Road map to leisure and tips to switch-off
Don’t rush home after work. Because if you do, you will transfer thoughts from the office into your free time. That would be a shame.
In the same way as you need time to “boot-up” in the morning, you need time to “shut down” in the evening. What can help you with this are rituals or symbols indicating:
Up to this point is work, and from that point on it’s free time.
For some people this signal might be to put on or take off a watch, or to change out of your work clothes. Now something new is starting!
What could be your signal of recreation?
We have compiled a road map to your leisure time. You can find it below. Have a good time!
Your road map into leisure time
- Get used to the thought that you can’t finish every workplace task before the end of a working day. Note down what to do next.
- Stop thinking about problems from work while you are still at work. Review the working day in your mind: what was going on today? Tick off all the items you have completed, this will give you a feeling of satisfaction.
- If something crosses your mind later that day write it down! Do not carry it around in your mind.
- Establish a daily-closing ritual that signals your psyche: closing time! (e.g. to wash your coffee mug or to tidy up your workplace)
- Search for a key stimulus: For example every time you look at the door or leave your workspace you think “finishing time!” and at the same time you breathe out!
- Ensure that you have a short time period at home without any stimulation – for three minutes no TV, no radio, no conversations. This will help you to organize your thoughts and secure clarity in your mind. If that is impossible to obtain at home, then maybe on the way home (in the car, train, during a walk).
- Talk with your partner about your day – but only for a little while, e.g. before you get up from the dinner table; afterwards you should no longer talk about work anymore, otherwise it will prevent you from sleeping properly. Instead of thinking about work, consciously do something different!
…In order to start the next day recovered, you need a good night’s sleep: You can also find tips for a higher quality sleep in the action aids.
How about home office?!
We have also compiled tips for working in your home office (see next slide). But for your successful end of work, the same principles apply at home as in the office:
- Find an end-of-work ritual, for example, shutting down your laptop (better shut it down and not just close it - make it a conscious act!)
- Associate end of work with a certain behavior like a slow and conscious exhalation on “ffff”. Rinse out your “work coffee pot” and put it aside along with the laptop.
- If possible, make sure that there is a spatial separation between your workplace and your living and working places in your apartment. If this is not possible for reasons of space: For working hours, place the chair on the other side of the table or always sit on a chair other than the one you use for eating. Make sure that there is an optical separation, for example by placing a yellow tablecloth on the table each time you work, which you remove again after work.