Sometimes it can be hard to get your brain off work, especially if there are any stressful or negative things happening at the time. As a small business owner or startup founder, your whole life can be wrapped around your work.
Unfortunately, studies have shown, spending more than 55 hours a week at work boosts the risk of anxiety and depression.
It’s normal for everyone to undergo stress from time to time, but there are ways to get back to living your life after work without letting it cloud up your day. This week we’ll be discussing ways in which you can reset your brain after a long day at work.
Lessen the work chat at home
I know it sounds crazy at first, but most full-time workers take their work home and find at the moment it’s the best decision when it’s hindering their stress levels. Thanks to technology, we’re able to work from an office and switch it to our kitchens or living rooms if needed.
Here’s the downside, recently it’s been noted that due to work emails being linked to our smartphones, 28% of people have found it difficult to truly separate work from their personal lives.
Resetting your brain after a long day could include the following:
Don’t add work to your phone:
As much as emergencies may come up, and of course, we all want to feel and be available. It’s important to note, a healthy way to balance both work life and personal life is having boundaries.
Think of it this way, if you’re not available after your shift and most times other businesses are not as well, wouldn’t you have to wait until the morning anyway? If there’s an important email you’re waiting for, ensure to check it, and then sign right back out.
Turn off your push notifications:
Alright, so I used to have this habit of always needing to check my notifications. What it does most times, is add to the level of stress we may already have. Most times just knowing we have unread messages, emails, or calls, will increase our anxiety which could lead to overcompensating when we aren’t required to.
By turning off just the push notifications, this gives you the space to check your Slack and other work-related messages at a later time. This removes that urgency many apps give us and opens our after-hours for family-oriented time or any other personal moments we’d want to have!
Set your phone on DO NOT DISTURB after work hours:
Some time ago I worked in a large company where the customers weren’t fully aware of our work hours. We used to get calls coming in at all hours and I felt obligated to answer them and assist them even if I was home and had no way of helping.
I felt, because of the job role I was in, that the company expected me to be up at all hours, always on the go in office or not.
Then they added the DO NOT DISTURB feature on phones.
This option ultimately gives you a break from work talk, life, environment, etc. By turning this off each day at a certain time, I was able to rest if needed, able to work on other things in my life, and of course, it let our customers know that I was not available.
This redeemed my professional life and kept me on a routine which we’ll later get into.
Now of course it’s one thing to have the notifications and rings off, but that wouldn’t stop us from chatting or venting, would it? So, another important tip for resetting your brain after a long day’s work would be to minimize work chat after hours.
It can be helpful to vent a little when you get home. However, if every time you vent it changes your mood and adds to the stress you already experienced at work, it’s time to shift gears.
Think of your work and personal life as cups. Each time you go to work and have a stressful day, instead of cutting it off at work and bringing it home now you’ve filled your home with negative energy that everyone will have to feel at some level.
Find a stress-releasing hobby
After a long day at work, most of us may want to plant ourselves on the couch and sleep, however, it may be more effective for us to do at least one productive activity to transition into the evening. We as humans, though we may not openly admit it, love some sort of a routine. Hobbies bring about routines!
A great way to reset your brain from a long day at work may consist of:
As we continue to work through the pandemic, we must check on each other and our mental health. Know, you’re not alone. Never be afraid to use these hobbies and many more to reset your brain from a long day at work.
Keep your eye on the prize — YOU
Many times we forget throughout our busy days, how important we are. Without us taking the right measures to reset our brain after a long day’s work, we can easily burn out. Take time to work on personal things.
Intentionally set time aside for yourself. This can look like several things such as intentional relaxing, meditating, practicing your faith, taking time away from social media, etc.
When I had started diving deeper into entrepreneurship, I had many around me thriving off the fact that they worked at extremely unnecessary hours and had at best eaten 2 meals a day. Most believe this “grind all day, every day” helps get to their end goal…
So I tried it as well, and ended up with a malnourished lifestyle physically, emotionally and mentally. This kept me in the deep mental strain for a month and I wasn’t sure how things would look after coming out and working full time again.
What am I saying? Never follow the crowd, or think the grass is greener — because it may be fake grass you’re looking at. In other words, just smoke in the wind. Your body and mental health are the most important and if you’re not taking care of yourself well, how then could you possibly work and become successful? That is, what you want to become, right?
It’s possible we get too busy and miss a meal here or there. Many times we even sacrifice sleep for working, but this shouldn’t be a routine in our lives.
Stay away from your smartphone work apps
Having a separate phone entirely for work purposes also help keep a distance, even if you cannot physically distance yourself. This all helps shift your mind and focus as you reset your brain from along days work.
Develop a routine
Routine by definition is, a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program. Or in other words, performed as part of a regular procedure rather than for a special reason. Many believe this can happen after constantly doing the same thing for 30 days minimum.
I’d like to add, routines are quite similar to habits which eventually become second nature to us.
So think of how you get up and prepare for work. Do you have anything special you have to do before you leave, like encourage yourself in the mirror before getting on the road? Or even say hi to your loved ones before you close that front door? If so, you’re on a good path!
Let’s look at other routines we can put in place to help with resetting our brains after a long day at work.
The average time it takes for one to wind down after work is between 30–90 minutes. This time you can fill with anything. Since the pandemic, many have found comfort in going for more walks or even site seeing. This specific routine has enhanced our love for life and nature more than we could ever imagine.
Coupled that with a good podcast can clear your mind of any stresses or matters you could not control. Many of us stress over matters we have no way of shifting or handling the way we want.
Giving yourself a comparably strict routine in the evening or grabbing a new hobby will tempt you to leave the office on time more often. Again, think of filling the cup; you want only healthy and good energy going home with you.
Go out with friends and family
Our social life plays a major role in our work performance and how motivated we may be in the coming days. Once you’ve left work and go home, try your best to intentionally be there, physically and mentally.
Show you’re able to separate work from home life and give yourself that time as well. With work-life come pressures and sometimes scary uncertain moments that others expect you to cling to naturally. While at home, you can be yourself, you can say what you want and act goofy with your loved ones, free of charge!
The same is going out with your close friends. They too would give you the freedom to unwind in a healthy way.
This also gives you the opportunity to try new places like trying a new restaurant in the area, going camping on the weekends, catching a movie after work even.
Think of it as a switch, once you’ve left the office, switch off work mode. Once you leave the house to go into work, switch off home life.
In conclusion…
With work picking back up and the world getting onto the road to recovery from the pandemic, it’s imperative we find ways to reset our brains after work by:
Our solutions are made to take the stress out of your day.
Check us next week for another brilliant blog on all things business, ecommerce, and small business tips!
Originally published at https://www.bookmark.com on September 28, 2021.
