In the ‘90s I used to work in an office in Central London.

After a busy day, I’d often go to the pub with my workmates.

A few pints later, I’d either walk home on foot… or jump on the tube.

Sure, there were times when the carriage was crowded, the streets were packed with annoying people, or the weather was wet and miserable.

But the commute home felt like a rite of passage.

It created a physical and psychological buffer zone between the workplace and home.

By the time I got through my front door, the stresses and obsessions of work had mostly faded away.

Which meant that I could enjoy my evening.

Flash forward to the present day… and I am currently sitting in an office that’s adjoining my house.

Which means that I’m basically AT HOME when I’m AT WORK.

This has its benefits, of course…

No commuting and no travel expenses.

But it also has a drawback.

The buffer zone between work and home has vanished.

And this can create psychological difficulties…

How do I know when work is finished for the day?

How do I flip my mental state from one that’s focused on my business to one that’s focussed on my family?

How do I allow my body and mind to properly relax?

Ask any home-based worker or business owner and they’ll agree that this is a problem.

You might even be in this position yourself.

If so, here’s some advice that can help….

How to Switch Off After a Busy Day

One of the reasons I like using a laptop is this…

When I finish work for the day, I ‘shut down’ the computer and literally CLOSE THE LID.

There’s something deeply satisfying about the ‘snap’ as the lid comes down because it signifies that the session is well and truly over.

I don’t feel that as much with a desktop, even when I power down and the screen goes dark.

There’s something about the ritual of physically closing a laptop that sends a signal to my brain that it’s time to make a switch in focus.

(Productivity writer Cal Newport calls this a “shutdown ritual” — a deliberate end-of-day routine that teaches your brain work is done so it stops trying to solve problems in the background.)

Another thing I do is make a drink.

A glass of wine… a cold beer…

Or if I’m being healthy…a herbal tea.

Anything that’s not the high-strength coffee I associate with work times.

This is another ‘shutdown ritual’ which signifies that the work part of my day is over.

It’s a bit like that famous experiment by Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov, where he rang a bell every time he fed a dog.

Eventually, the dog salivated whenever it heard the bell, even if there was no food.

This is because a psychological link between the two things had been forged in its brain.

The same applies to ‘shutdown rituals’.

They create a psychological separation from work and help your brain close ‘open loops’.

By ‘open loops’, I mean those nagging thoughts about tasks you’ve begun, but not finished – for instance, an email, a research report, a piece of advertising copy, or some book-keeping.

It’s a form of the ‘Zeigarnik Effect’, that psychological phenomenon where unfinished tasks linger longer in the mind than completed ones.

You will feel these thoughts as a tension that won’t quite go away… or won’t quite let YOU go… until the tasks are done.

This can wreak havoc on your nervous system, causing anxiety that carries over into your leisure time.

It means that when you DO go back to work, you’re less rested, more stressed, and less able to perform.

You start the next morning in a fog of “where was I?”

And you’ll struggle to concentrate because your mind never properly reset.

Which is why a shutdown ritual is so important.

Mentally disengaging at the end of the day reduces stress and improves your recovery from overload before the next day’s session, meaning better focus and higher motivation..

But you need to find a way to deal with those open loops.

Try These Loop-Closing Hacks

As you reach the end of a big work session, allocate a short period of time (around 10-15 mins) to ‘loop closing’.

This doesn’t mean racing to finish every task….

It means finding a way to give temporary closure to those tasks, so that your brain has permission to let them go until the following day.

First, scan the following:

• Your email inbox
• Your message inbox (eg, Whatsapp. SMS or Instant Messenger)
• Your open browser tabs
• Your notes (both digital and anything written on paper)
• Your calendar or to-do lists

Write down everything that is unfinished, pending, or worrying you.

Put them on a list as jobs for tomorrow. If necessary, add special notes to each entry with important details that you’ll need to remember the next time you open your computer.

Eg, “Phone Bob”, “use this website link”, “remember to send invoice”, “info on the google document under X tab.”

This will help your brain relax and think, “I don’t have to remember this anymore.”

I also recommend you organise your list so that the most urgent ones are at the top. Then decide on the first 1–3 tasks that you need to do tomorrow.

This will mean that when you start the next session, you won’t procrastinate, or dither over what tasks to choose.

Instead you’ll have clear instructions (from your previous self!) about what you need to do, and in what order.

Now you should tidy your digital workspace…

That means closing tabs, saving documents in labelled folders and logging out of apps.

Then give your physical workspace a quick tidy too, putting away notes and stationary, closing books and removing coffee mugs or plates.

This is not only a shutdown technique…

It will also help make your next work session seem less daunting when you sit at an uncluttered desk.

After all of that, then you should do whatever it is you like to do as your own personal shutdown ritual.

Have a drink… put on some music… take a walk….

Perhaps simply say out loud: “That’s it for today”.

Whatever does the trick for you!

Cal Newport even recommends a slightly nerdy sign-off phrase — “shutdown complete” – because the brain responds well to clear, consistent end-markers.

Just try to do a few of these things consistently, day after day.

This way you’ll condition your brain to tell your nervous system that it’s time to relax.

You should notice that your time off becomes more relaxing, and less stressful… while your focus and motivation are improved the next time you sit down to work.

Give it a go and let me know if you see results.

Or please do send in your own personal shutdown ritual (if you have one) – I’d be fascinated to know!