When you stop working without ceremony, your mind keeps working. Thoughts about unfinished tasks linger. Ideas for tomorrow intrude. The workday never truly ends because you never properly closed it.
Create a five-minute shutdown ritual. Review what you accomplished today. Write down three things for tomorrow. Close all your tabs and applications. Put your work materials away. Then say to yourself, “Work is done for today.”
This ritual signals to your brain that the workday is over. It creates a boundary between work time and rest time. When you do this consistently, your evenings become more restful because your mind knows it can stop thinking about work.
Design your shutdown ritual today. Practice it this week. Then notice how much better you sleep and how much more present you become in your evenings when work has a clear ending.