Switch off: Turning off your Work Brain (PLUS infographic)
My story…
Back in 2011/2012, I was a senior learning consultant on a global high-profile project for a big client. Every Monday morning flying out for 2 years. I knew many airports - Vienna, Zurich, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, London…
I remember that by the end of the project, I reached a point where I was always “on” and could never “switch off”. Even when I was no longer at work, my brain was still on “work mode”. No matter where I was, I was constantly thinking or talking about work. Everything reminded me of work and I always had my phone nearby to make a note to myself, check or send emails. Even when I was with friends or family, I wasn’t really there at times and was thinking about work. About a task that I haven’t finished yet. About an upcoming meeting or presentation. About an idea. About getting the client’s sign-off. About an email I needed to send asap. About a difficult situation at work and what I could have done better. These thoughts especially loved to pop into my head at night when I was supposed to rest and sleep.
What are the dangers if you cannot switch off after work?
We all go through periods when work is on our mind. However, if you think about work all the time, this can damage your mental and emotional well-being, your effectiveness at work, your relationships and overall health.
Mental, cognitive and emotional impacts
Thinking about work 24/7 impacts your thinking as well as emotional and mental well-being.
Worrying. You may worry about the future or ruminate about the past.
Lack of focus. You may struggle to focus on what you do in the moment and get easily get distracted.
Racing thoughts. Your thoughts are racing, and you have the feeling you cannot stop nor control them.
Fogginess. You may feel “head fog”. Your thinking is clouded, and you struggle to think clearly.
Cognitive and mental exhaustion. You may feel cognitive, mentally and emotional exhausted and drained. You feel tired and overwhelmed all the time.
Loss of confidence. You stop trusting in your own abilities and judgement (as consequence of constant worrying and ruminating).
Performance issues. Your performance is dropping. You make more mistakes, and everything takes longer. This is the consequence of chronic stress and the inability to destress and recharge.
Impacts on interpersonal relationships
The inability to switch off may impact your social life and important personal relationships.
Inability to enjoy quality time with family and friends. Instead of enjoying the moment with your loved ones, you are distracted by thoughts about work. You may miss important and special moments – e.g. watching your kid scoring his first goal or a romantic dinner for your wedding anniversary. Or you just do not feel any joy when being with others.
Social withdrawal. You do not feel like socialising. You may tend to cancel on friends, or you choose not to answer the phone when a friend calls.
Conflicts. You are easily irritable and little things can set you off. You fight a lot about nothing.
Relationship problems. Your relationships with your partner, family and friends suffer. You pushing them away and your action show that they are not a priority.
Health and well-being impacts
The inability to switch off may trigger a constant stress response that impacts your health and (mental) well-being - short-term and long-term.
Sleep Issues. You may have issues falling asleep, wake up a lot during the night or have bad sleep in general. Even if you slept, you feel tired and exhausted.
Headache. You may suffer from headaches and migraines.
Digestive issues. Stress can impact your digestive system – leading to weight gain or loss. You may suffer from IBS or other digestive issues.
High blood pressure. You may suffer from high blood pressure and long-term cardio-vascular conditions.
Burnout. Chronic work-related stress may lead to burnout.
Anxiety. Chronic worrying about work may lead to anxieties, such is general anxiety disorder or social anxiety.
“Switching off” Strategies
The good news is you can learn to switch off. It is all about finding strategies that work for you and then making them a new habit.
Meditation and mindfulness. Meditation and mindfulness are great strategies to become aware of your thoughts, accept them and let go.
Turn ruminating/worrying thoughts into problem solving. Instead of beating yourself up about the past or worrying about the future, find solutions for the problem. How can you fix a mistake or prevent it from happening (again)? Most importantly, if you try to problem solve, set yourself a time for how long you allow yourself to work on the problem. Also try to avoid to problem solve in bed but rather have a dedicated place that only reserved for problem solving (e.g. your office at home).
“Box it” visualisation. Visualisation can be a powerful tool. Imagine that you place your thoughts about work into a box, cover it with a lid and put the closed box away for now. You acknowledge your thoughts and can get the box out to deal with the them when you decide and you are ready.
Daily commute as transition phase (see also The Power Of Commuting). Use the commuting time between the office and home to transition and let go off the work-related thoughts. The Third Space technique may be helpful to transition smoothly.
“Business hours are over” mindset. Every time a work-related thought pops into your head, dismiss it by referring to your business hours. Tell your thoughts if it is important they are allowed to pop up again when you are at work.
Go offline. This is a simple but effective strategy. Switch you work phone off and do not check work messages nor emails when you are not at work.
Switch off the light - switch off your work brain. Use a physical switch or power button to “switch off your work brain” - by imaging that this is the “work brain button”. You can do this when you switch off the light, before you go to sleep. Or that you turn off your work thoughts when shutting down your computer at work at the end of your work day.
A set time to allow thoughts. When needed, give your thoughts permission to pop up for a set time and for 5 min only. Acknowledge them and let go.
Reflection. Dedicate daily five to ten minutes to reflect on your workday (either on your commute home or before you go to bed). Ask yourself the following three questions in this order: 1) What didn’t go well or as planned? 2) What are the lessons? 3) What is one good thing that happened at work today? In your reflection, always end with something positive.
Bedtime Routine. If your thoughts usually pop up when you try to sleep, it might be useful to create a bed night routine to signal your body and mind that it is time to rest and sleep. Meditation, a reflection and gratitude exercise (see also The Power of Gratitude) or reading a non-work-related book are some useful strategies. Check out the 8 Things you should not do before you go to bed infographic to see what you should avoid before going to bed.
Download your free copy of the infographic below.
If you are interested to read more about this topic, check out Dr. Faisal Alzahrani’s guest blog Take a break: Dissociation from Work.
Access the mentioned tools and templates in the Resource Centre (for Silver and Gold Clients only).