How to Go Home at a Consistent Time Every Day
Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash
When I talk to people about burnout, their most common desire is to spend less time at work. It makes sense. The first component of burnout (according to the WHO) is having "feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion". If you spend too much time at work you are much more at risk of burnout. Here are some tips that helped me go home at a consistent every day when I worked in an office.
The first step is to acknowledge that it's OK to want to go home at 5pm. Our society idolizes workaholics and accepts overworking as virtuous. The truth is after a certain number of hours your productivity will actually decline. It's natural to want to spend our time on things other than work. Some people think success is about working all the time. True success is when you can do your tasks in a reasonable time frame and enjoy the rest of your time.
The next step is set boundaries to help you leave at a consistent time. Schedule your day and projects with an eye in mind to leaving at your chosen time (let's use 5 PM as an example). As you get closer to 5 begin to wind down what you're working on and avoid starting new projects. If you're currently leaving much later than you'd like, take baby steps to get yourself closer. For example, if you're currently leaving at 7 every day set your boundary for 6:45. Once you've shown that you can leave at 6:45 without consequences, leave at 6:30.
Finally, once you leave your work - actually leave your work behind. I refuse to have work email on my phone because I don't want to be tempted to check it. I only checked email on the weekends when there was a specific event I needed to work for. These were special cases though and not regular occurrences. If you currently check your email a lot, you can take baby steps with this step as well. Try only checking your email once at a specific time. Consciously ask yourself whether an email needs a reply right now or if it can wait until the morning.
What are some tips you use to get home at a reasonable time? Feel free to send me an email.
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