Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#301

Post by tomaszdiesel » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 11:02 AM UTC

RegBarclay wrote: post #152

igetspam wrote: post #76

Dedicate a work space and stay far away from it, when you're not working. Maybe get a large whiteboard to hide it from your field of vision when not working (bonus: whiteboard!). Separating work from personal is the most critical part of being able to work from home without always being "at work." I'm lucky enough to have been remote for years, so COVID hasn't changed my pattern but I know the pattern can be hard. Al…

Shoes. For me, I have to put on street shoes. Pants too, of course. It's all part of sticking to a routine that I would do if I was going to work in an office. I wear jeans and t-shirts rather than business causal, but I shower, shave, and dress like I'm going to an office. Taking a walk is a great idea, especially for separating the end of the work day from personal time.

(no offense intended) idk why but i everytime i read about wearing shoes indoors my mind goes into a loop thinking "but why". i can't help it, it happens every time even though i've read about it a dozen times and should feel just indifferent to this. such a strange cultural difference

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#302

Post by aashcan » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 11:21 AM UTC

Head out for a five/ten min walk before you begin working to mimic a commute to work..

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#303

Post by faical » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 1:18 PM UTC

- No work apps/tools on personal devices (Slack, Google, Jira, etc.)

- No matter what, close your work laptop at 5pm (or whatever time your hard stop is). Any pending work/emergency eating you will still be there the next day.

- Take a walk.

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#304

Post by cik » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 1:30 PM UTC

Treat work like work, and home like home. Don't allow them to bleed as a hard rule. Covey was right - get dressed for work, every single day. Have a work area, a work pattern and never do anything personal in that space. When I lived in a small space, I used a laptop desk for work, purely to separate the two. The mental approach is enormous.

Enforce some form of hard separation. When work ends, don't get up and make dinner (unless that's an hour long activity). Shut things down, go for a walk, call X, play guitar, play a video game... basically do something to ensure you're completely changing from one mode to the other.

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#305

Post by franzwong » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

I can switch off from work, but if I get a problem I can't solve in that day, I will keep thinking about it for the whole day.

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#306

Post by xapata » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 3:14 PM UTC

CarbyAu wrote: post #295

xapata wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But a good party is often one with specialized characters, so each can shine.

Which is teamwork, thus requiring good social...

Not every character needs to be charismatic.

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#307

Post by originalbryan2 » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

alistairSH wrote: post #245

Joke answer: Get a dog! My little dog is the worst/best boss. He yells at me when it's time to start the work day (he sits on the bed behind me like the lazy freeloader he is). He yells again at lunch (he needs to pee) and at 5pm (he needs to pee again). The only problem is he doesn't understand Saturday, so like clockwork, 8am Sat morning, yap yap yap, go to work. Real answer: Get up and walk away. If the apartment…

Also joke answer: get multiple young children.

But also my personal answer: multiple young children. Around 4-5pm they are hungry and it's time to do X & Y with them. Overall domestic responsibilities are so demanding that if I don't rip out of work and start cooking, cleaning, bathing, teaching, lawn work, etc as fast as possible, I'll be lucky to get to sleep before midnight.

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#308

Post by commonturtle » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 6:24 PM UTC

I try to do some activity to signal the end of the work day. Recently I've been attacking a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle while listening to a podcast. Amazing how quickly I can forget about work this way.

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#309

Post by saalweachter » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 11:24 PM UTC

gorgoiler wrote: post #202

saalweachter wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how much of woodworking is sanding.

I was going for the hard sell — don’t spoil it! It’s not all hand work though. Power sanders and finishing sanders exist. We poo-pooed random orbital sanders in the 90s but modern ones are much better. You can fine tune the dimensions of material almost like one would with a belt sander, as well as use them to finish a surface.

Even with power tools, sanding a large piece (eg, a bookshelf or a desk) can be a long, slow and dusty process.

(The first time I did a large project I just hit it quickly with some 120 grit sandpaper, and it was fine but as time goes on I spend more and more time using more and more grits of sandpaper, and that delicious smooth you get is almost addictive.)

Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?

#310

Post by CarbyAu » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 11:57 PM UTC

xapata wrote: post #306

CarbyAu wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is teamwork, thus requiring good social...

Not every character needs to be charismatic.

But every character needs to be "social enough" to work as a team. IE by definition, to participate in a team you can't min all stats but Strength for example.

Because you need enough "social" to be part of a team in the first place.

Otherwise they are a bunch of dissociated loners not playing the same game. Which could be an interesting novel to read if done well, but not your usual D&D session.