Project Lazy Newsletter | Issue 4 | 2nd October 2026
View the newsletter here: Project Lazy Newsletter | Issue 4 | 2nd October 2026
Hello everyone,
You are receiving this email because you expressed interest in staying connected with Project Lazy. We are excited to share what we have been working on, what we have learned, and a few things we hope you will enjoy exploring.
We will send updates like this every so often, but if at any point, you’d prefer not to receive them, just click unsubscribe at the bottom of this email.
And to everyone joining us for the first time—welcome! We are delighted to have you as part of our growing community.
📌Recent Highlights📌
🎉 Project Lazy is now on Instagram!
We are excited to announce that Project Lazy is now on Instagram! Follow @project.lazy for project updates, events, ideas and more.
We would also love to hear from you. If you have a story, idea, or experience related to laziness, share it with us—we hope to feature voices from the Project Lazy community.
🎙️Project Lazy on the BBC Science Focus Instant Genius Podcast
🗣️Being Judged as Lazy: Insights from our first community workshop
We have published a new blog exploring insights from our first Project Lazy community workshop, where participants reflected on experiences of being labelled lazy, identifying as lazy, or seeing others judged in this way. A recurring theme was how these judgements can become internalised, shaping people’s relationships with work, productivity and rest long after the label is applied.
Source: Maulana Ahmad / Unsplash
As one participant reflected:
“As a child, I can remember many occasions when my parents would say I was lazy because I simply wanted to relax for a while...I think that when you hear that repeatedly over the years, you internalise it. As an adult, I almost feel that I am ridiculously hard on myself. I can’t relax because I think to myself, am I lazy?”
📣Announcing an exciting collaboration!
We are delighted to share that we are collaborating with Potatote- an Oxford based small business that creates thoughtfully designed and high-quality bags featuring original, hand-drawn illustrations.
Potatote is enthusiastic about supporting Project Lazy and the ideas behind our work. That is why, together, we are creating a limited run of Project Lazy tote bags.
The tote bags will be available to purchase, with proceeds going towards Project Lazy's community engagement initiatives. Interested in getting one?
🔎 Research Spotlight
Judging Environmental Inaction as Laziness
By Indya Sawyerr
Laziness is sometimes associated with a gap between what we think we should do and what we actually do. For example, we may think we should exercise today but nevertheless stay on the sofa.
Indya wanted to find out more about when we judge someone as lazy in situations like these. As part of her Moral Psychology dissertation at the University of Oxford, she conducted a study involving 515 adults in the UK. She focused on people who care about the environment but don’t always act accordingly. Participants were presented with scenarios involving recycling, buying environmentally friendly products, and commuting. Indya varied the reasons for why the person did not choose the environmentally friendly option - for example, because it required more effort, time or money - and what they were using those resources for instead.
What did the research find?
Time and effort: People were seen as lazier when they were unwilling to spend the time or effort required for the environmentally friendly action—for example, sorting recycling or carrying it upstairs to a recycling bin. Interestingly, unwillingness to spend time was seen as just as lazy as unwillingness to put in effort.
Financial costs: Financial reasons for not taking the environmentally friendly action were seen as more justified—for example, not recycling because it required paying for special recycling bags.
What people did instead also mattered: People were seen as less lazy when their time or energy went towards another environmentally friendly activity, such as volunteering for an environmental charity, rather than towards personal hobbies.
The takeaway: Judging someone as lazy isn’t simply about how much effort they are willing to put in. It also depends on whether we think they have a good reason for not acting.
In other words, when we judge laziness, we may be asking not only “How much effort did this person put in?” but also “Did they have a good reason for not putting in effort?”
🛏️ An interesting fact: World Day of Laziness
Did you know that every August, the Colombian city of Itagüí celebrates Día Mundial de la Pereza—World Day of Laziness?
The celebration began in the mid-1980s, when the organisers sought to promote culture, recreation, and leisure in a city strongly associated with industry and work. Today, the event forms part of the city’s Festival of Industry, Commerce and Culture, with one of its most distinctive traditions being the Parade of Beds and Floats, where people take decorated beds, mattresses and hammocks into the streets.
Source: Itagüí Mayor’s Office
At its heart is the idea of ocio creativo (creative leisure): leisure not simply as “doing nothing”, but as valuable time for creativity, recreation and community. It raises a question that resonates strongly with Project Lazy:
Why do we celebrate labour and productivity, yet so rarely celebrate rest and leisure?
The World Day of Laziness offers an unusual example of how the idea of “laziness” can be used to question assumptions about productivity and make space for the value of rest and leisure.
📩 Stay Connected
We’d love to hear from you—whether it’s a quote, a book, a film, or just a thought—that resonates with the questions Project Lazy explores.
Your voices and insights will continue to shape this work in meaningful ways!
That's all for Issue 4 of the Project Lazy newsletter. Thanks for reading! We hope you found something that sparked curiosity, reflection, or even a new way of thinking about laziness.
Until next time!