How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

If you want to stop thinking about work in your free time, then such thoughts have begun to cause discomfort. Only a few lucky people who are engaged in their favorite creative work are exempt from such problems. When it’s impossible to live according to popular wisdom: “Finished the job – walk boldly,” it’s time to change the attitudes.

How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

The damage from mental processing is much more than it seems. Thinking about work problems at night, on weekends and holidays, you steal valuable moments of rest and communication with close people. Obsessive thoughts may not be directly related to professional activities, but relate to relationships with colleagues and superiors.

Business and decent wages are excellent life priorities. A prestigious position is an undoubtedly important goal. But what is the daily labor feat accomplished for? For future well-being? Such enthusiasm often “turns off” a person from the present. He lives like a working mechanism, ceasing to feel the value of the moment “here and now.”

Material success unjustifiably at a high price won no satisfaction. Only the harmony of a full-fledged personal life and labor victories is capable of presenting true happiness. Learn!

How to stop thinking about work constantly

The problem of man is that he cannot, like a computer, switch programs. When you leave the walls of the office, a consciousness of inertia continues to scroll through the possible options for solving working problems. For some people who have a tendency to reflect, this process takes on hypertrophied forms.

How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

  • Occupations at work contribute to external circumstances. For example, situations where you must:
  • establish yourself in a new position;
  • pass a trial period;
  • comply with the requirements of the supervisors;
  • Solve a complex task on time (complete the sales plan; submit an annual report, etc.);
  • achieve a pay rise;
  • change jobs

Finally, there are specialties associated with increased involvement, in particular, doctors, teachers, social workers. Psychology among responsible specialists in these branches notes the risk of burnout syndrome. If you want to work fully for the good of yourself and your loved ones, and not “burn out” at work, proven methods will come to your aid, how to stop thinking about things all the time.

Learning to switch on the way home

Let’s start with the simplest actions. As soon as an uninvited thought about work has penetrated your brain beyond the threshold of the office, track its presence and “ask” to leave. Resort to the wise rule of Scarlett from the movie “Gone with the Wind.” Just tell yourself: “I will think about it tomorrow.”

How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

Try to become an observer. Going home, explore the surrounding nature and people. Approach this activity creatively and enthusiastically. Step back from what is happening and look at the everyday hustle and bustle from the side. Feel as a researcher, detective, or time traveler. Such an attitude will immediately perform two useful functions:

  • will occupy the brain with unusual sensations that will not allow thinking about work;
  • Distract from the usual routine.

Such mental techniques will help to stop mentally returning to work that you did not have time to finish and will reconfigure the brain into a wave of relaxation. Having learned to forget about business, you will come home in a completely different mood.

The practice of “switching” is described in detail by Carlos Castaneda. Toltec-seers called it “the mood of the hunter.” Modern psychology has long adopted the masterpieces of ancient magicians and successfully applied them in practice.

Enlist the support of family and friends

Ask your family to stop you at any mention of work problems. Spouses and children suffer from the inability to switch first. Assign a symbolic bonus that stimulates loved ones to help you stop being a slave to the habit of thinking about work. Let them take a “fine” from you for each recollection of strict Marya Vasilyevna from the accounting department or the head of Ivan Petrovich, who does not forgive a 5-minute delay.

How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

Children play with pleasure in such a game. As a rule, they are happy to report the slightest breach of contract and intuitively feel that you are lost in thoughts about work. A useful incentive will be a promise to prepare your favorite salad or dessert, go to the movies or play with your child. These classes will also allow you to escape from heavy industrial thoughts.

Eliminate motives

To stop thinking about working at home, you need to eliminate any reminders about it:

  • Communicate with colleagues by phone only from “9 to 18”. Learn to confidently stop attempts to load you with work at a different time. Do not make excuses that are busy. The easy answer that it is better to discuss it in a working environment. Possible reproaches boldly parry the statement that you do not want to lose the location of loved ones.
  • Stop thinking that you are an indispensable worker. Whatever the pros you are, interchangeability will help get rid of urgent business and processing. Delegate responsibilities to employees who are able to cope with them. It is beneficial for the authorities and colleagues to maintain your irreplaceable image. Believe that the phrase: “Without you, everything will fall apart” flatters more pride than is true.
  • Particularly zealous employers who are pressing on you with requests outside the working hours, psychologist Greg McKeon, proposes to respond briefly: “I check my schedule.” Business people will immediately understand that you value your professionalism and not sprayed on trifles. Despite the refusal, you will not cease to respect. Magic!
  • Do not views work mail on weekends? If you have one email address, get additional mail for business contacts and open it only at work.

