The issue of “switching off” often comes up in our workshops. Many people are feeling like once they finish work for the day, it’s a very hard for the brains to actually switch off so they are continually processing what has happened at work, and in most cases, what is about to happen.
And this can be something that happens on a daily basis and may also occur when people go on leave and it takes them almost a week to actually stop thinking about work.
When we ask what impact this is having on them, people say it’s impacting relationships as they don’t really feel present, or it might be causing them to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to get back to sleep.
Interestingly, in some cases people aren’t really sure of the impact, they just feel that switching off from work is something that they should be able to do.
Why are we finding it so hard to switch off? And do we even need to?
Brains have so much information coming at them all day – way more than our brains have evolved for.
Continuous partial attention has a lot to answer for here – we are constantly feeling like we are trying to do three things at once and feeling like there are a lot of balls in the air, and loose ends that haven’t been tied up by the end of the day.
In his book The Third Space, Adam Fraser eloquently describes how giving ourselves a space and activities to signal and reinforce our shift from work mode to home mode can help significantly. When commuting to and from the office, the commute itself can serve as a very strong signal. But this kind of reinforcement is much harder to achieve when working from home.
Mark Cropley’s book The Off Switch also gives some great ideas on how to switch off, but I also like the point he raised that many people are obsessed with switching off, and yet in reality, many of us don’t need to switch off completely. Broadly speaking if thinking about working is causing problems for our physical or mental health, then yes it’s important to switch off. However, neuroscience supports that we are more creative and get many of our best ideas while we are not at our desks – and therefore do we really want to switch that off? So perhaps some people are spending more energy credits trying to do something that they don’t really need to? Or trying to switch off perfectly, instead of switching off for some of the time, but still allowing space to get some great ideas in the shower isn’t so bad after all!
So how do we try to switch off – at least a little more…
One thing that works for many of our clients is a “mental shutdown” at the end of each day. It’s kind of like shutting down your computer, you need to save everything properly and then shut down. At the end of the day – think of where you are at with everything and develop your plan to keep things moving forward the next day. Neuroscience supports that if you want to sleep soundly, you need to tie up those loose ends. And you brain doesn’t actually need to have things done, your brain just needs a plan to get things done. So take stock at the end of each day and help your brain to realise “I’ve got this!” and you’ll stop that 2am wake up.
You can’t just expect your brain to miraculously close off, so sometimes, having a routine to wind down can be helpful too. Some people use the commute to debrief the day, and help type those reflective loose ends, or maybe read a book, or just enjoy some stillness before coming home.
Brains don’t so much switch off as switch between different modes of activity, so it’s not really realistic to aspire to “switching off”. We prefer to reframe this desire as “switching to” something else.
Sometimes doing something meditative can be a great way to stop thinking about work as well. For example, some people find that meditation or mindfulness works really well for them. For others, it maybe be more effective to do something more active like going for a run, which can also provide a meditative release from thinking about work.
And of course, maybe don’t be so afraid of not switching off – I know for me personally, I don’t care if I think about work, and I’m also happy to work when I’m away as that is when I do most of my writing as the change of scene makes me feel more creative – just a bit each day – on the days I feel like it. I follow my cognitive energy and work feels effortless. I also have to run with a phone so that I can stop and take down some notes when I get really good ideas. I don’t stress about the fact that work pops into my brain, in fact I actually relish these great ideas!
Many of our clients who work in creative industries such as advertising, better to come to terms with the fact that they won’t switch off completely, because creativity is something that is more likely to happen when you aren’t in the office.
So for many it’s a case of learning how to switch off, and for others it’s about making peace with the fact that you actually don’t have to completely switch off, and learn to relish great ideas that come to you. Either way – learning to quieten the brain and give it stillness from doing 89 things at once is key for everyone!
Of course, if you’d like to find out more about how to improve performance with less effort why not either book a Performance Call or sign up for our next 20/20 session or one of our open workshops here