Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home? I often have trouble switching off from work during the week as my workspace is my 1BR apartment. I don't have this problem on the weekends, as I don't 'start' a working day. Given that not starting work during the week isn't an option, any tips on how to switch off after-hours during the work week? |
I worry about long term effects (especially health) and efficiency of this approach, but for now only side effect is less time for other activities. I'm happy with this tradeoff for now.
To separate work from hobby I turned the Dining Table into my "Work Desk" and kept my Desk as "Hobby Desk". I start every day by setting up the work desk and end work by returning my chair to the hobby desk. This keeps the two separated.
Also: Preparing dinner and taking at least half an hour to do something without screens after work.
My trick is to cook. At 17:30 each day, I shutdown Slack, email, emacs etc and go to the kitchen and cook a meal. Then I eat and drink a few beers, either with my family, or at my desk while watching a movie. After that, I don't give work another thought until the morning.
I live in tiny apartment and my spouse in WFH too. I have no dedicated work space. But it helps that Outlook isn't generating alerts when I'm browsing Reddit in the evenings on my personal laptop.
After work I step out, change, and "go home". Luckily I have a rented garage space, so some evenings I would work on my bike in the garage.
Success for me meant mentally separating as much as possible work and non-work (not always possible as I can get customer calls or need to deal with urgent problems at literally any hour - such is life of an entrepreneur!)
Physically - separate your work place from the rest. In order or impact:
- rent a separate office (expensive, doesn't make sense now with COVID-19)
- find a few coffe shops, libraries or similar places you can switch between for "work" area (assuming you can work on a laptop) - also not realistic now due to the coronavirus
- have a separate room in a house - not applicable to you as you're in a 1BR apt
- have a separate work-dedicated corner/table/chair in any room in your apartment - I worked for about half a year from kitchen, as it was still at least no in the living room!
Temporally - make clean cuts "going to" and "returning from" work. This can be:
- switching betewen clothes to get in different modes
- taking your dog for a walk, buying groceries, or just taking out trash right after your work
- if there's something on TV that has regular hours and you like watching it (as someone already commented here) - use it to mentally switch off from work mode
- if nothing else, set an alarm, when it gets off, close your laptop, stand up and do a random house chore for 10 minutes, just to think of something totally unrelated :)
Devices:
- it helps if you can have separate devices for work and the rest of your digital life; I treat my laptop as 90% work-related so I avoid using it outside of work if at all possible (phone / tablets filling up the gaps)
- similarly how you want to remove procrastination while working, you want to remove any work-related notifications when not! see if you can stop mail/slack/etc notifications outside your work hours (in my case, i turn off all notifictaions* except pager duty alarms)
In my WHF experience, both before and now during COVID, the biggest problem was working all day, then being less productive during work hours because I know I'll still work all day, then having to work day because I'm less productive during work hours .... this spiral was why I rented an office back in the day.
Every situation and person is different, these are just some tactics that worked for me.
And every morning, I perform my morning rituals as if I’m commuting to work, before I pull out my laptop.
http://blog.adnansiddiqi.me/13-tips-for-making-the-most-of-t...
What I am doing is only work from the desktop (since I ended up not gaming haha), when work is done I turn it off.
I don't have any work things in macbook. Not even work email logged in. Work is literally turned it off when my desktop powers off.
2. Do not carry your phone with you.
3. Have a separate work space; even if it's one you must assemble and disassemble daily.
4. Have a timer that shuts off the power to that workspace outside of healthy work hours.
5. Do not leave visible work "nags" , like whiteboard notes, out and about.
Or fire up flight simulator 2020, which has just been released and explore some amazing place from the air.
I also make sure I put my phone on charge, in a separate room.
It works for me.
If you are into fitness.. all the better.
Put a bedsheet/bedspread on your monitor/workarea once you're done for the day.
I've found this reasonably useful
Also, emails on my phone is big no after working hours.
1. Start your day by going out of the house - walk the dog, collect a newspaper, watch the sunrise, do some exercise.
2. When you return, shower and change into "work" clothes. Perhaps these are smarter than home clothes. Maybe a light shirt or collared t-shirt with some trousers. Wear the same as if you were meeting your boss (or their boss!). Personally I feel more professional when wearing 'work' clothes.
3. When finished your tasks switch off your work laptop and PUT IT AWAY somewhere like a laptop bag. The old adage "out of sight, out of mind" is very important when living in the same area as your "office". Physically packing it away means it's much more effort to use it again, thus helping resist the urge to "check something" when not necessary.
I am fortunate enough to have a spare room which I can lock the door. The key lives hung up elsewhere in the house - so I can't "pop into the office" on a whim.
4. End of the day go out of the house - again - then return and change into "home" clothes. The fresh air and physical detachment from your home allows you to unwind.
TL;DR - have specific work clothes; store your laptop out of sight; "commute" before and after work to get out of the house.
Also there are things I want to do after work I'm looking forward to. So I waste no time thinking in-between.
- No matter what, close your work laptop at 5pm (or whatever time your hard stop is). Any pending work/emergency eating you will still be there the next day.
- Take a walk.
Sometimes it is handy to have email. Unless you are in a huge corporation with 24/7 coverage by other employees there will come a time when something urgent needs your attention.
I just disable push on my work account. I actually disable push and notifications on everything. The only way things get pushed to me are txt and calls, everything else requires an act by me wanting to look at something.
I hate notifications and disturbances so if you _really_ need me you gotta go the old fashioned route and call/txt. And if you do need me I likely need to see something in email or slack or whatever to help provide context/details. Often times that is enough to let me continue about my business vs having to go back home and get on the computer (which hasnt happened in years thankfully)
Exercise of any kind will do it, but you need to Do It for at least 30 mins, imo. It takes a while for your brain to context switch completely.
* Have a separate computer for work and personal stuff. Don't have your work email/Slack/whatever signed in and loaded on your personal computer.
* Delete work apps/accounts (Slack, work email) from your phone. Especially now since you're home nearly all the time, you don't need them on your phone anyway. If you're signed into any web apps on your phone, sign out of them.
* Set yourself time limits. You work between X:00 and Y:00 every day. When Y:00 comes, you shut down the work computer and do something else. If this is too inflexible, set yourself a 30-60 minute range, and when you hit the beginning of that range -- set an alarm if you need it -- be mindful of what you're working on and make sure you can wind it down by the end of the time period. You can also try to schedule phone/video calls or other socially-distant activities for right around your stop time to force you to stop and get into another mindset.
