Forgetting About Work When You Are Not Working

We all know the feeling – you go on holiday but you can’t stop thinking about that last work assignment.

Or alternatively, when you are at work and go home at a decent hour in the evening, you still find yourself reading one last report.

These scenarios are of course, very common amongst today’s workers.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, US leadership and management expert Professor Art Markman of the University of Texas outlines some helpful tips about ‘letting your work go’ after leaving the office.

In the article, Prof. Markman cites a number of useful ways to ‘wean yourself off work’ (and unwanted thoughts of work), by using a combination of new habits and lessons from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

Prof. Markman asserts there are several ways to put work ‘on the back burner’ when you are on holiday, or have finished for the day, including:

1. Focus on things other than work

By creating a specific plan about what to do when you are away from work, you avoid the negativity that can arise when you are constantly telling yourself ‘not to work’. Creating a plan also helps prevent you returning to your old habits of ‘re-engaging’ with work, when you should be away from it. To be effective, the plan should focus on those activities you are able to perform instead of working. These could include setting up a personal training session at the local gym, picking up the kids from school or day care, volunteering at a local charity, or doing some personal development, for example

2. Distance yourself from work behaviours

By turning off your mobile phone or computer at home, you can easily distance yourself from the annoying work calls or emails that invariably come in when you are ‘off duty’. And unless you are a high-level manager, or on call for after hours work, this can a great way to give yourself some ‘me’ time, and help to avoid the distractions of work problems when you are not working. To help reinforce this new environment, set up an area of the house to be used just for leisure; and spend time there. It may also pay to enlist the help of friends and relatives to reinforce the ‘no work’ message, and to distract you from work thoughts

3. Use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Of course, stepping away from work for periods of time can cause worry and anxiety about the consequences. This is where Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can help. CBT studies have shown a good way to help reduce anxiety is for people to expose themselves to scary situations as from this, they gradually learn the situation is not really all that threatening. For example, try not checking your emails for a while when you are away from work or on holiday. It may sound disconcerting, but studies have shown that despite a person’s worst fears, most emails can be answered the next day or if they come in on a weekend, on Monday morning!

Obviously, there are many benefits to having time off from work; but these benefits can be reduced significantly if you continue to work when you are meant to be taking a break.

There may be some very good reasons to do this, of course.

However, in order to really ‘switch off’ and gain maximum benefit from a holiday or leave of absence, Prof. Markman recommends following some or all of the above guidelines.

He says, not only will this help you return to work feeling more energised, but also full of bright new ideas.