Avoiding burnout - 5 reasons why you shoulnt work in the evenings
Always On
In the “always-on” digital age we live in right now, there are some many ways to “work”. We are not just restricted to emails and meetings, we are connected to our work and colleagues across a multitude of formats, on screens, 24 hours a day.
So much so, it can be really, really hard to switch off in the evenings.
In my last role at a tech start-up, we had a team WhatsApp group. The team would be messaging all hours.
We’d be problem-solving throughout the evening, getting feedback, writing responses to urgent emails. I felt everything needed to done NOW and required an instant response (especially when the sender knows that you have read the WhatsApp message because of those pesky blue ticks).
It felt important & exciting for a time, but then it got draining. For those of us heading towards burnout, this behaviour can be destructive to our health.
Busy?
Instant response work makes you feel very busy. Busy drafting that email, busy having a text conversation, busy forming a very quick opinion, busy posting on social.
Unfortunately, this way of working leaves the important thinking work to be squeezed in around the sides when our brains are pretty tired. The strategic work that will move your business and career forward ends up taking a backseat. Then you feel stressed.
Freedom?
Interestingly, when I started running my own business a few years ago, (where I have the freedom to choose my hours and how I work), I still didn’t switch off from the instant response work.
I was managing all my marketing platforms, emailing clients and still working late, keeping myself very busy. I found it impossible to switch off if my iPhone was close.
My brain wasn’t having any downtime, and thinking work wasn't getting done. I see this a lot with my clients too.
After realising, that I might still “burnout” even in my “freedom” business, I knew I needed to explore another way of working.
Although it was easy to blame my iPhone addicted working style on the old job (and all of the other jobs before that). It started to see that this behaviour was ingrained in me.
It needed to change.
So I wanted to look into this behaviour. And do something about it.
I have not been working after 6 pm and you may have noticed that I haven’t been as active in social media recently (or you may not of, which also proves my point). You see I’ve been experimenting.
I’ve been taking a break from “always-on”, instant response behaviour in the evenings. It’s proven, by scientists, that taking a break from screens in the evenings is better for your productivity...
Here are the factors that motivated me to do it…
5 reasons to why you shouldn't work in the evenings
Your mind needs to rest
Good ideas come from your unconscious mind, when your brain has had a bit of time to process a plethora of information. This is why people have ideas in the shower or whilst walking the dog. When we are constantly go, go, go, there is no time for the dust to settle. If you need a good idea, stop trying.
Instant response work is just surface level
Busy, distracted thinking means we never get time to think about the big important issues at play. Whether that's for our businesses, careers or lives. We literally never scratch the surface and then realise we’ve been busy doing a lot, but what for? Is this "busy" work making a long term impact on what you really need to do?
Concentration and deep thought takes practice
Instant response work trains our brain to be bad at concentrating. Even writing this blog post, I’m dying to look at the email that just came in, and check if I my friend has replied to my text message. The problem is, if I do check, I will likely take around 15 minutes to get back into “thinking work”. Or as Cal Newport calls it in his book with the same name, “Deep Work”. We are so comfortable being reactionary, it has a long term effect on the quality of our output.
We are addicted to the dopamine hit from scrolling and liking
Research has found that scrolling Facebook is addictive. “It activates the same part of our brain as cocaine”, explained Professor Ofir Turel of California State University. It's the same hit when you receive an email or hear the “ding” of a whatsapp message. An “ooh, I’m important/liked/needed”. We get addicted to this feeling. It then causes us to live in a state of distracted hyper-connectedness. Which in my experience, leads to burnout.
Compare and despair
No matter how confident you are, comparison on social media gets you. Depending on what you are looking at, it may prompt you to start brainstorming more business ideas with yourself or feel like you need to buy something or improve yourself somehow. Emails with colleagues may also get you too. Don’t let this stuff get in your head in the evenings. As I said, your brain needs to rest. Once you've realised what is going on, you can take active steps to change your behaviour. Now you might be thinking, Thanks Liz, that makes sense, but it's much easier said than done. If that's you, then jump over to part 2 of this blog series to read "How to stop working in the evenings without damaging your career".
Liz Ward is Founder and Coach at Slick Pivot. Slick Pivot helps new and seasoned entrepreneurs get good at change. Supporting your pivot journey through one to one coaching, bespoke team workshops, and events to help you find more happiness and growth in your work, whether that is quitting your 9-5, starting and growing that business or developing the right mindset for success.
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