Today LinkedIn News sent me an email asking me to provide my tips on setting boundaries after work, but... I sense you've heard enough tips already, so I'd rather focus on the mindset behind it.

You find it hard to switch off from work because it's tied to three vital aspects of the brain:

🧠 Money (survival)
🧠 Reputation (role, responsibility, what it means to you)
🧠 Habits (mental shortcuts - changing them takes more energy than just doing what you're asked to do)

That's a powerful combination that can't be counterbalanced just by following "balance techniques".

First, ensure that what you do in your private life holds equal, if not more, significance for your brain.

Mindless activities, like a hobby done out of habit, lack emotional attachment and meaning, making it easy to drop them in favour of something more powerful (see the three points above☝️).

Family, hobbies, sports, volunteering, music, reading... these are great ways to fill your life with significance, Just ensure you're fully conscious of the real value they bring to your life.

Ask yourself:

➡️How meaningful are my free-time activities?
➡️What drives me to do them?
➡️What emotions do they evoke?
➡️What significance do they hold in my life?
➡️How do they contribute to my fulfilment and sense of aliveness?

Find the answer and watch your life naturally rebalance towards what is really important to you. If work is what holds most significance, no wonder you find it so difficult to detach - no tips will save you!

Give your brain what the brain needs to help you reach fulfilment and feel alive.