Recently I went out to dinner with two old friends of mine who have been married for quite some time now. I was aware that the husband, Steve, had recently been offered a promotion at work and it had been great news for both of them. But while we spoke at dinner, I was surprised to find out from his wife Jenny that the good news had some consequences.
What Steve was finding was that he kept on bringing work home with him. He had an increased workload now and for a while this had led to him never being able to fully switch off from work mode even when he had long since left the office. They both mentioned how they were unhappy that the stress of the new job had affected personal time with each other and their son.
Jenny said she had had enough, so taking the bull by the horns as she tends to do, had given Steve both barrels and told him things needed to change. Before doing this she had heard of some mindfulness techniques that she thought may help with this sort of thing and suggested Steve should give them a try.
What Steve started to do was reflect on his achievements each day. As he was shutting down his computer, he would close his eyes for five minutes, breathe deeply to clear his mind and visualise the tasks he had completed. Rather than thinking about what hadn’t been achieved, or what was still to be done. He could go home comfortable that he was making progress. This combined with refining how he prioritised his work each day made him feel far more relaxed and comfortable that he had completed work for the day. Steve could then go home and spend some quality time with his family and be more in the present moment with them.
They told me that almost straight away they noticed a change in Steve’s mood and energy levels around home. Gone was the mumbling and grumbling about work and more often than not he was into dad mode. And while there are still occasions where Steve doesn’t switch off from work mode, those occurrences are becoming far fewer.
So if you are having trouble switching off from work at the end of each day, why not try some mindfulness techniques like Steve did.
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