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At the end of the working day, completely disengaging from our jobs may seem impossible.
It may be that you’re dreading the mountain of work you’ll have to face tomorrow.
Or that you’re nervous about that meeting later this week in which you’ll have to make your presentation.
You may find yourself incessantly checking your work email at home, or even over dinner, thus compromising your personal life.
Separating from work at the end of the day isn’t always easy, but there are a few techniques you can use to leave your work behind at the office.
Use these 6 methods to more effectively disengage from your work at the end of the day.
6 Ways to Leave Work Behind at the Office
1. Complete a short, easy task. End your day on a positive, accomplished note by doing a short, easy task. Whether it’s responding to an email, making a quick phone call, or printing off a document for tomorrow, doing one small thing can quickly boost your mood and give you a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, making it easier to leave it all at the office.
2. Clear the clutter. At the end of your work day, take a few minutes to clean up your workspace. Clear away the clutter and tidy everything on your desk. Why? Decluttering your space makes it easier to focus, simply because it removes the unnecessary distractions. This way when you come back to work tomorrow, your clean workspace will help you to focus better and enhance your work performance.
How to be less busy and more productive.
3. Write up your to-do’s. If you’re stressed about what all you need to address tomorrow as you’re leaving work today, take a few minutes to write up a to-do list. Simply listing your tasks is a great way to rechannel your stress. Plus, when you come back to the office tomorrow, you’ll have a clearer picture of what tasks you need to address.
4. Don’t work on your commute home. Whether you take the bus or the train home, cut work off the moment you exit work for the day. Why? When you work on your commute home, it blurs the lines in your mind about where work starts and ends every day, making it harder to disconnect from when you actually arrive home. So instead of pulling out your laptop or notepad when you start home, listen to music, read a book for pleasure, or text a friend.
5. Find a humorous distraction. Have you ever noticed that a good joke can instantly boost your mood, relax you, and make you look at things differently? Laughter is one of the best methods you can use to redirect your stress and refresh your perspective at the end of the day. So when you get home, rent a comedy movie to watch, or call up a friend that you know will make you laugh. Indulge yourself with a bit of humor, and you’ll find that it’s easier to enjoy your time where you are, rather than thinking about the office.
6. Focus on the positive moments of your day. When you find your thoughts drifting back to the office after working hours, let yourself focus only on the “wins” of your day. Often when we fail to leave work at work, our minds focus on all the things that went wrong, which leaves us with a negative perception about our day. When you feel this happening, shift your thoughts to think about all the good things that happened instead. Maybe you enjoyed lunch with a colleague today. Or maybe you finally finished up that big project. Whatever small wins you experienced today, reflect on those, and forget the rest.
