The reality of never switching off

Not only does this lower our quality of life and relationships outside of work, but it lowers the quality of our focus when we’re at work - we operate in a cognitive slumber never being fully present and engaged with anything - always allowing our attention to be grabbed and pulled by trying to be everywhere, so we never end up actually fully being anywhere

Picture Andrea, she works a 9-5 office job in the city. She gets home and her kids tell her about their day - but her phone keeps buzzing with the work group chat and she doesn’t take it in. She slumps onto the sofa after a long day but decides to half work on the slide deck for her upcoming presentation, her mind never fully resting. In bed she checks her emails instead of talking with her partner, and weekends are never fully week ends, leaving her exhausted.

By the time Monday comes round, she’s operating at a limited cognitive capacity with an inability to fully focus, she’s falling behind on work and struggling to complete even basic tasks, leaving her feeling constantly overwhelmed and out of control of her life.

The only thing truly fired up in her life is her cortisol and stress levels.

Working from home

This issue is particularly exacerbated when working from home. The lines between your workspace and home life have been blurred making it even harder to fully detach and separate your duties.

The cost on Performance

We’re fast entering an era of always being switched on. And when we’re always switched on, our stress response likely is too. And when our stress response is switched on it inhibits our productivity, creativity and performance. The always on culture aimed at being more productive actually has the opposite effect.

It’s actually illegal in France to email employees outside of working hours, the French recognising the negative effects of constantly being plugged in.

Now I understand we all have responsibilities and it’s not always as simple as stopping on the minute everyday and work not crossing your mind - but when you control your own schedule you need to be deliberate with switching off and finishing working.

How to Switch off

1. Live Binary
2. Clear end points
3. Separate spaces
4. Control Notifications
5. Work like a Sprinter
6. The 3 alarms Method

Live Binary

Commit to living binary with whatever you do - when you’re on, you’re on - when you’re off, you’re off - no in between!

This is a great way to sharpen and protect your attention which we’re going to visit more in later weeks. But it also allows you to fully switch off. We can sleep better, properly rest, fully engage in our relationships and come back to work feeling refreshed and focussed.

Clear end points

While completely disconnecting from work might seem unrealistic, we can establish clear boundaries. Have a clear end point to your day and don’t work beyond this. Yes this may change from day to day and it’s important to be flexible, but when you finish work, finish working.

A great way to signal a clear end point is to change your environment. Get outdoors or actively practice movement, mindfulness or some other activity that signals a transition from work to personal life.

Separate spaces

The problem with WFH is our home space becomes our workspace. Your brain is an incredibly associative device. Different places cause us to think, act and behave in certain ways.

So try to have separate spaces where you work and relax and don’t let these cross over. Definitely don’t work from bed - it ruins your sleep, and probably don’t try to relax at your desk either.

Physical separation triggers mental separation.

Switch off your notifications

You can’t mentally switch off if your phone is always going off. The constant buzzing and binging keeps us switched on and leaves us worrying what that notification may be or if the email is urgent.

Always being available is incredibly damaging to your mental health. It can wait and you’ll be able to handle whatever it is a lot better the next day if you’re rested and refreshed.

So put your phone on silent, limit work notifications in the evening or even leave it in another room.

Control your notifications instead of them controlling you.

Work like a sprinter, not a marathon runner

People who take regular breaks and have clear end points to their day are actually more productive. Pareto’s law even supports this - 20% of efforts brings 80% of outputs - you get most of your achievements from intense bouts at max capacity vs long bouts of split and poor attention.

The 3 alarms method

My favourite method for switching off from work is called the 3 alarms by Erik Partaker. This involves setting three daily alarms to trigger specific identity shifts throughout the day. These alarms help you transition between your personal, work and social roles and signal clear start and end points to each.

For example:

- Alarm 1: (Personal) - 7:00AM: Label this alarm "Self improver" Use this time to invest in yourself, reading, getting out in nature, exercising or listening to podcasts.

- Alarm 2 (Work) - 9:00AM: Label this alarm "Top Performer." During your work hours, concentrate on high-impact tasks, be efficient and engaged with your work.

- Alarm 3 (Social) - 5:00 PM: Label this alarm "Supportive Friend." Use this time to connect with friends, prioritise your relationships and engage in social activities.

Set your alarms and commit to being fully present for your 3 roles.

Summary

Practising these techniques won’t mean you’ll never think about work again outside your 9-5, but they will ensure clear boundaries which will train your brain to disengage and allow you to fully relax.

Switching off actually makes you more productive - athlete’s have known this for years and prioritise rest for high performance.

The culture of always being on and available is a recipe for poor performance and burnout.