* When work is done, put everything work-related away. If you tend to keep paper notes or use a whiteboard, find a place to put them so you can't see them.
* When you stop working, go outside and go for a walk. It doesn't have to be long; just 30 or even 15 minutes is fine. Don't be on your phone while you walk. Just walk around outside and take in the atmosphere. (Obviously if you are in a COVID-vulnerable group, be careful, and don't go out if you don't feel comfortable with it.)
* Wear different clothes when you're working vs. not.
* I get that you have a relatively small space overall, but if you can keep a consistent work area (that you don't generally use for other non-work things all that much), try to keep to your workspace while working, and keep out of it while not working.
* In your free time, adopt activities that occupy your mind. Whether that's reading a book, learning a language, or whatever, it's up to you. Mindless web browsing will make it easy for your brain to drift back to work, but if you're doing something mentally engaging, it's more likely work thoughts won't intrude.
So maybe go help someone renovate a house?
I honestly always wondered why pepole find it so difficult to do that and need to rely on trucks like a walk, change of clothes etc.
There are some exceptions (late night releases - but those are planned).
Otherwise, it's simple work is 9-5 and 6 is a hard cut-off.
Games, outside yard work, podcasts, etc. at 6 - if not earlier - a hard switch occurs.
How: What I usually do is work until a fixed time, and then have a hard stop. Do some laundry, check out a YouTube video on the couch, etc. If there is anything really urgent, I can pick up again, but the physicality of getting away from the computer and doing something else helps A LOT.
When you say dabble, do you mean doing sound design or doing song compositions?
- Have breakfast
- Have separate place for work (although mine is kinda-integrated in the living room nowadays with a nice view on the garden. I used to go up the stairs in our previous home.
- end of work: dinner time, somewhere between 17:00 and 18:00 roughly. No work after dinner, except very occasionally.
During this second lockdown I can't switch out of work mode and into doing other things.
My brain just does what it wants and I'm only a passenger along for the ride.
The routine doesn't have to be hard, but it should require you to pay attention.
When you commute, it is simply a routine. When you are at the other end, you are in the other mode.
Normally, the routine to "get to work" is different from the routine to "get home". Maybe only the landmarks are reversed but they are different all the same.
You could:
- take a walk around the block. One way to get to "work". The other way to get "home".
- do bodyweight strength exercises to "get to work". Do stretches to "get home".
- recite a motivational speech to get to work. Recite a prayer, to get home.
- make a coffee to get to work. Drink a soda to get home.
It doesn't matter what the routine is, the point is: consistent routine = this is coming next.
The routine gives your mind a trigger to know what is coming next and "prepare you for it"/"get you in the mood".
- Close the laptop, disconnect it from power supply, external monitor, etc., and put it out of the way. I'm sharing my big monitor with my work laptop and my personal desktop. After I shut down the laptop, I start up my desktop even if I don't plan to use it immediately, so I'm looking at my personal background, not my work one. - Get out of the apartment and take a walk; to the mailbox, around the block, whatever. When I was working downtown, I almost always went out for lunch, and walked to a coffeeshop a couple blocks away to read. Now, I take this walk after work; anywhere from 15-30 minutes. - Change clothes, as others have suggested. I'm much more casual now than I would be in the office, but I change into "workout" clothes before my walk.
The work account only has work-related things: "TODO" text files, a calendar, e-mail, slack, documents, source code etc. When I log in, it's easy to get an overview and continue where I left off.
I also use https://github.com/cgag/hostblock to block all news/video sites while I'm logged in with my work account. It's pretty great.
This setup is the best yet, for me. It makes it easy to focus while also making the switch from work to free time almost as instant as physically leaving a workplace.
A new thing that I have started experimenting with is to kind of stop work in the last 15 mins and use it to review my office work and plan the tasks for the next working day.
I have also found that I am more likely to stick to a routine if it involves regular exercise and waking up at a set time.
Whenever i don't, I have troubles to switch off from work.
- Making a pourover coffee in the morning. This slow process forces me to keep my mind clear and free, and "adjust" to the work day ahead.
- Take advantage of working from home! There's a heatwave right now and it is impossible to work during some hours for me. I take that time off to workout/do the dishes/chores. I then put in a couple of hours of work to make it up later at night where it is cool. Bonus: no meetings or coworkers to distract me at that time. which brings me to the last point:
- Plan your day well. Try to have a no-meetings day, or no meeting blocks for you to prepare and clean up lunch etc, heads down time etc. Put everything on your calendar.
YMMV.
Enforce some form of hard separation. When work ends, don't get up and make dinner (unless that's an hour long activity). Shut things down, go for a walk, call X, play guitar, play a video game... basically do something to ensure you're completely changing from one mode to the other.
I actually stop work every day at 7pm because that is when Jeopardy comes on.
Edited to add: I work in my underwear and shower a couple times a week. Since there seems to be a bit of a grain to these comments I figured I should mention I go against it
A good 3-4 hours of time away from the work station :)
I run a 'timer' script when I start working and run again after 8-9 hours (a simple bash script: `timer start|stop work`). Then I disconnect the VPN, close all open apps, turn off the display, and go do a chore (dishes, laundry, go for a walk). I also use a separate browser profile for work.
It was still difficult at first, but with the routine it got easier. Looking at the history of running the timer script, I saw my working hours gradually get to normal over about 8-10 weeks.
I have found that listening to some atmospheric music is usually sufficient to help me fall asleep.
Since I get up around 0700 to take care of "normal" stuff, cooking, cleaning, getting groceries, etc. I'm usually pretty tired by that point.
I think the important thing for me is having the routine, i.e. I'm very clear when I'm in work mode vs. non-work mode.
But yeah, sometimes it is hard to switch off, particularly if I'm working on a complex project or task.
Compartmentalize your time:
First, dedicate space for work only, with a door you can close. If not, separate the space with folding dividers, or something.
Make your desk face away from the rest of your living area. If it feels different than the rest of your place it helps a lot.
Get an oversized whiteboard you would not expect to have in a home. It feels out of place and helps. 6 to 8 feet wide. A piece of glass board mounted on the wall can fit in nice at home too.
Get separate devices for personal use instead of work. If need be set up a smaller 2nd desk for personal use.
