5 Improvements You Will Experience When You Disconnect from Work
Why You Need to Make This a Regular a Practice to Have Healthier Boundaries Between Your Work and Personal Life
You need to disconnect from work daily to maintain your overall health and wellness and stay in a positive frame of mind.
While having a desire to have more success and improve your life is valuable, you should never compromise your health to get it.
This is important if you’re a high achiever and have big ambitions to make a difference.
1-Minute Summary Video
What Does It Mean to Disconnect from Work?
To disconnect from work means to:
- Remove yourself from the daily demands of work.
- Give yourself grace to relax and not always be “on.”
- Have a cut-off point each day where your work life does not mix with your personal life.
- Allocate time for activities that aren’t related to your work.
- Maintain your mental, emotional, and physical health.
- Manage your stress levels so you perform at your best consistently.
Risks If You Do Not Disconnect from Work
The risks if you do not disconnect from work include:
- Neglecting key areas of your life, including your health and relationships.
- Using work as an avoidance strategy to not deal with things in your life that are not going well.
- Feeling tired or run down, and experiencing burnout.
- Becoming addicted to work.
- Not being able to relax which can affect your quality of sleep.
- Feeling unhappy and unfulfilled.
- Not enjoy your life because you feel guilty when you’re not working.
- Producing poor quality work.
Work is just one area of life. This means if you do not disconnect from work daily, you will not give enough attention to other key areas of your life.
When You Need to Disconnect from Work
It’s a good practice to disconnect from work when:
- You know you’re not operating at your best.
- You don’t want to do anything else but work all the time.
- You feel unmotivated or tired regularly.
- You rely on force or willpower to get things done.
- You don’t know what to do next because of the amount of work you have to do.
- Your health or relationships are affected.
- You take much longer to complete things.
- You don’t feel you’re accomplishing anything worthwhile, even though you’re busy.
- You find it hard to focus.
- You have trouble making decisions.
5 Changes You Will Experience When You Disconnect from Work
Here are five improvements you will experience when you disconnect from work, which will allow you to create better boundaries between your work and personal life.
- You will feel more relaxed and enjoy time away from work. Constantly working does not give you a chance to switch off and relax. When you have time away from work, it will allow your mind to focus on other things.
- You will increase your productivity. When you focus on other things than work, you’re not using the same amount of mental energy. This will allow you to replenish your energy levels, get motivated, and be more productive when you return to your work.
- You will take better care of yourself. Since work consumes much of your day, whenever you disconnect from work, you have time to focus on other areas. This can include your physical health, doing your daily rituals, and getting enough sleep.
- You will improve your most important relationships. If you’re constantly working, you’re taking time away from those closest to you. If you end work at a certain time each day, you can enjoy time with your family and loves ones, which will improve your connection with them.
- You will experience greater meaning in life. This is because you will accept there’s more to life than your work. You will endeavour to make the other areas of your life just as important as your work.
How to Disconnect from Work
Here are simple ways you can disconnect from work, so you can give time and attention to other areas of your life.
- Have a work cut-off time. Do not continue working after this time unless there’s an emergency.
- Plan something in advance after work. It can be a walk in nature, riding a bike, or running an errand.
- Have a conversation with a family member or a friend.
- Tap a nap.
- Doing something that will boost your energy, like listening to music, or cooking something you love.
- Journal about your day.
- Develop a new skill.
Final Thoughts
While work is an important part of your life, it should not prevent you from doing other things. If you train yourself to disconnect from work daily, you will make other areas of your life a priority too.
It’s possible to do work you love and experience a deep sense of meaning, without neglecting other areas that make life fulfilling.
Action Step: If you struggle to disconnect from work, choose a cut-off time to stop working. Make that a non-negotiable. Plan activities you can carry out after work as you get used to it.
Question: What other improvements can you expect if you disconnect from work?
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