It was incremental. Small shifts that felt harmless:
- “Casual” became a default, not an exception.
- Remote work removed the physical boundary.
- Comfort became a status signal instead of a tool.
- Work culture started praising “home energy” as a virtue.
None of these are automatically bad. The problem is the direction of travel when there is no stopping point.
Your Brain Needs a Doorway
Humans run on cues. When the environment changes, behaviour changes.
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A clear workplace boundary used to act like a doorway:
- Different clothes
- Different space
- Different rhythm
- Different expectations
You crossed the line and your mind switched modes.
Remove the line and the mode change weakens.
What Work Laz-o Looks Like
Work Laz-o is not “people are bad.” It is “the container is soft.”
- Replies slow down because urgency feels optional.
- Decisions drift because accountability feels diluted.
- Standards blur because the setting feels casual.
- Focus fractures because domestic interruptions are normalized.
Everyone looks busy. Momentum is the part that disappears.
Comfort Is Not Neutral
Comfort lowers friction. Friction often produces output.
When the workplace feels like a lounge, intensity becomes harder to generate on demand.
This is not morality. It is mechanics.
The Bed Test
The bed line sounds like a joke, but it exposes the endpoint.
If dogs are normal, kids are normal, pyjamas are normal, and home life is continuous, then why not naps
between calls? Why not treat work as background noise?
Once the professional container dissolves, “serious mode” becomes harder to access.
Why Distinction Matters
Home has a job: recovery. Work has a job: execution.
They can support each other, but they should not merge into one endless environment.
A clear line is not harsh. It is a performance tool.
Without it, Work Laz-o becomes the default operating system.
The Bottom Line
If you want work to produce results, stop recreating home at work.
Keep the human side. Keep the warmth. But restore the boundary.
Otherwise, don’t be surprised when output drops and the bed starts sounding reasonable.
