How easy is it for you to stop thinking about work when you are off the clock?

[Gabriele]

Hey everyone, as my area of the world is in holiday mood, and I’ve been having some interesting conversations about this with friends from different walks of life, I was wondering: Are you able to stop thinking about work once you log off, or does your mind keep going back to it?

I’m especially curious about whether there is a difference in how people experience this as contractors vs. full-time employees, so if you have experience in both, please share your experience!

[SteveT_AU]

I've been working fully remotely for a little over a year now, and I found it kind of difficult at first. I'm too much "all in" with my work, and while this is mostly good, you can easily overdo it!

The best thing really is to actually just have some pretty strict self control. You work the hours you are supposed to work -- then you stop. You keep off your work devices entirely, or (like me) if you have the one main device, you make sure there is a different browser profile for work and for everything else, and you stay right off work after hours. Don't open Slack, don't respond to notifications unless it's pre-arranged or an emergency. 

You can do it, and it actually makes work a whole lot better! 

[CassyL]

@SteveT_AU really love this insight & tip – thanks so much for sharing with the Community! It's so easy to fall into the habit of going "all in", like you mentioned, and the result of that can easily attribute to burn out if its not sustainable. I love the tip of just staying off your work devices entirely if you can get away with that, or using.a different browser for work vs personal so you're not tempted to look off hours.

I do find that sometimes, in the example of taking a holiday or a little vacation, I do think about work from time to time to try and find solutions to problems. It works best when I take a few days off to really not think or look at work, though! 

[Gabriele]

The alternate browser profile is actually a great idea, thanks @SteveT_AU !!!

Also, turn off notifications when not working... ✋📵