Article: The Best Way to End Your Workday
"While burnout has always been a thing, experts believe the rise of remote work, mobile email, and other technologies that keeps us tethered to our jobs has made it increasingly difficult to disconnect at the end of the day. Boundaries matter to our brains, and we keep tearing down the walls that once stood between our occupations and our private lives.
According to a 2018 study in the journal Research in Organizational Behavior, psychologically “detaching” from work is one of the best ways to reduce after-hours stress and all its harms, including burnout. “[This] implies not only refraining from performing job-related tasks, but also mentally disconnecting from the job during nonwork time,” the author of that study wrote.
“All of these loose ends have the potential to distract us during leisure time,” says Smit, PhD, who is an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Bentley University in Massachusetts. The thing you need to understand about your brain, Smit says, is that it struggles to let go of unfinished business. “Incomplete tasks have a unique ability to continue capturing attention,” he explains.
In his study, he found that taking a few minutes at the very end of the day to map out how you’ll tackle any ongoing tasks or commitments is a great way to facilitate detachment. “[Making] a plan for where, when, and how the task will be completed seems to reduce the urgency in our brains that naturally presses for completing goals,” he says. “In a sense, a plan is a reasonable substitute for actually completing the goal.”
His research also suggests that knocking out simple, completable tasks at the end of the workday — and avoiding complicated ones — is another good way to psychologically disconnect.
“In terms of detachment, checking email is really a no-win scenario,” Smit says. “If there is nothing to attend to in your inbox, checking email was a small waste of time. If there is something urgent, a new task has now been activated in your mind, which will press for completion.”
Read the full article on Medium
✨Takeaway: Psychologically “detaching” from work is one of the best ways to reduce after-hours stress and burnout. Tasks at the end of the day play an outsize role in helping you unplug from work. Mapping out how you will tackle ongoing tasks or commitments at the end of the day is a great way to facilitate detachment.
✨Reflection: Have you ever felt you were unable to detach from work after work hours?
#Workday #Work #Career #Burnout #MentalHealth #Stress
Thank you for sharing this informative article with us @innateJoy9602.
I'm currently looking for a new job and thankful have been able to detach from my previous work after work hours. I think it really helps to have a routine and focus on work in an area away from home. I'll keep in mind the tips shared incase it becomes harder to detach from my new job.
Thank you ☺️