Your brain struggles to let go of unfinished business. Incomplete tasks have a unique ability to continue capturing attention.This is usually useful but can be problematic in the context of work-related stress and burnout. Many of our jobs force us to juggle a variety of tasks that take days, weeks, or months to complete.And all of these loose ends have the potential to distract us during leisure time.

The problem with unfinished tasks

Knocking out simple, completable tasks at the end of the workday — and avoiding complicated ones — is another good way to psychologically disconnect.If you finish the day by tackling something complex and unfinishable, this creates “oose ends that have the potential to continue distracting us during leisure time. You’re better off working on these earlier in the day, and reserving the easy stuff for your final hour or two of work.

Finish the small tasks

Don’t make checking your inbox the last thing you do each day.
This is the opposite of detachment. If there is nothing to attend to in your inbox, checking email is a small waste of time. If there is something urgent, a new task has now been activated in your mind, which will press for completion.

Don't check your email

Taking a few minutes at the very end of the day to map out how you’ll tackle any ongoing tasks or commitments is a great way to facilitate detachment.
Making a plan for where, when, and how the task will be completed seems to reduce the urgency in our brains that naturally presses for completing goals. In this case, a plan is a reasonable substitute for actually completing the goal.

Thinking about ongoing tasks

The tasks you tackle at the very end of the day may play an outsize role in helping you unplug.Psychologically detaching from work is one of the best ways to reduce after-hours stress and all its harms, including burnout. This means not only refraining from performing job-related tasks, but also mentally disconnecting from the job during non-work time.

The importance of how you end your day

Betty White, who died New Year’s Eve at the age of 99, liked to drink a vodka on the rocks every night before dinner. According to the Financial Times, White often credited both her longevity and her…

Don't check your email

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