Shower and dress every day for work. It's still work. Just like sleep is a shower for your brain to feel fresh and focused so is telling your body you're ready to work.
Have a comfortable chair that feels like work, not home. Have a pair of comfortable monitors, 24 to 27" setup. When I leave this setup I only have my laptop and it doesn't feel like serious work anymore.
Try to do some meetings by phone only, pop on a good headset and go for a walk. You might be surprised.
If you're used to a commute, help your brain with a familiar experience. In the morning, "go to work" by walking out your door, around the block and back inside to work. At the end of the day "go home" with a similar Wallin, ideally in the opposite direction.
Wear running shoes indoors that you put on during work hours only and take them off when working.
Take coffee breaks, physically away from your desk. Consider getting a caffeine maker you only use for work.
When possible, structure your end of day meetings to be lighter / creative to help transition.
On Friday afternoons build a routine to unplug by 5 or 6 every day, and then do it consistently to let you have your weekend.
Last, but not least, it might seem small, but give yourself permission to disconnect so you can recharge and your brain can come back full force on Monday. This is literally something you cna tell your brain. The time away from the keyboard is as important as the time at the keyboard.
These days, that same alarm goes off, now at 5 PM, and I apply the same rule: this is when I leave, under normal circumstances.
I strongly advise doing something similar. Also: this is the time to take a walk around the neighborhood, take a shower, start prep work for dinner, meditate, whatever. Do the non-work things.
The important thing is to find something to do and do not do nothing, otherwise your brain will trick yourself to stay working longer: it's always just one more email, just one more commit...
That said: each person is different and what works for me might not be a perfect fit for you.
In my spare time I will discuss my career with friends, or get advice on some trickier aspects of my job, but aside from that it’s not worth giving away my precious leisure time outside of working hours. It helps that I have a multitude of hobbies I enjoy doing just as much or more than work.
Another thing that helps me: I use a planner. I use it to plan my days and my weeks. The key helpful part is at the beginning of the week, I list what I want to get done at work. Then every day, I plan some work for it. Knowing that I'm on track to hit my weekly goal makes it less stressful to stop working. If I'mg gonna hit my goal anyways, why work more? I can do other stuff.
I have no problem getting up a few hours before work, going for a walk, and then working on one of my projects, and then working on them again after work. I'm not suggesting this.
However, what I'm suggesting is you have things to look forward to aside from work.
Also, a lot of people use constant work as a way to procrastinate from taking care of important things in your life, like relationships or self improvement. It can feel like meeting that next PR before 8pm is moving you forward, but it probably isn't.
It acts as a daily task manager and has a calendar, so once I write down all the tasks I want to get done in a day for a headspace, it's nice to know that I can switch-off. It helps because it gives me a daily goal to work towards.
The office signals that it's time to stop for the day, co-workers going home for the day, etc., are still hard to replace so, I now use cues such as the mailman delivering, the sound of the evening news that my wife always watches, and neighbors who do work at an office returning home, as signs to stop.
I’ve found that using multiple user profiles on my computer helps. During work I log in as my work user, and when work is over I close everything and log out, switching to my personal user. JFTR I work somewhere with a BYOM policy. You could do similar with a kvm or multiple laptops, etc.
Also, I configure but disable work email on my phone. That way I’m not checking mail 24x7, but if I get an urgent call I can quickly enable it.
I work from home, and while my home houses my whole family of 6, I have the same issues of separating work from home, especially at night. I just tend to show up late the next morning if I spend a few hours the night prior getting ahead, for example.
I found if I could see it, I'd always get sucked in.
Like others mention, I also get ready in the morning as I normally would, and bookend work hours by walking my dog.
I'd find things to do. Even in 2020, you can still get together with friends, even at a distance. Ride bikes, hike, walk to get take-out.
Set a calendar notice to "GET OUT" of your office to help remind you. Or you can borrow my 3 year old who will ask you to play "strong guy" with him until you give in.
--
Having a child has provided me the easiest and best reason to switch off. I know its not the right choice for everyone, but it sure has worked for us.
On the other hand, it is really hard to stop thinking about work, and maybe not necessary or advantageous. Most of the really good ideas that I've had came to me while I was not working. Your subconscious can be working even while you are doing other things.
Besides missing fewer emails (in an office, people will usually be like "hey, did you see my email?"), it also gives me a chance to stop thinking about programming-related tasks and provides a little sense of accomplishment at the end of the day which is sometimes lacking when said programming-related tasks aren't going well.
Actually here’s a thought. Someone can set up a service like meetup.com but for virtual social meetings. It sets up schedules for gatherings that people can join. It’s a good way to pull people away from work in after hours. It can even be called videoup.com
I set alarms for when it's time to start and stop work (and take lunch, etc). Schedule helps.
I dress and shave and do everything I would if I were to go out to the office every morning.
I start to cook dinner shortly after work time ends. This helps enforce the schedule.
Also, if you want to use your computer after work, you can use a different "workspace" desktop on Windows, or equivalent on other platforms, where you surf the web and play games.
Anyways, when you're done for the day close the laptop. I know that's difficult, but you can do it.
I'm not saying that windows makes it hard to work on, just my windows machine is set up in that way (no IDEs, no programming languages installed - just games and browsers)
As others have said, boundaries and having some sort of routine helps a lot.
Issues you may encounter, like me, are that most of my "non-work activities" involve computers and are fairly similar to my work activity.
At first, during lockdown, I drifted away from my regular routine and everything went downhill, including sleeping and exercise patterns, which usually create a vicious circle for me.
What I usually do is this:
* Routines: I try to wake up at roughly the same time every morning, do some exercise, eat a quick breakfast. Start work at the same time every day. Have lunch around the same time every day. Stop working at the same time every day.
* Boundaries: The best way I found is using my work laptop. It comes out when I start working, goes away when I stop. No work-related stuff on my personal computer won't have me "check something real quick".
As the work laptop has a terrible coil whine and my room is very silent, I don't use that often anymore. So the boundaries become: when it's time to clock out, turn off work-related programs (teams, outlook, etc) and turn off phone notifications. Physically do something else, like walk around the yard if I happen to be at my parents' house or look out the window for five minutes / read a book / do some chores around the apartment. When I get back in front of the computer, nothing work-related is directly visible, so it's easier to not be pulled back in.
