Guy Winch

When you get home and you're not really present, you're checked out, you really have trouble switching off or the opposite thing.

And that all you can think to do is I need to veg out for four to five hours because I'm drained.

Let me just

Plop myself on the couch and binge screens for however long.

That's another sign that something is going wrong because that's not a very helpful thing to do.

Well, first of all, those are two different questions.

I want to answer one at a time.

Recovery, actually, the science of how to recover from the workday is a little bit more than just resting.

That's one component, and there are two others that you really need to hit.

Resting will prevent your batteries from being depleted further, but it won't recharge them.

To recharge them, you actually have to do an activity that you find personally recharging.

None of those happen on the couch.

Yes, you can get creative with the couch and those are recharging things that can happen.

But other than those, most things you need to do in a way that, you know, the kinds of activities you feel like, oh, I don't feel like doing that.

But when you force yourself, you come back with a second wind.

because they actually recharge you.

And the third thing is you need to feel autonomy, like you are in control of your time.

And again, if you're mindless on a couch watching screens, you're likely to wake up feeling tired the next day.

Burnout is a different thing that we can talk about.

Yes, the way you feel about your job, if it was exciting, interesting, meaningful, engaging, it's not anymore.