The following is a helpful point of view to better disconnect from problems at work: We as human beings, with everything that defines us as a person and that makes us unique, go to work every day to assume our specific role. A role that is defined by our job description. The company where we are working is our playing field. Here, there are certain rules that are laid down in employment contracts or anchored in policies and in the corporate culture. A lot is already pre-defined. This role awareness allows us to better separate everyday work from private life.

The impulses presented below can assist us in generating this separation:

Simply slip into the role

Using an example, this point of view can be illustrated particularly vividly: An actor is on his way to the theater as a private individual to prepare for his role. He puts on make-up and finally slips into his costume. Now he is ready to perform the play and to meet the demands of his role. After the performance, his professional identity is discarded when he takes off his costume. And when he leaves the theater, he leaves his playing field every time as well.

Creating awareness

The better we can make ourselves aware that our professional position is only a defined role to the rules of which we are playing, the faster we can leave this role after work. Successful entrepreneurs of large corporations have also developed their own strategies to separate professional life from private life. This is where the 100% on-off principle is increasingly applied. What this means, for example, is that from Monday morning to Friday afternoon, there is 100% of presence at the workplace – the on mode – and from Friday evening to Sunday evening, there is 100% of family life, without appointments, without job-related phone calls – the off mode.

The degree of role awareness

As part of outplacement consulting sessions, I advised and supported numerous leaders in their professional reorientation after they had been laid off. Depending on their degree of role awareness and the proportion of identity that they drew from their role, there was a smaller or larger proverbial hole that they fell into. The more strongly an individual’s own identity depends on that person’s professional role, the more difficult it becomes to process the dismissal, because the question is, “What is left of me then?”

The right way to deal with our own role

Of course, the situation becomes easier the better we can identify with the role and the more that role corresponds to our competences and potentials. It takes a lot of strength to enter a new playing field every day for requirements of a role which we are not up to. In addition, we must continually be aware of the role. If, for example, a customer complains to you, maybe even calling you names in the process, this is not directed against you personally, but against your role in the company. That is why there is no reason to take this annoyance home with you after work. At home, you should refuel and find your balance, to be able to fulfill the tasks of your role with renewed energy on the next day.