1. A ‘Home Detachment’ ritual, where they recorded their 3 most important home life tasks, and were told to detach from these until the end of the day.
2. A ‘Work Reattachment’ ritual, where they reviewed their work tasks and identified the 3 that were most important.
Results were exactly in line with High Performance Routines theory:
“Our results suggest that creating (psychological) space from home and psychologically preparing for the workday….contributes to larger strides toward work goals”
Why does this matter?
1. It provides evidence that even simple preparation rituals can be used to achieve a quicker role transition (i.e. “speed of engagement”).
2. The study suggests that work transition can occur without physical movement (which may be particularly important for those working in hybrid work patterns).
3. It is extremely practical – by strategically using preparation rituals at the beginning of the day we can improve both engagement and work performance.