Also: give yourself a reason to stop working in the evening. I almost naturally developed routines at the start and end of my workday: - Alarm rings every workday at same time
- Might slack a little off on Social media, then get up
- Get dressed appropriately for video calls
- Make breakfast, coffee, grab a bottle of water
- Take those things into Home office, start working
- Work throughout the day, get up from time to time to get coffe, water, have lunch, maybe throw some laundry into the washing machine - however, not more chores during that time!
- When it's time to stop working, close all programs, put Laptop to sleep or turn it off, turn of external monitor
- Get out of the home office
- Immediately after stopping to work, either do some chores or hit a workout (Reason to stop!)
- Done. Mind is off of work. Have dinner and/or do whatever is planned for other free time
EDIT: Formatting, wording
Some other minor tips: 1. Don't configure the phone to read email. 2. Set screen time to kick in at 11pm to support sleep. Night shift important also. 3. A glass of wine can make work impractical.
Switching off at the end of the day has always been one of the hardest parts, especially since I am in the UK but have worked for companies based in the US. So my day is ending just as my US coworkers are starting to come online and want to communicate. If I don't completely block Slack, etc. I'll get pulled into conversations and end up working late into the evening.
The best I've managed so far, without setting up separate hardware, is to create a "work" browser profile. That runs slack and all the other work-related stuff. Nothing work-related gets connected to my personal email or phone number. At the end of the day, I close the work browser and then the only way my coworkers can reach me is via emergency means.
How do you stop it from going 9-9? Block out times in the middle of the day for leisure?
Please set boundaries, like time or space. Even a curtain helps. But your rules are only as good as your follow through. I have much better balance now, more like I work less than 8 hours and am constantly open to take breaks. But this happened due to the burn outs and health issues and my life in Germany. I started realizing that if I live better, longer, I have a better chance at whatever I plan to do.
* Write a quick note of what I did, eventually what I learned and hints on what I could do next.
* Close all work related programs. IDE, emulator, etc...
* Close all browser tabs. I was previously on the hundred of open tab camp, now I close all of them. It prevents me from reading doc during my off time. When I write my note at the end of the day, I review all my open tabs, copy paste those that may still be interesting afterwards either as a ref or for future reading and then close them.
* (this is also mean I have better documentation now)
What also helped was to learn no to take the business success to heart so much.
If you have trouble disconnecting after the 'off' time, consider options like taking ashwagandha supplement or even smoking a little bit of weed.
Once you want to be done for the day, shut off your (work) PC and meditate for 10 minutes or so. This gives all the work thoughts time to go away and afterwards the brain is ready for whatever plans you have for the evening. If you don't know how to meditate, just use one of the various apps, they really help get started. It's not hard.
I also sometimes did this when I wasn't working from home - when there was something that I was still thinking about after getting home. Meditation is generally a good way to put the work-mind away and give the leisure-mind its space :)
I don't have much to say on a solution, other than possibly treating your free time in a more "work-like" manner, i.e. with things to do and (softer) deadlines.
At 5PM my work day is over and I go for a walk (4-5 km). This help me to clear my mind and also help me to not spend too much time on my personnal PC after.
Keep all work related code, apps, and accounts off your personal PC/boot so you aren't tempted to look or "check in" on things.
I've been WFH for about 12 years now on a single PC, but that idea sounds good as I am guilty of checking in on things here and there.
* Keep them separated. Never have work on your personal devices. Have a work phone and a personal phone. Have a work computer and a personal computer.
* Have a place to work. My SO and I have a dedicated office. If you don't have one, make a space somewhere that you can work at and work there consistently.
* Keep a schedule. This is tough. I'm several TZ away, so sometimes there are meetings at 9pm my time. I generally get a pass on those. But if I have to attend, I make up the time somewhere the rest of the week. I'll use that time to bank, clean, errands, etc. Generally, though, I can stay 8-5. I love having nearly half my day all to myself to do thought work before anyone else starts working.
* Have a daily transition plan. This allows you to transition into work and transition out of work. I usually leave an open task for me to start first thing in the morning. That helps me transition into my work day. For transitioning out, I am the chef of the family, so at 5 I start prepping the kitchen.
* Set boundaries. Don't let people expect you to be accessible all the time. During specified work hours, yes. But not all the time. Also, set boundaries with family. They're not allowed to take advantage of the fact that you work from home by asking you to run all the errands, do the laundry, make the calls, etc. This isn't a problem I have ever had, but some people I know do have it and well, it makes for stress and nobody needs more of that.
Having a work laptop and a home PC. The home PC plays games, while the work laptop only does work. At the end of the work day, I suspend the work laptop and switch on the home PC. Any personal web browsing is done on the home PC.
Having a dedicated space for the work environment. This one is pretty privileged, and will not be available to a lot of people. However if I need a break from work, I can walk out of this room and lie down or read comics or whatever. My office has my home PC in it as well, but the change of context from work laptop to home PC seems to be enough to kick my mind away from work-work-work mode.
For your situation with a 1BR apartment, it might benefit you to have "work stuff" that is out during the day but put away in the evening. So your work items all go in a tub that gets closed and put out of sight during the evening.
Keeping the work space clear of non-work related items, clean, and tidy. If you're constantly looking at a half-finished Lego model, or electronics project, etc, during work then you are getting distracted. Clear your desk of distractions. Having multiple tubs for different hobbies or areas of your life might also help.
Setting a specific schedule might also help. Showering and eating breakfast before "going to work" can have a significant effect on your psyche.
Things that are helping a lot are: cooking and setting up the table for dinner together, having dinner together, doing the laundry and folding clean clothes together, feeding and petting the cat.
So, basically: doing house chores and social activities.
Edit: i guess that also not having ready access to my three 24" 1920x1200 displays also helps.
Having a specific location for "work", that when I leave I am no longer "at work", is what has worked for me. I've been working from home since before the pandemic, and some people are like "oh that's great, you can go work at coffeeshops" -- but I didn't do that (pre-pandemic even). I have a specific place in my home that is "going to work", and when I'm there I'm working and when I'm not I'm not.
You could also begin and end the work day with certain habits/rituals. For instance, take a walk around the block (or longer) right before you sit down to work; when the work day is over, take another walk around the block (or longer). Develop this as a habit, and you will internalize it as boundaries/barriers between the work time and the not work time. (Doesn't have to be the same thing before/after. Maybe you start work right after breakfast, and end work with a walk around the block. But something that you actively do, that marks the transition).
