Professional athletes work incredibly hard. They exercise. They train intensively in their sport. They eat right.
“But they are working almost as hard, if not actually putting in more time and effort, on recovery,” says Ryan Grant MS ’23, PhD ’25. Grant, who graduated from the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, is now an assistant professor of psychological and organizational science at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
“If we want people to perform well and be healthy, the same thing needs to be true for everyday workers.”
Think about it. If you work out for eight hours every day of the year, your body is going to break down. You’ll get injured. You’ll burn out. The same is true for office folk.
“Why would you expect that working 10 hours a day and never recovering and never taking vacations is going to go well for you?”
Most Americans don’t take all their vacation days. Even fewer fully unplug while they’re out of the office after a typical work day.
“This ‘always-on hustle culture’ isn’t sustainable,” says Malissa Clark, department head and a professor in UGA’s Department of Psychology. Particularly if we’re concerned about worker burnout, staff turnover, and employee well-being.
In fact, Clark literally wrote the book—Never Not Working—on how the disappearing boundaries that once kept home and work lives separate are creating more problems than they solve.
Research shows that keeping employees happy and healthy isn’t just good for them. It benefits the workplace as well.
“Organizations are so much stronger when workers feel supported,” says Laura Little, Chick-fil-A Distinguished Professor for Leadership Advancement in the Terry College of Business. “Job satisfaction goes up. Turnover and absenteeism go down.” But how do we get to that ideal work-life balance?
A Recipe for Boundaries
Little hates cooking. Passionately.
When her kids were young, though, most nights she found herself cooking in the kitchen. Why? Maybe it was societal expectations. She’s the mom. She’s supposed to be the family chef.
“But if you’re spending time doing stuff you hate and not able to spend time doing stuff you like, and you can change that situation, then change it,” Little says.
Her husband loves to cook. Little embraced that, letting go of her preconceived notions about what she should be doing in her role as a full-time working mom.
She hasn’t cooked a meal in years.
“If someone else is there ready to do it, why do I feel like I have to do that as part of my role?” Little remembers asking herself. “When I talk about boundaries, it’s not just about saying no to other people. It’s also about saying no to yourself.”
Sometimes that looks like a redistribution of household labor. Other times, it’s knowing when you’re stretched too thin at the office and need to delegate.
Keep a close eye on perfectionism, Little warns. Sometimes good enough is just that.
Max Efficiency, Minimal Stress
Set yourself up for success at the office and at home:
- Treat the workday like a roller coaster. Tackle your hardest tasks while you’re fresh, Grant suggests. Leave less urgent, easier jobs (hello, emails!) for later in the day. If you can, gradually wind down as the clock creeps closer to 5. Finish up projects and close those open tabs.
- Help your brain shut off with “to-do” and “to-done” lists. The to-do list keeps you on track with what needs to get done tomorrow, and the to-done list notes your accomplishments from today. “We’re very oriented toward goals, and when we have unfinished tasks or we feel like we haven’t made progress on goals, our brains will just keep ruminating on that,” Grant says.
- Have an end-of-day routine. Blast music on the ride home from work. Change into comfy clothes. Shut the door to your home office and don’t go in there again. Whatever it is, establish a ritual to help send a signal to your brain that you’re done with work for the day, Grant suggests.
- Set—and keep—your boundaries. Some people literally put their work phone in a box when they get home and try to forget about it. But you don’t have to go that far. Just turning off the automatic Slack or work email notifications can make a huge difference, Clark says. If you have to check in, specify when and how often you’ll do so and stick to it.
- Schedule your emails to send during office hours, especially if you’re the boss. You may have seen a brief sentence at the bottom of someone’s email signature saying, “My work hours may be different than yours.” That implies that the responder can wait to respond, but Clark’s research suggests they don’t. “That power dynamic still creates that pressure to respond, even with the disclaimer. Schedule send the email because then it doesn’t put the employee in this awkward position of trying to determine if their boss really means it.” Clark says.
“This ‘always-on hustle culture’ isn’t sustainable.”
– MALISSA CLARK, PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
Buy Your Recovery in Bulk
Treat recovery like a trip to Costco, Grant says. Budget big blocks of time for things that bring you peace and relaxation. (Research suggests that bigger periods of rest are better for well-being.)
Maybe that means going for a long walk. Or reading that book everyone is talking about. Or learning a new language or skill.
Recovery doesn’t have to equal physical rest, Clark says. Mastery experiences, as they’re known in research, challenge you to think and learn. As a bonus, the focus they require helps you detach from work.
“That psychological detachment has been shown to have a whole host of positive outcomes for your own personal well-being, for your recovery that night, for your sleep, and for your work performance the next day,” Clark says.
All three researchers admitted that their own work-life balancing act is challenging to maintain at times, often leaving them dangerously close to workaholism.
But powering through that one last project with the hope of relaxing later often backfires.
“It’s a trap because what ends up happening after you finish all these things? It just now opens up time for more work,” he says. “In reality, we’re much more productive and better employees and do better at our job when we take recovery seriously.”
For Grant, that means looking at his work week on Sundays to figure out which days will work best for bulk recovery.
For example, if he’s teaching on a Tuesday-Thursday schedule, Grant knows he’ll have more free time on Mondays and Wednesdays. That’s when he can set aside time to work out, catch up with friends, and spend time with loved ones.
The ultimate bulk buy? Using those vacation days.
Planning a Getaway?
Maximize the well-being benefits of your PTO.
- Unplug for real. Avoid work calls, checking emails, and even thinking about the office. (Easier said than done, we know.) The more you can disengage while on break, the better.
- Get moving. Walk around town. Snorkel with the fishes. Take a hike through the rainforest. Anything that raises your heart rate can help maximize the restorative benefits of your vacay. Plus, many of these activities aren’t things you can do at home and can make for lasting memories.
- Sandwich your trip. If you can, Grant suggests taking the day before your trip and the day after you get home off from work as well. Taking the day before off can help you shift from work to play mode. Taking the day after your vacation off gives you time to acclimate to the normal swing of things when you get back.
