Professor Mark Cropley - The Off Switch: Leave on time, relax your mind but still get more done

Contents

Work better, not longer

Work is a big part of our lives, but its now easier than ever to let it take over. Mobile devices that are supposed to free us from the office can actually bind us to it. If youve ever felt stressed as you checked your work email in the evenings, or found yourself unable to sleep worrying about tomorrows meeting, then this is the book for you!

Learning to flick THE OFF-SWITCH when you leave work is essential not only for your sanity but also for making you more productive at work. In this unique book, Professor Mark Cropley, a world expert in how we recover from the working day, blends engaging real-life case studies, clinical expertise and evidence-based techniques to provide a complete guide for how to switch off better get more enjoyment from your free time, and still get more done.

Mark Cropley is a Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Surrey and a global expert in how people unwind and recover from work. He organised the first ever international academic conferences on recovery from work, and has consulted on this topic across major corporations, the Metropolitan Police, the NHS and various primary and secondary schools. His work has attracted widespread attention across the media.

Any references to writing in this book refer to the original printed version. Readers should write on a separate piece of paper in these instances.

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Epub ISBN 9780753551561
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Copyright Mark Cropley 2015

Mark Cropley has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

First published by Virgin Books in 2015

www.eburypublishing.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 9780753556696

ONE EVENING A few years ago I was sitting in a pub waiting for some friends when I overheard two women talking at a nearby table. I cant remember exactly what they looked like both were in their mid-forties or exactly what they were saying, but I can recall the gist of their conversation and certain words they used. The general topic of their conversation, as it invariably is when people socialise, was to do with work. One of the women was bemoaning the fact that she couldnt leave work behind, she could never escape from work and that work-related thoughts consumed all her waking hours. I never found out, although I was tempted to ask, what she did for a living, though I figured she was probably an accountant or an office manager.

As the conversation developed, she said that it got worse during the evenings. She said that at night, as she was lying in bed, her mind kept churning and churning and was unable to stop. I thought this was an excellent way of describing her thought processes and I have come across many individuals who experience the same problem. Instead of being able to switch off at the end of the day, many find their work-related thoughts accompany them on their journeys home and continue to bother them during their leisure time. One remedy people adopt is simply to carry on working when they get home. This is all too easy today with electronic devices that allow for instant messaging and constant contact with work. We now know that, if left unchecked, this style of thinking is very bad for our health, wellbeing and sanity.

There is an alternative. The aim of this book is to help people like the woman in the pub and others to let go and turn off the metaphorical switch that connects them to their work but nonetheless still allow them to be successful and productive in their careers. People who are able to switch off and unwind at the end of the working day are also much happier and healthier, and they also tend to get more done at work.

In the current economic climate and with the extra demands we all face at work in order for our companies to be successful, you may think its a little outrageous to write a book about not working and not thinking about work. However, I can assure you its not that crazy and the two are not incompatible. In fact, rest and recreation, and engaging in leisure pursuits, are just as vital to work as work itself, and people who work normal hours can be much more productive and creative than overcommitted workers.

There are innumerable self-help books on the market and many of these offer sound, practical advice on ways to cope with occupational stress. There is a clear need for these types of books. What has become apparent over the last few years, however, is that it is not necessarily the amount of stress one experiences at work that is the cause of ill health, but it is how quickly one is able to recover once the actual stressor (the thing thats making you feel stressed) has passed. Failure to unwind successfully after work is therefore a major health concern. It is now thought that the speed of recovery may be more important in the development of disease and illness than the acute response during the period of stress. There is also overwhelming evidence that working too much, and failing to unwind, is associated with reduced productivity, poor decision-making, poor creativity and increased risk of engaging in deviant behaviour in the workplace. Thus, more than ever before, there is a clear need for all of us to take time to unwind and relax post-work.

Different people need different amounts of time to unwind and switch off from work during their leisure time and a high percentage of workers find it difficult to recover from the effects of work post-work. This book introduces the reader to techniques/exercises that have been found to help people to switch off from work-related thoughts. It is aimed at a general audience, and it is not meant to be an authoritative text on stress or unwinding from work. Unfortunately there is no one model fits all remedy; I do not have the answers for everyone. Each person appears to have their own inimitable way of relaxing and unwinding, but the following chapters offer a guided tour through the research that I and others have conducted.

Lifestyle plays an important role in most illnesses and disease, and lifestyle is the main contributing factor to successfully unwinding and recovering from the effects of work. Often when we are extremely busy we become like the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlights we dont know which way to turn and how to effect change. We need to take stock of the situation, and then take remedial action. In theory, the first principle in any remedial process is to identify the cause of the problem; the second is to remove the cause; the third is to reduce the symptoms; and the fourth is to gain strength to develop resilience in order to prevent the problem reoccurring. With this principle in mind, I have arranged the book into four sections. , I offer ways in which you can develop resilience and how to respond when the going gets tough.