If the weather is nice I go for a walk after.
We work to live, not live to work. Shutdown the computer and go do something else and engage with your family (if you have one.) If you don't have your own family then I could see how this would be more difficult for some people.
I also close it during lunch and make sure to take a solid break. Either walk or TV time.
The only way I can do it is to completely leave my workstation and never even look at it while doing my leisure activities. I've tried using the same setup for both before and it just messes with my mind to the point where it's never not work.
If you don't have the space for a secondary setup and are using a laptop, try moving to the dining room table for the last hour of your work day. Then shut down and do a chore before doing anything at your desk for the night.
Oh, one thing that I do recommend: shut down your work computer every single night. It takes 20 seconds to start back up in the morning. Do not leave it on. Do not sleep it. Do not let it tempt you. The second your work day is over, shut it down, unplug it, and leave it in the corner until the following work day.
Just clicking the close button on the remote window and then disconnecting the VPN is enough for me to feel that it's the actual end of the day. Also, I've made it clear over the years that I don't monitor my work email or Teams chats when off the clock. That helps. Coworkers know that if there is an emergency I will respond to a text or a phone call but an email or a Teams message will go unseen until I login again.
What works for me is a combo of things, and this has worked across profitable public companies, unicorns, and startups in roles ranging from senior engineer to engineering manager.
1. I set working hours for myself and stick to them. I do not check email, Slack, or pick up my work laptop outside of those hours.
2. I turn off all email notifications on my phone and I only have Slack notifications on during my work hours plus 1 hour afterwards.
3. I communicate the above with my coworkers so they do not expect that I'll reply to them at 9pm or 7am. My team has my phone number; it's also in Slack and our corporate directory. I tell my coworkers they can call me on the phone day or night for emergencies outside of office hours and that they may have to call twice to get through do not disturb.
I also have a dedicated home office now which certainly helps, but I didn't for the first many years of working from home full time -- my office used to be a corner of my bedroom.
At some point, I started to tag some Slack messages with [async]. It meant that I did not require an immediate response. I tried to be conscious of people's local time. People started reciprocating the [async] tag with me.
These days, I have a family, and family time can also intrude into work life. So they tend to bleed together.
I also have a garden. Because I need to take advantage of the natural cycles, I work in the garden in the morning (at around 6) and in the evening (at around 5). There are chickens, dogs, cats, and rabbits, and they all have habits that go with the time of the day. That helps ground me into the daily cycles of the other members of the household.
The garden time helps shift me out of work time. If I still need to work in the evening, after dinner, it is something consciously chosen and I would inform my wife ahead of time.
You might not have gardens or pets, but you might have a non-work activity that you like doing after the working hours. I suggest some kind of physical activity, even if it is just a walk. It can also help if you change your clothes, from your "working" clothes to maybe something like your "workout" clothes. Those can signal to your subconscious mind that you're shifting into something else.
If you don't have a laptop, at least shut off the monitor or do something with the setup to visually indicate that the work day is done.
Finally, the human brain does something funny when it crosses a threshold into another room. It changes context. You can use that to help shift your context -- go do something physical outside, even if it is to go to the balcony.
Hmm, I don't have any friends wealthy enough to have enough room in their house for 2 desk spaces for themselves. Your comment seems like a 'they have no bread? why don't they eat brioche' kinda of comment; ignorant of how most people live.
My boss, who makes about 50% more than me, works on a desk in his daughters bedroom; my boss' boss (about twice my wage) works out of her utility room. I had to move the bed to fit one desk in; 'just work in a different area of the room' seems quite myopic.
I don't know about "two desks", nobody I know uses a home desk for anything BUT work. If you have one desk, you could designate it for work, and not do other things there. Don't do work on the couch or where you eat your meals (if that's somewhere other than a couch), only do it at the desk, and don't do other things there (pay your bills or whatever on the couch or whatever). Is what I was suggesting.
I see now that many other comments on this thread also suggest finding a way to have a dedicated workspace, so it's not just me.
If you do have room for a desk, but can't avoid using it for things other than work too, perhaps it would be helpful to keep all non-work things off the desk when you are working, and all work things off the desk when you are not, to help separate it.
But I'm sorry my ideas were inapplicable to your situation and thus offensive to you.
No offense, of course. Perhaps the movies are right and minimum wage workers live alone in massive city loft apartments in USA (where I assume you are?).
Anyway none of this really helps [the OP]. My neighbour's water got cut off so I'm off to suggest he uses any sparkling, French mineral water his water-sommelier has in stock ;oP
Seriously though, as you say, removing or hiding work related items can be sufficient for some people - I've heard people put a bed sheet over the work computer to avoid its stare.
Your life is like a game. In this game, you have different stats and you must increase each stat. For example, in a typical game you may have:
- Health - Attack Level - Money - Magic Level
In games, you try to increase each of these stats to create the best and strongest character. Life is very similar, but the stats are:
- Work - Social Life - Money - Fun - Relationship - Family - Sleep - Exercise - Relaxation
If all you do is spent all your time on Work, all the other stats will be lacking and ultimately you will have a weak character. Your work may be at 99/100, but your Sleep may be 20/100, or your relationship/family may be 40/100. So, the way I switch off work is that at 1:00PM I take 1 hour off of work (no matter what.) and I do not feel bad about it because it is ultimately increasing my Relaxation/Fun stat. At 5:30PM, I stop work entirely to focus on everything else in life such as Fun, Relationships, Family, Exercise, Social Life.
I find it very strange how well this model works for me. I literally separate work entirely at 5:30PM because I know life is more than just about the Work stat, it's about all the stats combined and you must work on each one to beat the game or be a strong character at the game of life.
Sure you need some STR but if you're playing a mage, keep maxing out that Mana pool at the expense of everything else!
A mage with 1 STR and 18 INT may work when trying to beat a game, but in real life he or she would live a miserable existence: https://www.dmingwithcharisma.com/2011/10/dd-stats-in-simple...
(Good dungeon masters keep the above rubric in mind when running their games, btw, so as to discourage "gaming" the system.)
I have some hobbies with intrinsic goals outside work (sport / music) where I want to improve over time but I actively avoid trying to quantise too much & make it a different kind of work.
Without this directive, your model holds, but there aren't principles for how one should distribute his/her stats. Why is it that one should strive to be ~uniformly distributed? As others have pointed out, in video games, often beating the game involves a min/max strategy. Even in real life, we see some people who do very well by going all in on 1 category (maybe work, or social) while forgoing others.
