Hello and welcome to the Todoist channel. My name is Naomi, and in today's video,
we're going to talk about a work shutdown ritual. If you -- like me at times
-- struggle to really turn off at the end of the workday and actually
stop working, then this video is for you. I'm going to start this video
in a slightly unusual way and read you a snippet of the article
that the video was based on, because my very talented colleague
Becky Kane wrote this many moons ago,
and I think it still stands true, and I couldn't have written it
any better myself. So here we go. My workdays used to go
something like this: sit down in front of my computer with a vague idea
of what I wanted to get done. Check email, get distracted by all
of the new messages in my inbox, end up spending way too much time on urgent
but ultimately unimportant tasks. Feel guilty about not making
enough progress on my important projects. Continue working late way
past the point of optimal productivity because I never felt like I got enough
done. Keep thinking about the important tasks
I hadn't finished even after I'd left work. Start the next day
feeling drained, anxious and guilty about the previous day's
lack of productivity. And as you can imagine,
I wasn't getting things done, and I finished each workday
feeling stressed and discouraged. That's when I discovered
the almost magical power of a workday shut down ritual. I think that most of us can resonate with that feeling of spinning your wheels
all day, feeling busy. But not necessarily
feeling like you got anything done, and then taking that guilt and shame
into your evening whenever you're supposed to be recharging. Enter Cal Newport's work shutdown ritual
made popular by his bestselling book, Deep Work: Rules
for Focused Success in a Distracted World. The author, Cal Newport,
introduces us to his work shutdown ritual and described it as the following. This ritual should ensure that every incomplete task, goal
or project has been reviewed and that for each
you have confirmed that either one: you have a plan
you trust for its completion, or two: it's captured in a place where it will be
revisited at the right time. The nature of work for most of us
is the fact that it is never ending. There are always more
things that you can do and there are more things
you need to get done. So in order to actually switch your brain
off from it and allow you to recharge in an evening, it's really important
that you set a ritual in place. Here are seven simple steps
that are going to help you create your own personalized work shutdown rituals
so that you can end your workday right. Step one: Clean up. Now, this one is going to sound
way too simple, but trust me, it works. So taking some time at the end of your
workday to actually get up and physically start cleaning your desk
and your working area can really help you to mentally switch gears
toward the end of the workday. Then you can save any folders or documents
that you have that you're working on. Close your tabs, close your windows,
and then if you have anything that you're still working on that you know
you're going to need the next day, you can always save those
in the comments of your Todoist task. So you won’t waste any time finding them
the next day. Step two: Reflect. It is a mood booster to acknowledge
the work that you've done and to simply take a minute to reflect
on all of the things that you've accomplished that day. If you're a Todoist user,
you're going to be able to see these completed
tasks in your activity log. Step three: Confront
the things you've been putting off. The procrastination doom loop. We all know it. There is a task that you have
some uncomfortable feelings about, maybe don't necessarily want to tackle it,
so you delay it. And then the delay brings a sense of guilt
that you really should be doing that thing, so you kind of feel more uncomfortable
about it and then you delay it some more. At Todoist, our head of Android
development, Rasto, ends his day by identifying an uncompleted task
that he knows he's been avoiding. And he says if it feels like I
intentionally omitted or bypassed a task, I try to split it into two
or more smaller tasks so that I'm more inclined to tackle them
the next day. So you can break out of that
procrastination doom loop by simply taking the task, looking at it head
on, breaking it down into something a little bit more manageable,
and scheduling it for the next day. Step four:
Write out tomorrow's to do list. There are two productivity boosting
reasons for why you should be doing this. Number one, it increases your willpower. If you start the next day
with a set of tasks that have already been identified
and defined and prioritized, then that's a task
you don't have to do that morning. So you can simply get started
with the actual work and not have to worry
so much about the planning. Number two,
it helps you stop thinking about work. It's really,
really hard to stop thinking about and ruminating on tasks and problems
that we're facing in work. Even when we end the work day. Psychologists have even given a name
to this phenomenon. It's called the zeigarnik effect. Basically means that your brain has a
really hard time letting go of open loops. It's going to keep you thinking
about your uncompleted tasks until you've completed them. However, we know that not all tasks
can be completed in a day, and so it's really natural
to have quite a lot of open loops, and that is going to make it really
difficult to kick back and recharge. Luckily,
there is a mental shortcut we can take. You can relieve your brain of its duties
of thinking about those tasks
simply by documenting them. I personally like to time block
my next day in Todoist in the calendar view
with start times for tasks. Because I feel like then my brain doesn't just know what I need to do,
but also when I'm going to do it. And if you want to make a planning
even more efficient, then you might want to consider
doing a weekly review. If you haven't already seen the video that we have on that,
I'll link that in the cards above. Step five Complete
