Recovering from Work and Rumination

Rating

Recovering from Work and Rumination

🔥 The intensification of work has made 'recovery' a popular topic over the recent years. In many occupations, the work demands are no longer physical, but mainly cognitive, which leads to half of the working population complaining about the stress they get from work. Researchers believe constant, ongoing thinking of work (Rumination) is one determinant of failing to recover from work properly.

We can describe work recovery as restoring one's energetic resources. This process appears to be largely impacted by how people disengage from their work demands and related thoughts. When confronted with problems or have been working intensively, many people still think or ponder about work-related issues when not at work. This behaviour of endlessly thinking about the same thoughts is referred to as "rumination" (after the process by which cows and cattle regurgitate previously consumed feed and chews it further - see picture). Unlike the cows, a habit of rumination among humans can be dangerous as it's linked to poor problem-solving, anxiety, and depression, which clearly harms the process of work recovery and your productivity.

If you find yourself or your employees unable to stop from obsessing over their work or about the mistakes they made, try the following proven steps to break out of this rut.

• Recognise common triggers. Without spotting what you are doing, you won't be able to stop doing it. A great way of doing this is to think about what has made you ruminate in the past. Also, your cognitive errors may trigger ruminations, such as relying heavily on first impressions, setting unrealistic self-expectations, misinterpreting others' expectations of you, underestimating the extent to which other smart people struggle with what's troubling you, and making mountains out of molehills.
• Keep away from the things you ruminate about. One way of doing this is to take a step back and label what's running through your head as thoughts and feelings. Next time, you may take it more light-hearted: "That's just my ruminating mind overheating again." Or look for any subtle entitlement or self-absorption behind your acts of rumination. The ironic belief that the world revolves around you disables you to let things go easily.
• Shift from rumination to problem-solving. Ruminations are avoidance of coping rather than problem-solving. To shift from it to development mode, you need to focus on what you can choose to do next, given the unchangeable reality. Even taking an unperfect step forward can help to reduce the likelihood of the same mistake happening again.
• Train your brain to move on. Short and mentally absorbing activities with moderate difficulty can help you distract yourself from ruminating for a few minutes. Physical exercises, such as meditation, walking, jogging, or yoga also calm a mind that is prone to rumination.

Today, the boundary between work and leisure appears to be gradually blurring, and this seems because of the advancement of remote working and remote management. As a result, ruminating about work becomes more prevalent among employees and managers alike. To conquer it, you need to be aware of it and take approaches to nip it in the bud. By doing this, you can improve their mental health and productivity eventually.

Source:
Cropley, Mark and Zijlstra, Fred (2011), "Work and Rumination", 10.4337/9780857931153.00061.
Boyes, A. (2019), "How to Stop Obsessing Over Your Mistakes" [online] Harvard Business Review.

		Comments by date▼ Comments by rating Rating
		3 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Ruminating About Work Thank you Cloe for the nice summary and steps to take. I didn't even know the English word rumination. The best definition of rumination in psychology I could put together is continuously, repetitively, passively and for a long time thinking/worrying about your feelings, problems and symptoms of your distress, and on its possible causes and consequences, instead of focusing on actively solving those problems. You may also be interested in following subjects: Tips to Achieve a Better Work-Life Balance, as well as Managing the Imposter Syndrome at Work, Personal Energy Management, The Effects of Sleep Deprivation, Fatigue Management, and 4 Ways of Beating Burnouts Who can share a practical tip or experience with managing rumination?

		3 Anonymous
	Treatment Options for Ruminating Thoughts Recommended generic treatment options for rumination include: - Distract yourself. Quickly choose something else to do. Call a friend, read a book, do a chore around the house, take a walk, ... - Positive self-reflection: Enhance your self-esteem - Physical exercises - Walks in nature - Yoga - Make an action plan to address your rumination and execute it - Meditation - Counseling - Psychotherapy - Medications for underlying anxiety, depression or substance abuse - Rumination-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (RFCBT).

		2 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Sun Salutations May Help Against Rumination Sometimes we act knowingly to the detriment of inner growth... It is like a camel chewing the thorny bush available in the desert, in spite of it's bleeding mouth... It cherishes that act despite it is harmful to its well-being. (Constant) meditation on the Sun (a symbolic representation of the inner self) may help. At least doing sun salutations in the morning and evening may help as it's the inner self or say consciousness which is responsible for sustainance, creation or destruction of powerful tendencies lurking in different layers of human personality.

		2 joseph maweni Teacher
	Rumination About Work Chloe thanks for this write-up. I never thought of relating work and rumination in a management perspective. But just this short notes has added knowledge to the body of management. Hope to read more ...

		3 Dr. James Bruton Professor, Germany
	Rumination Rumination occurs when - driven by fear and worries - we allow our thoughts to occupy us to the extent that they keep going round in circles. Rumination refers to things past and is a common feature o...

		1 Gera Teacher, Kenya
	Shift Form 'Recovering' from Work to Enjoying It; from Breaking Rumination to Using It Thank you Chloe, you brought an idea that regularly touches our life. What worked well for me is an attitudinal shift I made towards the meaning of 'work'. If one tries to find lasting meaning from an...