Creating a Mental Commute – Warrior Mind Podcast #636

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In this episode of the Warrior Mind Podcast, I’m going to discuss how to Create a Mental Commute to Establish a Healthy Work Life Balance.

Creating a Mental Commute to Establish a Healthy Work Life Balance

When you work in a remote or hybrid environment, separating your personal life from your work life can be challenging. When you’re off at 5, there’s no commute home and no time in the car to decompress. You simply get up from your desk and are expected to easily relax or forget about work. Those boundaries between personal and professional lives are blurred when your home is your office. With blurred lines, work responsibilities constantly feel like they are always there in the back of your mind.

Creating clear boundaries between your personal and professional life is essential to protect your mental health. By creating a mental commute, you can take actions that can help you transition smoothly from when work ends to when your personal time begins. Here are some tips for creating a mental commute.

Create a Physical Workspace – A physical workspace can create a mental separation between work and home. It lets you know when you are in this space, you are working. When you’re out of the space, you are at home. It can be difficult in an apartment setting, but you can be creative when coming up with solutions, from using curtains to close off a section of your room or repurposing a closet or small space in your home.

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More on Creating a Mental Commute to Establish a Healthy Work Life Balance

Take a Walk After Work – Walking outside after work ends can help create a mental commute where you physically remove yourself from your workspace. Talking a walk outside has a number of benefits, including allowing fresh air that promotes healthy brain function, improves concentration, boosts vitamin D, and reduces stress. Take 15 minutes and return home to start enjoying your personal time with work free from your mind.

Watch Nature Scenes or Calming Videos for 10 Minutes – After work ends, take a moment to watch a video of a nature scene or something calming and serene, like a video at the beach or a visual walk through a rainforest. Take deep breaths, truly immerse yourself in the experience, and feel the calm wash over you. Don’t forget to make sure your IMs, messaging, and all work notifications are all turned off.

Try Mental Decompression Exercises – After work ends, mental decompression exercises to let go of work stresses before you begin your personal time can help you transition to a relaxed mental state. One example would be to close your eyes and imagine all the issues of your day are a bunch of red balloons filled with helium. Imagine you begin to release them one by one into the bright blue sky.

Create a Physical Sign to Signify Work is Done for the Day – Creating a physical signal can be a powerful way to signify that work is over. Try turning the computer off or shutting the laptop lid and placing a note or card that states “closed for business” or “gone for the day” to remind you that work is complete. You’ll be back at it tomorrow.

Creating a boundary between your professional and personal life is vital to reduce your stress and frustration, which can eventually lead to burnout. Be creative, and make this mental commute your personal decompression and transition time. Make it fun and stress-relieving as you achieve a healthy work-life balance.

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