your most important task first. Set yourself up for success in the morning
by identifying what your one most important
task would be. Now this should be a task
that feels like if you completed it, your day would already feel impactful
and everything else that comes after
it would feel a little bit more easy. This is also called eating the frog,
which if you have no context for what that means,
that is very understandable. It is a weird name. But we have got a video on that one, also,
and I will link that in the cards above too. Step six
-- and arguably the most important one -- set a time to end your workday
and stick to it. Parkinson's Law states
that work expands to fit the time that you have allotted to it. So if you give yourself two days, for instance, to clean out a closet
or complete a work report, then it is very likely
you will take two days to do that. If you give yourself 2 hours to do it,
then it is more likely that you will get that work done in less
time, maybe even within the 2 hours. You can use Parkinson's law
to boost your productivity. So if you set yourself
a hard finish of 5:30 p.m., then it is more likely that you're going
to get more done in less time. And remember, you need to include your
work shutdown ritual within that time. An ending work at a set time
is also going to give you more of a chance to relax and recharge, which is a massively important
part of long term productivity. And I know, I know it's so easy to set
a hard finish and then not abide by it. Trust me,
I have struggled with this myself. And if you really struggle with this, having something scheduled
can actually be very helpful. Say, for instance,
you promised your family that you will always be
at the dinner table when dinner is served. That is a hard finish. Or maybe you want to schedule a meeting
with friends or a workout after work, something that you know
is going to force you to leave your place of work, your office,
wherever you are, even at home. You have to leave your laptop. You have to go do this thing
because you have made yourself accountable to other people,
that you will be there on time. And if you really need to roll
in the big guns, then there are some apps that you can
download that can help you with this. So they can shut down the apps
that you use for work, or you can even get apps that are going to shut down
your device for you at a set time. I personally have not gone that far
just yet, but I do have a timer that beeps at me every day to tell me that it's time
to start my work shutdown ritual. And step seven is to end on a high note. It's really hard
to feel good about your work whenever you've had
a less than productive day. But there are three things that you can do
that can help you feel a little bit more positive
whenever you turn the computer off. Number one, forgive yourself. It is entirely human to not get to
the bottom of your to do list every day. This is normal. This is normal of the vast
majority of people on the planet. So the best thing you can do is set
your intentions to be better the next day. But for today, just let it go. Number two, show gratitude. Now this could take a few different forms. You could simply just write it. All of the things
that happened in your day that went well, that you're grateful for. Or you could reach out to a colleague
and let them know how thankful you are for them
or something that they've done. And the bonus point for that one is it’s
going to brighten their day too. Number three is to do someone else
a favor. You may have something on your list
that is very minor, small to you,
but important to someone else. And if you can do that for them, then that's going to help you
leave your workday feeling a lot happier. So as a reminder, I'm going to pop all
seven of those on the screen for you now. Number one, tidy your desk, save
everything you're working on, and close all your tabs and windows. Two, review your completed tasks
at the end of each day. Three, plan tomorrow's to do list. Four, plan your most important tasks
for the next workday. Five, break down the tasks
you've been avoiding into smaller, more manageable ones. Six, keep a firm time
for ending your work day. Seven, end on a high note. Now, this is not a definitive list. You can mix and match them and add them with other things that you think
are going to help you end your work day. But I would encourage you to not dismiss
any of them. I would encourage you to give them a go,
because often it's the really simple things that we think
aren’t going to have much of an effect that actually end up
transforming our behaviors and our habits. And please remember that
setting these boundaries is essential for your long term happiness and success. And I would love to hear from you. Do you struggle with ending your work day? Do you have a really excellent work shutdown ritual
that you want to share with everyone else? Do you have any little tips
that could help other people switch off at the end of their workday? It would be so nice
to see those in the comments. And as a thank you for being so kind
to help each other out, we will be choosing
someone who has left a comment and has subscribed to the channel
to have a free year of Todoist Pro. And if you find this video helpful,
then you might want to consider downloading our Todoist template
for a work shutdown ritual. I'm going to leave the link
for that template down in the description box below and it’s
basically going to give you everything that I've told you today
along with any details that you need, and you can download it right into your Todoist
so you've got all your tasks ready to go. And that's it! Please give us a thumbs up or a comment
or even consider subscribing because all of these things
mean so much to the team. Thank you again for watching. We'll see you in the next one. Bye! Rules for Success and a focus
-- bla la la la la la la la. Now I'm going to start this video
in a slightly unusual right -- over gesturing, gesturing too much. That just sounds weird. Stare into the void.