I worked on something similar for fun as a side project, didn’t get far. It was sort of based on how the Sims game has these stats, but not a video game, more of self improvement tool.
Even if it isn't - this is a must watch video!
Also, wear pants. They don't have robe fancy but don't sit around in your pajamas because then you're never really "at work" and you'll never stop being somewhere in the middle.
The people who suggest taking a walk are spot on too. You have a rather small space for being remote. Having a "going to work" routine helps you mentally prepare and the reverse does... well... the reverse. If you like beer/wine/pot/games/etc, getting your favorite at-home vice/hobby going after work is another good mental signal.
Good luck! Stay safe (mentally and physically)!
Just dress the same in the morning as you would if you would go into the office, and at the end of the day, take off the work clothes and dress as you would normally at home. Some makes this even further and go out for a walk around the block so they "arrive at the office" and walk again at the end of the day to "walk home".
Really sounds strange and funny, but it helps to put your mind in the right mood.
He would wake up with an alarm clock, shower, get dressed "properly", eat etc. Then leave the house and walk in a predetermined path around the block to arrive back at his house for "work". When work was over (at a set time) he would get up, leave the house again, walk the path in reverse, and arrive "home".
ymmv.
But yeah, get out, get moving. Inertia, man.
Hah! I just realized, I haven't seen my lanyard / "dork badge" in like 4 months. If/when we are asked to return to the office, I'll probably never find the darn thing.
You need to stick to a schedule.
Don't work in pajamas. Do everything you'd normally do to get ready to go to a job and be on time (it's great that you have extra!) I just mean, shower and get dressed sort of thing. I won't do work attire though. Yuck. At least we toned down the business casual to jeans and stuff years ago. I can't stand that look, and those shirts. I've always rebelled. I'm not a Kohl's mannequin. I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
At the end of the day:
If you work on a company laptop, pack that thing up. Shut it down, and put it in a backpack or whatever. The day is done.
I usually make myself leave (at least go outside) the house when I'm done. Sometimes I get in the car to just pick something up at a store. Or just drive for 10 minutes. I do like the peaceful drive of electric cars. Most of the time I say "hey" to the cats and get some belly rubs in, not like they haven't been bugging me throughout the day, and then go out in the friggin' sweltering heat for a bit. Just to shut my brain off from work stuff. I put in some earphones and listen to music, podcasts, audio books. Things to just get my mind off of things and switch. I try to not hit the couch, or I'll end up bingeing on some stupid show that I don't care about at all.
Plan on chatting with friends, family, or something at the end of the work day as well. Get into a social mode.
In the end, screw the 60+ hour work weeks you can get sucked into. Yuck! Might as well get a side gig instead.
If you don't have a separate work computer, get an external bootable drive, and do your work booted from that drive with your internal drive not mounted. When done with the work day, boot back to your internal drive and put the external drive in a drawer or closet.
If I "clock out" from my day job around 5:30pm or so, one of the first things I do is draw a nice hot bath, jump in the tub, and sit in there and soak in hot water and read a book, for about 45 minutes or so. A cup of coffee is optional. When I get out, I'm now in the "my time" part of the day.
I always enjoyed taking nice long, hot baths in the evening, but it used to be something I did much later in the evening, closer to bedtime. But I started moving them up to the "just after work" time very specifically because I needed some kind of act or routine or ritual to help demarcate "work" and "after work".
Conversely, when I leave that space I am no longer working, pages aside. I do check in on email via phone if there are things that need to be checked on, but otherwise I try very hard to leave my work in that place.
I think the ritual is almost as important as the place, both for "clocking in" and "clocking out". Even if it's just open/closing a laptop or turning a monitor on/off, it's training yourself to see that as the gate for being "on" and being "off".
If your work laptop is your personal laptop, you might also need to have two accounts and sign out of your work account/into your personal account at the end of the day for Ycombinator time, personal use, etc.
It puts a firm temporal break between work and home, and also gives you a chance to clear your head of work to help get into home mode.
I still wear my normal "work shirts" (button down jos a bank clearance shirts, ftw!) and get tidied up since I spend a decent chunk of my day on WebEx.
I also sit at the "wrong" position of my dining table, OR sit in our spare bedroom / office, which I only use for work, and only do work on my work laptop.
The only thing that causes problems for me is my phone buzzing or alerting because of email / calendar / slack / texts from colleagues.
Between the "fuzzy" work day from COVID and a worldwide team, there's always stuff going on. I have to occasionally go on DND to really "unplug."
In large majority it's about making dedicated spaces, which can be hard in a small space. But you can at least make dedicate mindsets spaces. Ex: I do these 5 things to prepare my desk for work at the start of the day, and I do these 5 things to clean up my desk at the end of the work day. These can be routines or physical things you do (Ex: get out work laptop, work notebook, etc).
I'd strongly believe in coming up with a schedule that works for you and your needs. Then try and stick to that schedule. In my case, I (San Francisco Bay Area) have calls with Europe starting at 7am every morning. So I get up at 6:30, take a shower (always, never skip, even if I slept late), put my shoes on, have calls for at least 2 hours. At about 9am I take an hour to make breakfast (and eat) for my wife and I.
Also, if you have trouble "disconnecting" yourself at the end of the day, turn off notifications from work apps on your phone. If you're someone who say has your work email and slack on your phone. Tell people that if it's urgent they can text/call you.
If you use Android (no experience if there is an iOS equivalent), most distributions have some sort of "multi-user" (generic Android) or "second space" (Xiaomi terminology) feature, where you can install separate sets of apps and compartmentalize files and notifications.
This works wonders for having your work e-mail and Slack logged into the second space, and you only open it at work. It also prevents intrusive work apps from having access to your personal space's data, which if you care about it, is very good too.
Obv doesn't work if you're a "no shoes in the house" person (we are, I go barefoot or slippered at home). But, putting on "dress" clothes, or your work badge, or other things can do the same thing.
It can be as simple as walking away from the computer for at least 30 minutes. Turn off your phone, tablet, monitors, and what not. Don't sit down and watch TV. Give your brain time to make the transition.
I've been WFH since 2011- and at first it was a disaster for similar reasons. Once I set a routine that meant walking away from the computer for a while, I could come back and my brain had shifted gears a bit, and I could go on with my day.
