I work at the office from 9 to 6, but I often bring work home and check emails in the evenings. I can't seem to switch off. Maybe I need to deliberately set aside time to rest? Or should I go somewhere right after work so I'm not sitting with my laptop? How do you manage this?
Don't expect that simply wanting to disconnect will be enough. Motivation without a system doesn't work. Walks and a change of scenery are good, but if your laptop is still in the apartment and you know the password, during a stressful moment you'll open your emails. The boundary needs to be not in your head, but in reality.
Try this: install an app on your phone that blocks your work email after a certain time - not just a reminder, but an actual technical block. For example, the app won't let you open emails after 6:30 PM, even if you want to. Or even simpler - turn off email notifications on all devices except your work computer and forget your email password on your phone. Sounds radical, but it works: when it's harder to override than to just not check, people don't check.
The second thing is not about rest on a schedule, but about getting back into the mindset before work. When you're finishing your office day, don't go straight home to your laptop. Even twenty minutes somewhere else - a café, the gym, just sitting on a bench - switches your head. And the main thing: for the first hour at home, do anything but work. Cooking, cleaning, a walk - your brain needs to switch to a different mode before it's ready to rest.
I noticed that I could only really disconnect when I physically removed my laptop from sight - not just closed it, but moved it to another room or actually hid it. If it's just sitting nearby, you unconsciously reach for it.
The real trap is that just setting aside time to rest isn't enough if you're mentally still at work the whole time. Better to find something that completely absorbs your attention - something active that requires focus. For some people it's a walk, for others it's sports, but the key is something that won't let your brain wander off into work problems.
The main thing is don't expect a simple change of scenery or a walk to solve the problem if you haven't set clear boundaries. I only managed to disconnect when I stopped checking emails after 6 PM and turned off notifications on my phone - that was the key moment, not the walk itself. Physically putting the laptop away helps, but the real thing is the habit of not opening it in the evenings at all, even if it's "right there". The first two weeks are the hardest, then your brain gets used to it and stops looking for work. If it's really critical - you can set up an auto-reply like "I'll respond tomorrow" or hand off important stuff to a colleague while you're taking a break from screens.
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