Why your after-work hours disappear before you even realize it
Want to stop just crashing on the couch right after work? Here's how.
I know that feeling – you get home after a long commute from the office and grant yourself the permission to rest for an hour or so and suddenly it’s 9 PM and you have to prep for work the next day. I’ve been in this exact situation, so I understand the frustration. You want to meal prep, workout, spend time with family but you’re just so demotivated that you can’t help but crash on the couch. It’s not just you, I’m sure a lot of people around you have the same problem and if you’re unlucky, you could have a colleague who seems to meet all their commitments so now you just feel like shit even more. I don’t want to claim I’m the latter colleague, but I keep alternating between both versions.
I prefer the latter personality more, but this doesn’t mean the former one is “wrong” per se. There are days when you just want to rest and relax after a hard day at work. Going on back-to-back calls can drain your social battery, which directly affects your physical and mental capacity. The long-term solution to this challenge is nutrition, sleep and personal satisfaction, but I believe there are some things you can do to help with this in the short-term. The format of this blog post will be slightly different from the other blog posts – I’ve listed multiple ideas below and I suggest running a short experiment to figure out what will work for you. There are some non-negotiables so I’ll discuss them first before touching on the strategies.
Non-negotiables
Honestly, sometimes (and probably more often than you think) your body is low on energy or has no energy. Getting off the couch and heading to the gym is not just difficult mentally but physically too. No matter what strategy you try, if your body doesn’t have the energy, it just won’t work. So, I think this is where you should start first i.e. nourishing your body. In an ideal world, you only eat whole foods, don’t have sugar and have perfect sleep. But even if your diet is good enough, you’ll still run out of energy and will need to refill it before you deplete it again in the evenings. Usually, people resort to caffeine and energy drinks, which will just push the issue down the road in the form of a crash.
I’ve incorporated a few things that I typically snack on around 2PM – right around the time my energy levels start running low – in the form of two dates and one rice cake (unflavored but if I’m at home, I add some almond butter to the cake). Dates are a natural source of sugar and provide fibre; a rice cake is a high-glycemic carb, which gives your brain and body a top-up of energy, again without the crash. Combining these two is an effective way to combat that afternoon slump and continues providing energy well into the evening. Alternatives to dates include bananas, raisins or figs and for rice cakes, you can switch it out for oat crackers or even a small bowl of plain popcorn.
Another non-negotiable is limited screen use after work. Watching Netflix may feel like you’re relaxing but it’s not as effective as going for a walk in your neighbourhood or spending time with family, especially with infants and toddlers. Those activities provide a meaningful rest to your mind whereas further screentime simply adds more to your already stimulated brain. So, next time you’re tempted to binge-watch, go for a short walk instead and see how you feel after. You may still want to watch something, but this way you’re being intentional about it after the walk and giving your system a break from the screen. After the walk or spending time with your family, you’ll be more efficient in recharging your levels back to pre-noon levels. Again, you don’t have to quit Netflix completely, you just have to do something non-screen related before you default to watching TV.
However, before you head out for the walk or spend time with family, there’s one more thing you need to do before: change. Change out of your 9-5 clothes, even if you’re working from home. The simple act of changing clothes gives your brain a subtle message that it’s transitioned from work mode to home mode. This will, I believe, really help you create a barrier between both modes. For my work-from-home folks, I usually suggest (and I do this myself) wearing different clothes before you start work – this way, you’ll still be able to change after you’re done with work, whenever that is.
The strategies I recommend below are meant to serve as an a la carte menu where you pick and choose what works for you. They’re also meant to help you think outside the box so that you really modify them according to your needs. Some strategies that will help you make the most out of you post-5pm hours are:
Commitments you can’t back out from
E.g., scheduling an activity with a friend or scheduling a class at the local gym.
Taking advantage of your commute time
E.g., watching that lecture on public transport (please don’t do this while driving).
Staying back at work
E.g., after your official work hours are over – say 5 PM – you can stay back an hour to work on that YouTube script you’ve been putting off. Side benefit: you get to avoid the rush-hour traffic.
Doing it before work
E.g., squeezing in a quick workout before heading to work or starting work from home.
Getting an accountability partner
Prepping for the activity at work
E.g., some colleagues of mine change into their workout clothes after work so they can head to the gym right after work.
Taking advantage of your lunch break
E.g., studying for that exam during your lunch break.
Working a different time zone
E.g., working ET instead of MDT (which is 2 hours behind) – means you’re done with work at 3PM.
Again, the above are just meant to help spark some ideas for you to try and experiment with. Also, depending on the project, you might have to try a different strategy. For example, you can workout before 9AM and study during your lunch break, that way your evenings are free to do whatever else you’d like to do.
Lastly, I would caution you against trying to implement multiple strategies in order to optimize every minute you’re awake - leading to dissatisfaction in life and significant burnout. The idea (at least in my mind) is to work on a couple mandatory projects but also have time with family and all your other mundane commitments like dishes, cooking etc.
If you have another strategy that works for you, please do reach out to me so I can try them out as well. Ultimately, you can’t say yes to everything – studying during the lunch break means saying no to spending time with colleagues, going to the gym before work means getting less sleep. It’s a delicate balance but you just have to find out your priorities and see what’s worth removing from your current schedule. Thanks for reading!
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