How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

Some business training on personal effectiveness preaches non-stop employment. Those who want to increase their business efficiency at times combine breakfast with answers to working letters, fall asleep with the phone under the pillow. Temporary success with this approach will inevitably lead to the opposite effect. Human resource is not unlimited. Sooner or later, adherents of improved performance catch themselves thinking: “How to stop thinking about work all the time?”

Finish what really worries

There are unfinished businesses that bother like a pebble in the shoes. It is useless to struggle with thoughts about them, you just squander mental energy. You can’t stop thinking if the partners have received a business letter, have you paid off with the client correctly? If possible, resolve such issues, and then with a clear conscience, relax for the whole weekend.

Interestingly plan leisure

Have you ever realized that watching an exciting football game completely disconnects from extraneous thoughts, including you stop thinking about work? In this case, switching occurs involuntarily. You do not need to make an effort, you only need to find a lesson that does not leave thoughts of work a chance to penetrate into your consciousness.

How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

Much depends on personal preferences, but there are universal options for leisure. Choose one of them or invent your own occupation, in which you are immersed “with the head”:

  • active sports (martial arts, bodybuilding, paintball, flying in a wind tunnel, etc.);
  • extreme tourism;
  • dancing, singing;
  • training and master classes;
  • quests;
  • meditation practices.

Do not try to distract yourself from thinking about working in a comfortable home chair while watching your favorite movie: you will not be able to fully relax. Passive rest does not allow to fully switch thoughts. You will look at the screen, and in your head, in parallel, the working situations will scroll: tomorrow’s meetings with clients, getting paid, conflict with a colleague, etc. As a result, stress will be fed by anxiety.

A complete shutdown is provided by an activity in which not only your brain but also your body is involved. Any physical exercise can clear the mind of the Brownian thinking process. A real passion can be a creative passion.

If you feel inspired by drawing pictures, sculpting pottery, collectibles, boring thoughts about work will become obvious outsiders. In the cities, there is now a sea of interesting leisure opportunities: master classes by sommeliers, free yoga and qigong lessons, unusual quests and excursions.

How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

Analyze personal relationships

Most workaholics are single people. They simply have nothing to occupy themselves, coming home. For a woman, a romantic relationship is a powerful stimulus that absorbs her without a trace. Remember the responsible boss from the film “For family reasons” – the heroine of Galina Polsky. Being not married, she forced her subordinates to stay at work. In the role of a young wife, Galina Arkadyevna instantly forgets about labor enthusiasm. It is blown away by the wind from the workplace along with the last seconds that have passed.

If a woman does not stop thinking about work, having a family, perhaps she does not get the desired satisfaction from her. In such cases, psychology advises solving the problem in an integrated manner. To the methods of switching, add an analysis of your senses. Think about how you can change the relationship with your family so that your thoughts remain with dear people and not “run away” all the time to work.

How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

Properly plan your work day

We do not cease to constantly think about work when we do not fit into the allotted schedule. If in the morning you drink coffee impressively and chat with employees, and in the evening brainstorming begins, you create fertile ground for this. Remove time absorbers: viewing social networks during business hours, distracting phone calls, discussing news and politics. These things can be done at lunchtime.

Make a rational daily plan, allocating 20-25% of it in force majeure. Such an airbag will save in case of an emergency job. And if unforeseen cases do not arise, spend the time freed up to optimize the schedule. Once a week, write reports on the topic “How do I cope with the task of stopping thinking about work.”

How To Stop Thinking About Work At Home In Your Free Time?

Of course, in a few days to overcome the habit formed over the years will not work. The main thing is to have a positive dynamic in the analysis. If you came to the conclusion that you began to think about working at the weekend and on vacation much less – this is unconditional progress. So you are moving in the right way!

Ashlyn Walker

Next Post

The 15 types of behaviors, and their characteristics

Sat Feb 2 , 2019
A summary of the types of behaviors classified according to several criteria, with their explanations. Talk, laugh, cry, read, eat … all these words have in common that they are verbs. That they express action, and that they are carried out by something or someone. They are behaviors, and apart […]
types of behaviors

You May Like