At the end of the workday, many of us find ourselves dashing out of the door, mind still half on unfinished tasks and emails unsent. Chances are, these thoughts stick around all evening, demanding attention and undermining any attempts to relax.
Much has been made of mastering your mornings but with a recent report showing that 54% of workers believe work makes it difficult for them to relax during personal time, how you end your workday may be just as important.
The Benefits of An End of Workday Routine
Being intentional about how you wind down your workday has benefits for your productivity, performance, and overall wellbeing.
If you always find yourself working long hours (something which has been shown to be detrimental to productivity), establishing a routine where you stop work for the day at a set time is a much better strategy for managing energy – both mental and physical.
While it may feel like “getting less done” at first, it will enable you to perform better and will hopefully motivate you to improve your time management (as you won’t be able to push tasks further and further into the evening).
An EOD routine also gives you a chance to reflect and plan so that you can manage your time far more effectively the following day. That clarity means you won’t have to spend time trying to prioritize in the morning and will help you cut down on procrastination. By using this as an opportunity to document unfinished tasks and make a plan for tackling them at the proper time, you can also prevent them from becoming internal distractions and interrupting your life outside of work.
This leads to the final benefit: an EOD routine helps create psychological detachment between work and personal time. This contributes to work recovery, which has a profound impact on your performance and wellbeing.
This detachment ensures you can be truly present outside of work.
How to Build an Effective End-of-Day Routine
What should a work shutdown routine look like? Spoiler alert, as is so often the case with productivity, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
A good starting point is that an effective EOD routine should leave you with a sense of control over what you’ve achieved and what you still need to do. Academic Cal Newport advises: “This ritual should ensure that every incomplete task, goal, or project has been reviewed and that for each you have confirmed that either 1) you have a plan you trust for its completion, or 2) it’s captured in a place where it will be revisited at the right time.”
Importantly, as we will touch on, an EOD routine stretches beyond simply ensuring your work is set up or parked for the next day. It should also include activities that are designed to help you relax and make you feel more positive, setting you up to enjoy your evening and to return to work the next day in a better frame of mind.
The right routine for you will depend on how you work and also the type of role you have. Here are some elements and priorities you can consider when thinking about how to end your workday with intention.
Map Out Your Tasks
Your routine doesn’t necessarily have to start at EOD – you can strategically plan your tasks to give you a sense of accomplishment and completion at the end of the day. In other words, how you plan your tasks will be directly linked to where you wind up at the end of the day – and with that, your sense of end of day wellbeing.
Author and executive coach Deborah Bright advises finishing with a small, manageable task (like sending one last email). This lets you end with a sense of achievement.
If you do need to start work on a larger task in the afternoon, you could break it down into smaller chunks. If you run out of time, being able to leave the task at one of these milestones will be far more satisfying and less anxiety-inducing than having to break off at random (or staying late to finish!).
Review and Reflect
Before signing off for the day, look back at what you did. Celebrate the wins (big and small) and recognize any progress you made, even if it was only marginal.
If you didn’t get as much done as you hoped, identify why that was and the practical steps you can take to improve things tomorrow. And take the opportunity to practice self-compassion so that you’re not letting guilt interfere with the rest of your day.
Plan Ahead
Many successful EOD rituals focus on this step: identifying the tasks you need to do the following day and putting a plan in place. It gives you peace of mind, enables you to hit the ground running in the morning, and protects your mental resources.
Not overestimating what you’ll be able to handle the next day is key. And that comes with time and habit – practice makes perfect, after all.
To get you started, using a framework like the 1-3-5 rule can help you to keep your to-do list realistic. Likewise, mapping out the next day with timeblocking could also help you to avoid overestimating your capacity.
If you do use a time management framework, leave some gaps so that you can account for unexpected tasks.
Nudge Yourself
Nudge theory involves subtly engineering your environment to encourage making a good choice. You can do this by setting up your digital and physical workspace so it’s as easy as possible to get started promptly the following day.
For example, if you ensure that the only browser tabs left open when you leave for the day are the ones directly related to the task you need to begin with, that will nudge your future self. You can do this even if you usually shut your computer down with the “Continue Where You Left Off” feature.
Anticipate Your Time Off
Start thinking about what you’re doing that evening. As psychologist Art Markman writes: “You need a specific plan, or you will return to your habits and re-engage with work when you should be away from it.”
Do you have plans you’re looking forward to? Research suggests that anticipation of positive experiences can be just as beneficial as the experiences themselves.
Now is also a good chance to take stock of how you’re feeling. Do you have the energy to go to the gym or would you be better off using the Reitoff Principle and engaging in some intentional, guilt-free downtime?
Pick a Ritual
Research has shown that rituals give us a valuable sense of control and can even reduce anxiety.
Deborah Bright recommends picking one symbolic action such as shutting down your computer or locking your office door to intentionally end every workday with. As she explains: “Consistent use of this designated anchor will enable you to take control of your emotions and shift your mental state, just as if you were clocking out on a timesheet.”
Your commute, if you have one, is a powerful ritual in itself. Research suggests that it’s a valuable source of psychological detachment as it lets the brain transition gradually from one context to the next in a neutral space. If you don’t have a commute, you can achieve this effect by taking a post-work walk.
Rituals could be particularly useful if your end of day routine gets disrupted by circumstances outside of your control. Even if you have to skip the reflection or planning stages, performing your ritual will still draw a line between work and downtime.
Know When to Wind Down
As with any focused activity, it’s important to reserve time for transitioning between one thing and the next. That also applies to an EOD routine.
Once you work out what needs to go into your routine, use trial and error to time when you should start winding down. That way, you can make a conscious decision to start your routine at the right time, rather than trying to cram everything into the last 5 minutes and causing yourself the stress you’re trying to avoid.
End the Workday Right for Better Productivity
Creating an effective end of workday routine can boost your productivity, give you peace of mind, and help you properly enjoy your downtime. It’s a valuable chance to reflect on what you were able to achieve and what you need to do going forward, before intentionally transitioning away from the work mindset.
While an effective EOD routine will differ from person to person, taking time to reflect on what you achieved, making flexible plans for the following day, and using ritual activities to help your brain transition will hopefully leave you feeling ready to make the most of your evening.
