How to stop thinking about work in your free time: 9 tips and recommendations of a psychologist

Have you ever wondered when exactly your workday ends? When you turn off your computer or leave the office? Or when you come home, take a shower and sit down to dinner with your family? Or maybe it never ends and thoughts of work are constantly running through your head?

While on vacation, walking in the park with your dog, reading a book to your kids, you can’t help but check your email and chat with your colleagues? Probably, thanks to this attitude you are very appreciated at work, but it hardly benefits you yourself.

People who have to be on call all the time or control work tasks during off-hours have higher levels of cortisol (“stress hormone”) compared to those who are allowed to remain unavailable outside the office. Such professionals do not have time to recover, are unable to get adequate rest and, as a result, are at risk for professional burnout.

The consequences can be depression, insomnia, alcohol and psychotropic substance abuse, overeating, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and weakened immunity.

Psychologist, HR-consultant, expert of the online school of psychological professions “Psychodemia”

“The skill of not thinking about professional tasks during non-working hours is an important factor for emotional and physical health. And even if you adore your work, remember that without regular rest, you won’t have a good life or a successful career.”

Satura rādītājs

Why can’t we stop thinking about work?

One of the reasons for being overly passionate about work and constantly thinking about it can be high expectations of yourself and the fear that you might do something wrong that will spell disaster.

It seems as if you have to do everything perfectly, to control every little thing, to be aware of absolutely all events and details of the work process. In reality, it is almost impossible to be such a person. At least, without harm to mental and physical health.

Another reason lies in the lack of boundaries between work and personal life. People who separate these things – rest on weekends and go on regular vacations – have a much lower chance of burnout.

You shouldn’t try to vacation and work at the same time. If you answer emails while sitting in a movie theater, you won’t be able to formulate a proper response or get into the story. Notorious multitasking is a myth. You’re just switching between two things at high speed, but is it good for your brain? It’s better to separate work and personal life, because clear boundaries between them will increase the return on your efforts in both areas.

What should you do if you think about work all the time?

1. Develop different areas of life

Don’t forget to develop different areas of your life, not just your career. Of course, it’s hard not to think about work if it’s the only thing you have.

Sometimes you need to look around you and see where else you can move? What interesting things are there in the world? Every day there are new sports, cool books, movies, plays, vibrant venues and resorts opening up. Are you willing to give it all up for the opportunity to think about work from morning to night?

2. Set specific hours of work and rest

Even as children, we were constantly told about the importance of the regime of the day, including and study, and rest, and sleep, and three meals a day. But many people dismissed then and do the same in adulthood. Nevertheless, setting certain hours of work and rest is a priority if you are striving for balance.

3. objectively assess your workload

Let’s be realistic. You may have a workload that would be too much for three people. In this case, you need to change something. Some processes should be delegated, optimized or stopped altogether. If the number of cases is all right, let’s try to distribute them as efficiently as possible throughout your working day.

4. Balance work and rest

There are many methods of time management, but one of the easiest to use is the time-blocking technique. This is a method of scheduling your workday where you allocate blocks of time for certain tasks.

The time-blocking technique is partially based on the resource-based theory of attention by Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman. According to this theory, performing any action requires “investing” the resource of attention. If it is not enough to solve the task, then a person is unable to cope with it.

The phenomenon that occurs when we switch from one task to another is called “attention residue”. That is, it is still attached to the previous task, even when we have already moved on to the new one. This leads to a decrease in productivity and focus.

This is where time-blocking comes in handy. It helps to level out the remnants of attention by concentrating it on one task. How exactly to apply the technique?

Step #1: Define your goals and priorities

Before you start using the time-blocking technique, you need to define your goals and priorities. Make a list of the tasks you need to accomplish. Mark especially important ones that require more time and effort.

Step #2. Break your day into blocks of time

Once you’ve defined your goals, break your workday into blocks, each of which will be allocated to tasks.

For example, you can set aside 30 minutes for answering emails, 2-3 hours for the most important tasks and 1-2 hours for communicating with colleagues.

It is better if there are no more than 5-7 such blocks per day. And don’t forget that between the blocks there should be breaks for food and rest, from 15 to 30 minutes at least. It’s great if you have an hour free block – you can use it for a deeper rest or to solve a sudden problem.

Step 3: Keep a schedule

The most important thing about using time-blocking techniques is to stick to a schedule. Don’t postpone tasks for later or reschedule blocks. Try to stick to your schedule, but without fanaticism. Otherwise, you’ll quit after three days.

