How to Psychologically Detach from Work: Four Strategies for Switching Off

Coaching clients across different industries, a common challenge I hear is people wanting help to switch off from work at the end of the day.

This challenge is called psychological detachment, and it's of growing interest, with more research being done to help us manage workplace stressors, especially with people feeling overloaded and boundaries between personal and professional time being more blurred than ever before. 

Learning the skill of psychological detachment will help you transition more effectively from a busy and stressful day at the office and gain more benefit from your downtime. Learning this skill can help you feel less tired and contribute to you feeling more positive emotions. It can improve your wellbeing and relationships inside and outside of work and help you feel less conflict between work demands and your personal time.

It is important to say that learning to switch off does not suggest you don't care about work; in fact, it is the opposite; it means you understand that to return to work refreshed and to be effective in your role, you must recharge.

Now, there are personal factors that can get in the way; this includes a tendency to worry or when you have complex emotions like anxiety. In these situations, I encourage you to seek specialist support.

Beyond this, in situations where you want help to detach psychologically, here are some questions to ask yourself and practical ways to go about it:

1) How do you transition from a day at the office?

The first step is to intentionally transition out of the day. In doing this, it is important to start accepting that you will not get everything done most days. Start your day by planning and prioritising what you will do for the day, do all you can to complete these goals, and accept that you need to leave what's not finished for tomorrow.

This call to transition out of the day is not a ticket to care less about your role but a recognition that there is more work than time in most jobs. It demands finding a way to thread the needle of a commitment to your role while prioritising your wellbeing equally. Finding balance may still require leaving later than the usual time on some days, but don't let this become a habit.

To transition out of the day, establish rituals that signal that it is time to disconnect from work. It might be writing your to-do list at the end of the day, powering down your laptop, or choosing not to read emails after a specific time. These "transition rituals" can also help you switch gears at the end of the day, for example, listening to music on the way home from the office or ending the day by walking if you are working from home.

2) What non-work rituals help you recharge?

 

Shifting your attention to valued personal activities is a way to help you switch off at the end of the day. This shift of attention requires us to reflect on the activities that give us energy and bring joy to our lives. Limiting the activities that simply numb us from work stressors. This shift in attention is also a call to not let our work define us. Valuing our different selves – creating space for our varied identities, interests, and the other worlds we inhabit. 

These activities might include exercising, being outdoors, spending time with family or friends, playing sports, or cooking. An ongoing commitment to these activities will help you more intentionally shift your attention from work to enjoying valued personal time.

A goal to cultivate a life outside of work is also a powerful way to strengthen your resilience and capacity to deal with any future disruptions in your work life.

3) What are your boundaries for responding to work emails?

These boundaries define when you finish work, when you stop reading emails, and what you do with your devices when you get home. These are the boundaries that help you be fully present with family and friends at the end of a busy day.

People who practice psychological detachment recognise the negative impact their phone has on their ability to switch off and how it erodes their wellbeing—being disciplined about device access and keeping your phone out of reach in the evening.

Setting boundaries on when you will read and respond to emails. Establishing these norms with your manager, team and ideally as an organisation. These norms can unintentionally emerge from the behaviour of leaders, so make this a conversation and a conscious choice in your team.

4) How do you mentally process work challenges?

Mindfulness and time spent reflecting can help you psychologically detach from work by mentally processing a difficult day in the office.

Among the many benefits, meditation can help you develop greater present-moment awareness, which means being aware of where you're choosing to put your attention, and it can also strengthen your capacity to detach from ruminating thoughts at the end of a stressful day.

To process these experiences and confront ruminating thoughts, spend just ten minutes reflecting at the end of each day and get these thoughts on paper. This daily practice of reflecting is also proven to strengthen your leadership effectiveness. Here are three questions to get you started: What went well today? What did I learn? And what might I do differently next time? These questions can help you bring a growth mindset to the day's challenges and by taking a moment to think about what went well, even the most minor things in an uneventful day, can build positive emotions and support our wellbeing.

Finally, if you haven't done it already, I would encourage you to talk about psychological detachment in your team and how you can support each other.

We all need adequate recovery time to support our wellbeing, avoid burnout, and function well as a team. Take the time to think about your psychological detachment plan and talk about it with your team.

Please make it a goal to detach well from each workday.