EOD Rituals: Setting Yourself Up for the End of the Day

You probably lend a moderate amount of mental energy to your morning routine, but your evening routine is just as important! Especially for those of us who work from home, it’s important to be intentional about how you end your workday. Giving yourself the time, space, and opportunity to rejuvenate ensures you can begin each day with productive energy. Here are a few ideas for how to upgrade your end of day ritual: 

1. Choose a time to end work, and stick to it:
Especially for those of us who work from home, it can be tempting to keep working past your normal hours, sending one last email, or working just a little longer on a project. It’s important to honor your schedule by keeping good boundaries around when you will work and when you won’t. To help you feel organized and transition out of work mode, have a short wrapping up routine: close extra tabs, give your desk a quick tidy and jot down any last-minute thoughts or to-dos on a list. 

2. Design your workspace with separation in mind:
If you have the space to devote a whole room to your home office, do it! The lines between work and home can get blurred, so creating physical boundaries between your workspace and the rest of your home will help you focus and feel calmer throughout the day. Once you’ve ended your work for the day, try not to return to your workspace. 

3. Choose a wind-down routine: 
A good start is to change out of your work clothes. This is simple, but it helps signal to your brain that it is time to focus on other things. Turn off bright lights, have a snack or some tea, watch your favorite show, take a “mock commute” walk around your neighborhood, exercise, do yoga, meditate, light a candle, take a shower/bath, stretch, read, write, video game…whatever you like! Set an intention for your evening - think, “what would I like to accomplish by the end of the day?”

These are just a few of the many ways to create a well-rounded and productive end to your day that can create a real difference in your work-life structure. Without leaving time to separate work and life, we leave room for things like burnout and cognitive distress. In an article for Harvard Business Review, Deborah Bright of Bright Enterprises wrote that when working with a test group of 26 managers, after creating an end-of-day ritual, their ability to unplug from work increased from 40% to 68%. I don’t know about you, but I could certainly use 28% more zen! 
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