5. Establish workday rules

To make your workflow even more “healthy”, try to establish rules that will help you separate the “grains from the chaff”, or rather – work from rest.

For example, if you work at home, it is worth organizing a specific workplace, and not to do things wherever you go, because then, getting up from the table, you will give your brain a signal to switch from business to personal tasks. If you don’t have a dedicated place, you get used to thinking about work in the kitchen, on the couch, and even in the shower.

You can also set and tell all your coworkers the time when you finally stop working. Just completely. You don’t even read messages. And no, you can’t take one look at a subordinate’s project. You’re on vacation. And no, you’re not ashamed.

It might be uncomfortable for everyone at first (and especially for you). But if a little patience, your colleagues will get used to it, and you will have free time to read a book or watch a new movie.

If you work in an office, try not to take things home. Even if you need to urgently hand in an important report, it is better to stay late in the business center than to carry this task home. That way, you’ll start to relax on the way home instead of chewing over work-related thoughts that will continue after dinner.

It’s great if you use a separate device for work: a phone, laptop or something else. Then at the end of the workday, you can turn it off or leave it in the office so that you won’t be tempted to look at it with at least one eye.

If you are, for example, a freelancer or just work on your personal devices, you can try to turn off notifications from work chats for the rest of the day, warn clients and colleagues that calls after a certain time are not accepted.

Lifehack. To switch your brain from thoughts of work to rest, think of a ritual. It can be a warm bath, a change of clothes from work to home, a walk with the dog or a cup of tea. Gradually develop the habit of resting after an enjoyable activity.

How do you learn to switch and rest?

Perhaps you just don’t know how to rest? This is a topic that also needs to be worked on. How do you learn to switch, to relax?

The famous phrase “The best rest is a change of activity” will help us. Watch a movie, play board games with your family, take up your favorite hobby. It will be great if it is not even remotely related to work.

Do not forget that it is important as a daily rest, and long – weekends, vacations. This is a great opportunity to distract and reboot on a deeper level. Here we get a chance to nourish the physical forces of the body with a good night’s sleep, regular and tasty food, as well as to be filled with bright emotions and impressions, to get energy for new accomplishments.

The maximum effect of rebooting on vacation can only be achieved by disconnecting from work processes, chat rooms and e-mail.

Here, too, may come in handy lifehack – go to places where there is no communication, there you and colleagues will not reach you, and you will not be tempted to write to them.

What else will help you free your thoughts from work?

1. Allocate time for relaxation

There will always be a work task that needs attention. If you don’t make special time in your schedule for rest, the risk of devoting all your time to work and thinking about it will increase dramatically.

Do you have no time in your current schedule to devote to yourself? Then think about what you can give up, delegate, postpone. Make relaxation a priority, not a rare exception.

2. Regular exercise

It’s great if you can set aside time to exercise. In addition to good sleep, health and fitness, the result of this habit can be a normalization of the hormonal background and, as a result, a reduction in anxiety, which is often the cause of constant thoughts about work.

3. Practice meditation

To healthy habits can be attributed and meditation – a set of practices, the purpose of which is to increase awareness and concentration, to achieve calmness and relaxation. It helps to return to a resourceful state, to focus on work or rest, to stabilize the regime and much more.

How exactly to meditate? Now there are a huge number of apps and online resources teaching how to do it. Try it out and choose the method that suits your needs.

4. Scheduled activities with friends or family

For example, every Saturday you go to a new place and there can be no other plans for that day. Zoo, movie theater, water park – take your pick. It is important that these activities are regular and prioritized.

Remember that rest is a skill, it needs to be practiced, so do not give up working on this pleasant habit. All these tips will help you reduce accumulated fatigue, free your mind from constant thoughts about business tasks, and learn to finally get adequate rest. This is very important for your health, productivity and psychological well-being.

What to do if you have tried all the methods known to you, but still continue to be immersed in work thoughts 24/7? It may not be unreasonable to seek professional help.

If you work in a large organization, then most often in such companies there is an HR-specialist or even a whole department, which, of course, is interested in the efficiency of the staff, and therefore in the quality of their rest. Consultants can help with the organization of work tasks, teach you how to delegate them or test you for emotional burnout, give narrower recommendations suitable for you and your specifics.

Working with a psychologist will also be effective. The specialist will help to sort out the reasons for fixation on work, to consider the areas of life that are sagging, to outline solutions and find the motivation within yourself to move on them. Do not hesitate to ask for help and remember – your emotional and physical health – only in your hands.