Can You Turn Off Your Work?

July 7, 2011 By 17 Comments

We are a society that is bad about turning off work.

We seem to have let it take over our lives.

Even when we are not at the office, most are tethered by a technology leash.

When was the last time you turned off work?

Maybe it was the weekend. Maybe you went on vacation.

Are you able to turn off work and enjoy your life?

Turning It Off

This past week I took some vacation time. I took half the week off before the holiday, resulting in a 6-day weekend.

My wife and I travelled to the beach. It was wonderful.

The best part? I completely unplugged from work for the duration.

No work calls. No work email. No work interruptions.

I recharged my energy, motivation, and self.

Yet, many people can’t take time off. When they do, they are still checking emails, returning calls, and more.

Does this sound like you?

Why have we given our jobs such power over our lives?

The last time I looked, most of us are not in work contract that says that our employers “own” our personal lives, as well as our work time.

This is how many people operate, as if their job owns the rest of their life.

It is important to be able to have separation between work and life. Those who don’t are ultimately not successful.

Are you able to separate your work and your life?

Can you shut off your work when you are away?

Let It Go

The reason that most people cannot turn off work is that they are worried about what will happen while they are out.

They feel that they must monitor email and remain plugged in or bad things will happen.

However, when you do this, you are being counterproductive. You are not relaxing and inevitably will be stressing about things that are going on while you are gone.

You must learn to let go while you are on vacation. It doesn’t matter if you are a CEO or an entry level employee, the business can survive without you for a period. (And for those CEO’s that disagree, I would say that your company has bigger problems.)

While I was out for almost a week, I had many concerns, but I let them go. I knew that my team was fully capable and empowered to deal with anything that happened.

Here were the results of “Letting Go” and “Turning Off Work:”

  • Email Resolved Itself – Half of my email could be deleted immediately upon my return.  (Note: This is probably true of half of all email sent.) Sure, there were half a dozen conversations that I was copied on, but almost all had resolved themselves before my return.
  • Team Took Care of Business – My teammates took care of all issues that arose. They knew I was out and they attacked anything that occurred in my absence.
  • No Fires Broke Out – There were no major fires while I was gone. If something big had happened, expectations were set not to send an email, but to contact me.
  • Bad Things Didn’t Happen – Things that I worried about never happened. As is the case, most of the things we worry about never come to pass, and most things that we think are emergencies are not.

Turn Off Your Work to Recharge

It is your life. Unplug every once in a while.

Don’t let your work dominate your personal time.

Recharging is key to inner balance.

So, next time, turn off your work and enjoy your vacation.

Can you turn off your work? How do you relax when not at your job?

Filed Under: Time Management
  • al.pittampalli

    Great reminder, Craig. Turning it off is incredibly difficult. I’m working on it. I think it’s a skill, one that comes with maturity. Has nothing to do with age…but a comfort with yourself, your mission, and your real purpose.

    • TMNinja

      @al.pittampalli Thanks, Al.

      I make sure that I turn off work email on my mobile devices when I am “off.” That is a good start for me. :)

  • al.pittampalli

    Great reminder, Craig. Turning it off is incredibly difficult. I’m working on it. I think it’s a skill, one that comes with maturity. Has nothing to do with age…but a comfort with yourself, your mission, and your real purpose.

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  • TMNinja

    @al.pittampalli Thanks, Al.

    I make sure that I turn off work email on my mobile devices when I am “off.” That is a good start for me. :)

  • http://www.daytimer.com/blog Jeff @ Day-Timer

    It has to do with your priorities. If spending time with your family is truly what you should be doing at that given moment, then unplugging from work would be no problem. Here’s the rub: people become conditioned to treat work as THE ONLY priority — taking precedence over family, self, friends, health, happiness, etc. Great post Craig.

  • http://annedreshfield.com/ annedreshfield

    I’m only an intern, and I have trouble turning work off sometimes! It’s particularly hard at college. My school has fairly quiet dorms, and a lot of people I know do work in their rooms — which is also where they hang out with friends, sleep, eat, etc. For some people that means all they do is procrastinate in their room while they should be doing work, and for some people that means that just absolutely can’t be in their room at all if they want to get work done. I’m usually somewhere in between, but it takes an actual mental decision to “turn off” my work drive to make myself relax.

  • http://www.daytimer.com/blog Jeff @ Day-Timer

    It has to do with your priorities. If spending time with your family is truly what you should be doing at that given moment, then unplugging from work would be no problem. Here’s the rub: people become conditioned to treat work as THE ONLY priority — taking precedence over family, self, friends, health, happiness, etc. Great post Craig.

  • http://annedreshfield.com/ annedreshfield

    I’m only an intern, and I have trouble turning work off sometimes! It’s particularly hard at college. My school has fairly quiet dorms, and a lot of people I know do work in their rooms — which is also where they hang out with friends, sleep, eat, etc. For some people that means all they do is procrastinate in their room while they should be doing work, and for some people that means that just absolutely can’t be in their room at all if they want to get work done. I’m usually somewhere in between, but it takes an actual mental decision to “turn off” my work drive to make myself relax.

  • http://www.timokiander.com/ timokiander

    Craig,

    This is a very important post! I see people do this a lot.

    I rarely have had problems of disconnecting from 9-5 work. I have a fixed times to be at the office and when the clock hits 4 PM, I shift my focus to other things (and they are NOT work related).

    I’m just starting my 6-week vacation and I can promise, that I’m not even going to think anything work related :)

    On the other hand, when you are an entrepreneur, things may be a bit different – especially if you are running the show by yourself.

  • http://www.timokiander.com/ timokiander

    Craig,

    This is a very important post! I see people do this a lot.

    I rarely have had problems of disconnecting from 9-5 work. I have a fixed times to be at the office and when the clock hits 4 PM, I shift my focus to other things (and they are NOT work related).

    I’m just starting my 6-week vacation and I can promise, that I’m not even going to think anything work related :)

    On the other hand, when you are an entrepreneur, things may be a bit different – especially if you are running the show by yourself.

  • JonathanMilligan

    This has been something that I have really had to work hard on over the last year. I have finally identified what my real passion is and I simply love to work. I have had to set hard deadlines for myself to step away for hours at a time. When I do this I always come back renewed and refreshed as a result. Great post!

  • JonathanMilligan

    This has been something that I have really had to work hard on over the last year. I have finally identified what my real passion is and I simply love to work. I have had to set hard deadlines for myself to step away for hours at a time. When I do this I always come back renewed and refreshed as a result. Great post!

  • Becomeawesome

    I remember how frenetic that I was when I was in the semi corporate world – now I’m feeling the same devotion to my work as I’m a freelancer, knowing that I’m in charge of my future. Thank you for offering this reminder – it’s good to remember that my head doesn’t have to be in the game every single minute of the day.

    • TMNinja

      @Becomeawesome Love this thought! Many people assume that freelancers have a less hectic schedule than the corporate world. But, when you are on your own, you have to take care of all the things that corporate employees take for granted.

  • Becomeawesome

    I remember how frenetic that I was when I was in the semi corporate world – now I’m feeling the same devotion to my work as I’m a freelancer, knowing that I’m in charge of my future. Thank you for offering this reminder – it’s good to remember that my head doesn’t have to be in the game every single minute of the day.

  • TMNinja

    @Becomeawesome Love this thought! Many people assume that freelancers have a less hectic schedule than the corporate world. But, when you are on your own, you have to take care of all the things that corporate employees take for granted.