For me it's as simple as getting off work and making a meal, then sitting down and watching TV after I made the meal, and in a different room than my computer.
Some people have mentioned different location, that's great if you have the space.
Clothes can work too, but I find shorts and t-shirt more comfortable at home than business causal. Also, I've been enjoying doing less laundry, which is better for the environment.
In the past I've used a different keyboard and mouse to great success. The work keyboard gets put away at lunch and once the work day is over. If you are using the same computer for work and home also create separate user accounts.
You could also have a desk lamp and put a sign on it that says "Work Lamp" turn it on when you start work, turn it off when you are finished for the day.
Finally, it could be as simple as a placard a la Lucy van Pelt's the doctor is in/out. Maybe it says "The Coder is In/Out" or "Work/Home".
I have insomnia all the time. Work is waiting, 8 feet beneath me a floor below, and my mind spins on emails, passive aggressive remarks, and general strife from earlier in the day.
This isn't a cry for help. It's just an admission, that this stuff is damned difficult for some of us, and I think it should be ok to feel like a big failure.
I will last far longer than 2020 will. And with it, some new appreciations. Maybe. Or at least my half hour commute, which is my best firewall for work so far.
Slow fermentation bread making is very popular.
Woodworking is my go to. Wood is dynamic. In the grand scheme of things, even hardwood is a soft material. It moves by non trivial amounts with the seasons. Timber/lumber has jargon and standards over which one can geek out, and that’s before you get into any of the tools. Knots and shakes make you stop and think. Grain patterns have to be taken into account when visualizing the finished piece. There’s a lot to think about.
Then, when you’re set up, there’s just as much leg work as there is problem solving work. I’ve spent 10 hours over the past few days just sanding up some barn dried oak getting ready for constructing a rustic garden table. Outdoor furniture should ideally avoid any of the finer arts of joinery, as the wood movement wouldn’t allow it. This is great news — I’m as much a joinery fine artist as I am a leet coder, so it suits me.
Hand and power tools, packed carefully into stacking boxes with a set of castors on the base, allow you to move tools out of the way when not in use. Hand working with pull saws and a miter jig is a great way to get started, especially indoors. Power tools in 2020 have excellent dust extraction. It’s tractable to use them indoors for hours and only have a single pan of dust to tidy up, as any of the Festool hipsters will gladly tell you. If you have outdoor space, you can just wheel your entire workshop in and out of the French doors in between rain showers.
And when it’s pissing it down for days on end, that’s when you go play on Sketchup to create next week’s grand design, taking regular breaks every hour or so to lift and fold your sourdough.
It’s not all hand work though. Power sanders and finishing sanders exist. We poo-pooed random orbital sanders in the 90s but modern ones are much better.
You can fine tune the dimensions of material almost like one would with a belt sander, as well as use them to finish a surface.
My normal trick is to walk to a local coffee shop in the morning. After a few hours I’ll go to a coworking space or similar. Same thing in the afternoon.
For me, part of that is just having a routine. So instead of working at the coffee shop, I’ve been taking a walk in the morning to get a coffee to go and just walking back home.
I think any activity that involves getting out of your house — even just a walk around the block — can be a good reset before or after work.
My little dog is the worst/best boss. He yells at me when it's time to start the work day (he sits on the bed behind me like the lazy freeloader he is). He yells again at lunch (he needs to pee) and at 5pm (he needs to pee again). The only problem is he doesn't understand Saturday, so like clockwork, 8am Sat morning, yap yap yap, go to work.
Real answer: Get up and walk away.
If the apartment is small, walk down the hall or around the block. You need an actual mental break from work. Once the walk is done DO NOT START WORK AGAIN.
I find I actually have a better balance WFH, as now I don't work past 5, I just get up and walk away (unless there's something that's actually critical).
But also my personal answer: multiple young children. Around 4-5pm they are hungry and it's time to do X & Y with them. Overall domestic responsibilities are so demanding that if I don't rip out of work and start cooking, cleaning, bathing, teaching, lawn work, etc as fast as possible, I'll be lucky to get to sleep before midnight.
I kept my routine from before WFH regarding time, but I login about 30 earlier (the time I save by not commuting). I log into the work computer at 9am, work, log out at 5pm. I never log into it if not to work.
Everything I do that's not work is on my personal computer.
If you're still ultra-focused on work, do a skunk project. (IE, the "work" things you want to do but your boss won't let you do.)
(And, maybe this is unrelated, but if you're on meds like Straterra or Adderal, this is something you should talk about with your 'shrink... Or maybe just find a different doctor if they've had you "trying this and that.")
Getting off devices entirely is even better.
Can't say I'm always successful, but I find that routines like dressing up for work, setting up a dedicated computer, etc. help.
I suppose that having separate hardware for work helps, but it's on my personal desk and is connected to the second input of my personal monitor, and always has been... it even shares the same mouse and KB I use with my personal laptop. I was WFH most of the week pre-lockdown as it is, so it wasn't a huge change for me.
That said, I will be getting an "office" work space soon with an adjustible sit/stand desk that I will put work-related stuff on (including a new keyboard/mouse/monitor), but it's going to be next to the desk I already have for personal stuff.
The difficulty with a mental split between work and not-work escapes me. Either I need to do work, or I'm done and can stop... and I start and stop typically by the clock. If I work more time one day, I'll reclaim that time on a later day with the full support of my leadership.
I simply just turn off the laptop and if I want to work on personal stuff I switch to my personal desktop machine. This means I have to switch over the USB dongles and switch the monitor inputs.
So it's enough of a hassle to go back to working on the work laptop and so I never do it.
When WFH started, like most we were actually caught a bit flat-footed in some respects. So I only had my personal laptop to use for WFH too. Before they issued me a laptop, simple acts like logging off VPN, having a dedicated work profile in Firefox and closing _that_, works to compartmentalize my day too.
Finally, best 150 EUR I spent is on a second-hand trekking bike. Nothing like having a hobby that is so different from your work to enforce boundaries. I have other hobbies too but they are physically too similar to work; aside from hobby side projects I also draw and read, etc, stuff that are just as sedentary as programming. The bike let me explore parks and trails I wouldn't otherwise, and even gave me a quicker route to the gym than if I took the bus.
I work on the left side of my desk, while spending my private time sitting on the right side.
