The short answer:
Show up fully when you’re at work, then disappear fully when you’re not.
Notice I didn’t say how many hours to work, how hard to work or what time to clock off. You can work
from 5am to 9pm if that’s your bag (a.k.a. the reverse 9 to 5). But what’s key is that you don’t drag one world into the other. That you’re not sitting at your desk wondering if you should go for a walk or going for a walk wondering if you should be sitting at your desk. That you're not mulling over your meeting tomorrow while you watch the England game this evening.
I think of it like a light switch.
When you flip the switch, the light is either on or off. It’s shining brightly or not shining at all.
I know some Smart Alec out there will think “What
about a dimmer switch Tom? That can shine at 30% forever!”
Yes, thank you for trying to find the one exception to my otherwise perfectly passable metaphor.
Only in this case, the dimmer switch is the LAST thing you want to
be.
It comes back to the difference between overuse and constant use.
When you're at 30% all the time and kind of working, kind of resting and kind of present, your nervous system doesn’t take a break. It never gets
the signal that it's safe to actually stop. So it keeps going until your bulb eventually blows.
That’s why the goal isn’t to spend less time switched on.
The goal is to spend less time half-switched on.
If you're reading this and thinking "makes sense but I don't know how to actually do that", I can help. Not via techniques or hacks but by helping you see what's really getting in the way.
If that sounds like something you'd like to
explore, hit reply and tell me a bit about what’s going on for you right now.
To fulfilment,
Tom