How to Switch off Work Identity When You Are on Vacation?

Are you obsessed with work or desire for a great performer title in your office? These are the reasons that make it difficult to mentally relax during the holidays. Workaholics are mostly self-motivated and have a sense of energetic and effective connection with their work tasks or activities. Many people find it hard to switch off their work when they are on holiday. You should know to switch off your work identity when you’re on holiday.

Work Helps Shape Your Identity

People crave identity even in the workplace. Some identifications can be beneficial. For example, a lawyer can develop professional identities and a Google employee can have organizational identities and the top performer may have performance-based identities. Some people find an identity as a motivation for their work. But it also prevents you from switching off from work.

Your Work Identity Can Make It Difficult to Switch off

People are mentally “on holiday” even before they visit the holiday spot. But for a workaholic, it is not easy to switch off from work. Wondering why?

One reason is the identity mix. People have multiple identities in their lives and this identity may differ from person to person.

Work-related identities play a major role in their life that also shapes their thinking and behaviors even after working hours that includes holidays.

To put it in another word, it allows you to stay connected with work mentally, it happens not because of the boss or job, but it is difficult to imagine other ways of being themselves.

You may feel relaxed by sitting on the chair by telling yourself that you are off work but your email alerts and phone calls may activate your work identities and also mindsets and behaviors of the work. It totally prevents you from switching from work.

Environmental cues like email alerts, phone calls, and our laptops can activate your work identities, making it difficult to mentally relax during time off.

How to Switch off Work Identities

Having a hard time switching off work? Read on to know how you can switch off your work identity when you are on vacation.

Preventing you from communicating with anyone is a simple and effective way to prevent yourself from not being distracted by your work when you are at the beach. You might have heard about digital detox, which refers to a particular time when a person wants to detach from using digital devices that include smartphones, computers, and social media platforms.

But it is better if you follow this method when you are on holiday. It will help enjoy your holiday without any distractions. You should also know how to differentiate the working hours and non-work time. It will prevent you from using your non-work time to work.

You should avoid possibilities or activities that help you switch to work identity apart from email alerts and mobile SMS.

The study recommends that we can engage in both identity play and identity work. That’s unintentionally controlling and revising your identities and you can experiment with new ones. It is known as an effective way to overpower work identity.

Simply stop thinking about work when you are on holiday it can spoil your mood and create tension.

Several studies state that you should try to suppress certain thoughts that help to switch to work. It may lead you to think more.

Another approach is to accept the thought for whatever it is, instead of overthinking which helps your mind to move naturally to the next carriage of your thoughts.

You might have realized how work identity impacts our daily lives. You should follow these ideas to prevent yourself from completely switching off work on holidays. It is time to protect your free time by replacing old cues with new ones. You can also experiment with new identities and follow a digital detox.