It Takes Less than an Hour.
Sometimes the job of an entrepreneur seems to never end. There’s always an e-mail or two to read just before midnight or some detail nagging at you. But you may be able to—for the most part—end your work day at 8 p.m. or 5 p.m. and go home, even if your respite from work isn’t utter and complete.
Whether your work day is over or whether you’re taking a highly-focused break for a few hours, it’s important to be able to quiet your mind and leave behind the stresses of your business. Otherwise, you’ll have problems in personal relationships, feel unhappy in general, and suffer health problems as a result.
One issue that a lot of people have is holding on to one or two negative stimuli or experiences or worrying about one or two unknown in the face of many great things that are happening to you. Here are a few tips for ending your work day feeling positive.
1. What did you get done?
You’re looking for any small psychological edge. One way to achieve this is to look at your to-do list for that day and tally up all your achievements. It’s easy to forget about a particular problem you solved at 11 a.m. or the hour of progress you made on a longterm project early in the day. Sometimes we get this feeling of not having accomplished much because of a lapse of productivity late in the day. Quantifying this can really help.
2. Take a Hike
One important idea is to get a bit of distance between work and leisure, to create a little buffer zone. Taking a walk is ideal here. First, it gives you time to clear your mind. You’re not really doing anything while walking, and this does wonders for the brain. In fact, the thing that many people do while walking—listening to music—can really help. Good music will almost certainly activate some oxytocin—or at least dopamine into your system.
Physiologically, some blood flow will help, some fresh air will help, and getting some sun will help. In fall and winter, witnessing a nice sunset will help.
3. Plan Tomorrow
One thing that nags at a person is this vague sense that tomorrow could throw a lot of hard surprises at us. One way to feel good about what’s coming up is to quantify it, bring order to it. If you take stock of what you have on tap for tomorrow, you’ll eliminate the chances of worrying that it may be bigger than it is. Knowing for sure what your schedule is will take a load off.
4. Be ye thankful
Make a quick list of positives, whatever they may be. These can be big-picture things such as a spouse, the dog, a general comfort and safety in your life, etc. They can be more specific, and can also refer to things you’ve accomplished.
Along these lines, looking at pictures can be beneficial. Not only will shots of your children or that great rafting trip remind you of what you have to be thankful for, but the experience will flood your mind with positive chemicals as the visuals call up so many memories.
5. Meditate
Assuming your stress level isn’t so high that it requires you to medicate, meditating may be just the thing. This is as good a head-clearing method as any, and can facilitate all other methods of being positive. It can also prepare you for everything in the rest of your day to be as positive and fruitful as possible.