Lazy or Lost? A Work-From-Home Wake-Up Call day. After all, your work laptop is right there — why not sign back on for a second to check your work email after dinner? Failing to give yourself time away from thinking about work may lead to added stress and an eventual feeling of being overwhelmed — a gateway to laziness or burnout. Work is work, and home is home. That fact should never change just because both occur under the same roof. Keep your work and life tasks separate. For your work and home obligations to coexist successfully as a remote employee, you must give each side its own space. If you’re sneaking away from your work computer beyond your approved breaks to wash that pile of laundry in the hallway or put away the dishes, you may need to restructure your to-do list. Reserve your work tasks for the day and your home and life tasks for evenings and weekends — and don’t stray from that plan. Don’t mistake exhaustion for laziness. Above all, it’s essential to recognize the difference between laziness and burnout . Putting your feet up and giving yourself a Netflix weekend is one thing; dragging yourself through your days irritable, depressed, and physically and mentally exhausted is another. If you have more of the latter these days, it may be time to seek support from loved ones or health care professionals who can help get you back on a healthier and more fulfilling path.
A decade ago, most people had a commute to help them mentally unwind from the stress of their in-office workdays. In 2025, many employees have only a short walk from their ad-hoc “home office” to the living room to clear their heads. While there are benefits to working from home, integrating your career and home life under one roof can have downsides, especially when trying to stay happy, fulfilled, and productive in both roles. Here are three helpful thoughts to remember if laziness creeps into your in-house work/life balance. You work to live, not live to work. For every perk that comes with working from home (hint: You’re not the only person wearing pajama bottoms during Zoom calls), there’s an equally detrimental temptation to avoid switching off from work at the end of the
WHO CONTROLS YOUR SAFETY SYSTEM? THE HIDDEN COSTS OF PROPRIETARY EQUIPMENT
One of the most important decisions you make when building or renovating is which life safety or security systems to install. Most people assume their system is just a line item in the project budget, but the choice can lock you into a relationship for years, whether you meant to or not.
Before everything went digital, most systems were straightforward. You could call any qualified electrician or technician to help if something went wrong. But with microprocessors and software-driven components, companies have figured out how to protect their service agreements by restricting who can work on their systems. I encourage clients to ask key questions up front: Is the system proprietary? Will I have service options later? What happens if I want to switch providers? Too often, these questions don’t come up until there’s already a problem. The time to get answers is before anything gets installed, not after you’ve committed to something that limits your flexibility or drives up future costs.
A lot of systems being installed today are proprietary. That often means only one company can service or modify them. And if that company isn’t responsive or you’re not happy with their work, you may not have any other local options. Simply put, you’re stuck with what you’ve got.
I’ve seen this happen too many times. Someone hands off a system decision to an architect, engineer, or general
At American Alarms, we’ve made a conscious choice to keep things simple and user-friendly. We want you to understand your system, manage it easily, and have real choices if your needs change. When you’re investing in life safety, you should be the one in control, not the manufacturer or installer. That’s why our licensed and certified team members prioritize customer education and don’t install systems that box you in.
contractor. They approve the price without asking how flexible the system is or who can service it later. The equipment goes in, and once the project wraps up, they realize they don’t have the access or control they thought they would, but that wasn’t always the case.
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