Episode 243 - Stop Unfinished Work Following You Home
Summary
Sometimes it’s difficult to enjoy our time away from work even when we’ve finished for the day. New research shows that unfinished tasks and anticipating a busy day tomorrow can keep work active in our thinking while also reducing our motivation to engage with our leisure time. This episode looks at some practical ways to finish the working day well.
Transcript
Hello and welcome to episode 243 of the Leadership Today podcast, where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at why unfinished work can follow us home and what we can do about it.
Most of us know what it’s like to finish work without really finishing work. We’ve physically finished up for the day, but part of our attention is still back there. Perhaps there’s something we didn’t quite get done, a problem we haven’t solved, or we’re already thinking about everything waiting for us tomorrow.
A new study followed 179 employees over 14 working days to explore how unfinished tasks and anticipated workload affect our leisure time. The researchers found two different processes at work.
The first process is probably quite familiar. When we have unfinished tasks or expect a heavy workload the following day, we’re more likely to continue thinking negatively about work. The working day might have finished, but mentally we’re still there.
The second process is called “motivation erosion”. This is when unfinished tasks and anticipated workload are also associated with people feeling less capable of fully engaging with and enjoying their leisure time.
So work doesn’t just follow us home through our thoughts. It can also reduce our motivation to make good use of the time we have away from work.
Imagine finishing at 5.30pm with three things you didn’t get done. You head home intending to go for a run, cook dinner or spend time with family. But you keep thinking about what you didn’t finish and what’s waiting for you tomorrow. By the time you get home, sitting on the couch and scrolling through your phone feels like the easiest option. You haven’t necessarily run out of time for leisure; you’ve lost some of your motivation to use that time well.
Here are three ways to avoid work following you home.
First, create a clearer ending to unfinished work. Before you finish for the day, write down exactly what still needs to be done and the next action you will take. Writing something like “finish report” leaves the task open in your mind. “Review the final two sections at 9am tomorrow” gives your brain a clearer plan for what happens next.
Second, be realistic about tomorrow. For participants in the research, anticipating a heavy workload was also associated with poorer leisure experiences. If tomorrow looks overwhelming, take a few minutes to identify what genuinely needs to happen and what can wait. Schedule the required time for each element into your calendar. Sometimes it’s the undefined sense of having too much to do that overwhelms us and follows us home.
Third, make some deliberate plans for your leisure time. If work can reduce our motivation to engage with life outside work, don’t rely entirely on how you feel at the end of the day. Arrange the walk, book the exercise class, plan dinner with someone or decide what you’re going to do before you finish work.
Bringing all of this together, finishing work well is partly about creating a clear psychological ending to the working day and also about planning our leisure well. So before you finish today, ask yourself: “What do I need to write down or decide now so I don’t have to keep carrying this tonight?” Then take some time to plan your downtime.
Reference
Rutten, R. L. J., & Wehrt, W. (2026). Leisure under lock: cognitive activation and motivation erosion as mechanisms undermining experiential quality of leisure time. Work & Stress. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2026.2722069
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