2. Rituals
I start the workday by setting up my work laptop on the desk and finish the workday by removing the laptop from the desk.
Setting boundaries is paramount. Do this physically. Once I'm no longer working, I don't have a single thought about work. Work ceases to exist when I'm done with the workday.
I'm also the same in that once work is done, it's gone, I don't think about it, answer emails or check slack. If I didn't make the brutal, no exceptions separation I would never enjoy life or work and I would burn out (again).
I personally don't follow any of the "back to the routine" habits or any special apps or anything.
I sometimes need to work a little later to finish a specific task, but otherwise when 5 o'clock rolls around that's it.
5PM, I get up and start dinner. I break for lunch around noon or 1PM—I don't stress about that. I am the regular reminder for my partner that she needs to take a break.
It's something I learned a long time ago: if you just keep working nobody will really stop you (save for a kind boss or coworker).
What may help as much as any "hacks" or whatever else is being sold is to give yourself things to look forward to after work. I often give myself something small—even if it's just playing a game or working on some music or something. My time is mine and I'm excited to get back to it.
Do you have a fixed work station or do you migrate around a lot?
I work 9-5. I close my work laptop at 5pm, and ignore all notifications outside that time.
There are a few things that help, I guess:
1. I have no real motivation to work into the evening. It's not like making yet another CRUD app is that interesting. But, there's also no pressure from my job to work long hours.
2. There's tons of stuff I want to get to outside of work, whether it's exercise, video games, TV, reading, cooking/baking, napping, personal projects, or whatever
3. My GF and I always eat dinner at the table together, which helps keep us accountable.
[0] https://www.premiumbowling.com/ [1] https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2078376005587859/
What doesn’t always work for me is the physical detritus after a work period - notes, papers, books etc. and even more so, the psychological carry over from difficult or prolonged periods of work.
I find that if I work 10 hours a day (common) during the work week, for weeks at a time, if I take a break, it will take a minimum of 3-5 days with lots of naps/downtime to process the “work carryover effect” and return to a state where I can truly think about what I personally want to.
Anybody else?
This means that if I need to go back to work, I need to shut down my personal stuff and reboot. I call it my "commute."
As soon as I sit down in a chair, that persona takes over.
Taking a walk is a great idea, especially for separating the end of the work day from personal time.
Also giving myself a specific window of "work time", with an alarm set to tell me its time to stop and switch off. This has helped more than anything else.
Yeah, I struggle with that for this very reason. I have one room in my apartment that was already my home-office / library where I would sit to work on my personal projects and what-not. Now with this pandemic inspired WFH situation, it's just the best place in my apartment to carry out my normal work day. It's also still the best place to work on my own projects or just sit and study. Sadly that means that A. I wind up spending way too much time in here, and B. change of room isn't much of an option in terms of demarcating the boundaries between "work time" and "my time".
But if I close down my work laptop, go take a bath (see other comment), and the later come back in this room with my personal laptop, I get a pretty good sense of having transitioned from one mode to the other.
Doesn't help with the sense that I spend too much time in this room though. I gotta get back into bike riding more again or something, to have an excuse to spend more time outdoors.
Then we moved to a bigger apartment and I got a full corner of a room as my mini office, and it's a world of difference. I would not have expected it to be such a big deal had I not tried and experienced it myself.
Tech bro problems: These are the exact same things for me
Also, would be great and I'd highly appreciate if you could share some resources to them, I'll also Google meanwhile. That stuff has also excited me!
Anyway, something related that has helped me immensely is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I had the worst burnout of my life starting a year before COVID-19 hit, due to some struggles with work and sleep apnea leading to digestive issues (leaky gut to IBS/IBD) I didn't know about. I woke up more tired than I had ever been, every single day, and my whole body hurt like I was hungover and getting arthritis, even though I was going to the gym.
Anyway, I got an appliance to fix my bite, isolated the problems with my diet to an inability to digest legumes and nightshades (see Dr. Gundry for more info), but even after doing everything right, I was still burned out. I finally isolated that to untreated ADHD symptoms that snowballed into severely negative self-talk.
At the time, I could barely get out of bed and brush my teeth in the morning. It was kind of like I had a stroke, and lost the pathways responsible for problem solving. I went through the motions of the chores I had to do each day, and switched from criticizing myself to repeating the mantra "I'm excited", since anxiety and excitement are experienced identically by the body. Any time I had a negative thought, I noted it like with meditation and set it aside, or actively reworked it into a positive spin on the situation, even if it was in terms of a positive outcome for someone else, or progress towards a long term goal of mine. Sort of a self-administered form of CBT.
I was able to learn new habits every 2 weeks or so, and finally recruited the rest of my brain to take over for the parts that had quit working. I started on the road to recovery about 6 months after the fallout with my work, and was effectively cured over the next 2-3 months.
The other main tool that finally got me out of the hole was to separate my plans from their execution by creating temporary todo lists. It turns out that I also had executive dysfunction from trying to hold huge problem spaces in my head for too long. It was like I ran out of room in my brain's hard drive and it began thrashing.
Now that I am no longer burned out or depressed, I've also noticed that the dormant problem-solving pathways have reawakened. So luckily I don't have to relearn the technical skills from before. I've been doing handyman work and spend a lot of time daydreaming about what I'd like to accomplish on the computer, so when I sit down to it, it's easier to overcome starting friction. I'm focusing on having no lost days, and treating every checked off item on my todo list as a victory, rather than criticizing myself for lack of productivity.
I started doing this again after some days in the office when working from home and it helped tremendously.
However if shoes or clothes make you comfortable then by all means, but I doubt this makes a difference for everyone.
(The first time I did a large project I just hit it quickly with some 120 grit sandpaper, and it was fine but as time goes on I spend more and more time using more and more grits of sandpaper, and that delicious smooth you get is almost addictive.)
Personally, when I started working from home more way back when, I definitely did things like dress up business casual, worked from my home office, etc.
These days, I pretty much break all the rules. It's a case of being reasonably disciplined about working hours while still having some flexibility. I guess I've internalized a loose routine to the point where I don't need the props any longer.
If the company allows working from home computer, it can be tempting to use that if it is more powerful.
Just create 2 logins on it, one for work, one for private.
Because you need enough "social" to be part of a team in the first place.
Otherwise they are a bunch of dissociated loners not playing the same game. Which could be an interesting novel to read if done well, but not your usual D&D session.