{"id":16719,"date":"2021-03-18T12:15:24","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T06:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/?p=16719"},"modified":"2021-04-29T12:12:04","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T06:42:04","slug":"work-life-balance-trick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/work-life-balance-trick.html","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s How To Trick Your Mind Into A Work-Life Balance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Here\u2019s<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened, bro?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUgh, the traffic on the way to work today was just terrible!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, it took me almost an hour to get here too\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do you miss these conversations? Well, thanks to COVID-19 and the introduction of work-from-home practices, chit-chats such as these are now a rarity. In fact, most people these days even wish to go <\/span>back to the offic<\/span><\/i>e, despite all the traffic and the time that they spend on commute.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do employees wish to return to the office?<\/span><\/h2>\n

The reason is quite simple. Working from home brings with it several difficulties, one being a difficulty in \u201c<\/span>switching off<\/span><\/i>\u201d from \u201cwork-mode\u201d and going into \u201crelaxed-mode.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Employees<\/p>\n

And understandably so.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heather Yurovsky, a career coach expert says that one cannot simply switch between giving a presentation and tidying up the house or cooking dinner which most work-from-home employees believe they can do but which can drastically affect their performance. This is much unlike the commuters headed for home after a long day get that transition time while in a vehicle and mentally prepare themselves for their evening routine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But now? With work-from-home reigning supreme, that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing. \u201cThe problem with this,\u201d continues Yurovsky \u201cis that your brain doesn\u2019t have time to hit the reset button, which can <\/span>make you less present as you transition back into your personal life<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Not \u2018switching off\u2019 can be harmful to you<\/span><\/h2>\n

Research <\/span><\/a>shows that up to 72% of workers were reportedly spending time worrying about their job <\/span>after work<\/span><\/i>, while 22% were reported to be <\/span>regular worriers<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"72%<\/p>\n

Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Surrey and the author of <\/span>The Off Switch<\/span><\/i><\/a>, Dr. Mark Croply, lists several extreme health risks that are associated with not switching off from work. He states in his book that those who can\u2019t switch off –\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25baProduce more cortisol (the stress hormone)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25baHave a greater risk of cardiovascular disease<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25baDevelop unhealthy eating habits<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25baHave disrupted sleeping patterns and<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25baHave a greater risk for mental health problems (such as anxiety and depression)<\/span><\/p>\n

Research<\/span><\/a> also suggests that these risks are compounded for those who work from home, as they are known to take fewer breaks and work longer hours in general.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe body needs time to relax and recharge,\u201d Dr. Croply states. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let the parasympathetic nervous system take over a little bit and all things go down to baseline.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do the \u2018Fake Commute\u2019<\/span><\/h2>\n

Simulating the daily commute can be a great way to trick our brains into a work-life balance. But what exactly does faking a commute mean?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, this means getting up in the morning, getting dressed and <\/span>heading out the door<\/span><\/i>. Once you\u2019ve shut the door behind you, go for a quick walk and come back. And repeat the same thing as you wind down for the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

There exists prior <\/span>research<\/span><\/a> that\u00a0 concluded that the trip to the office can be a chance to think about upcoming work tasks, and can also serve as a transition period from our \u201chome self\u201d to our \u201cwork self.\u201d This is especially <\/span>necessary for a work from home situation, where many struggle to create boundaries between work and home responsibilities<\/span><\/i>. As such, the \u2018fake commute\u2019 can replace the real commute for us in its role in creating these transitions for us, allowing us to prepare ourselves mentally for the upcoming workday.<\/span><\/p>\n

David Zweig, Professor at the University of Toronto believes that a fake commute would be one of the most effective ways to build the walls between work and home again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"fake<\/p>\n

Carving out that time, whatever it might be \u2014 going for a walk, listening to some music \u2014 is going to be good for recovery and it\u2019s also important for us to manage our stress from work.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What do you think of the fake commute in creating a work-life balance for yourself? Would you give it a go? Do let us know in the comments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you looking to build High Performing Resilient Organisations? We can help. Feel free to\u00a0get in touch<\/a>\u00a0for assistance in building a culture of positivity and high performance.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat happened, bro?\u201d \u201cUgh, the traffic on the way to work today was just terrible!\u201d \u201cOh yeah, it took me almost an hour to get here too\u201d Do you miss these conversations? Well, thanks to COVID-19 and the introduction of work-from-home practices, chit-chats such as these are now a rarity. In fact, most people these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-work-careers","category-work-life-balance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourdost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}