How to perform well and yet remain detached to your work

Balancing high performance in the workspace with an emotional detachment is important in this fast-paced and often demanding professional world.

As work intertwines more and more with one’s personal identity, it seems at times a difficult balance to keep. It is vital for mental health and sustained success.

Emotional detaching does not mean disinterest but rather protects oneself against the highs and lows associated with success and setbacks in the professional world.

This could help in getting better objectivity which can be the better choice towards making decisions and thus a better work-life balance.

This attitude requires conscious effort and a strategic approach. It insists on knowing the worth of labor without being confined by it.

When a person is motivated from within, they can reach excellence, with healthy boundaries creating enough distance so that it won’t get emotionally caught up. Additionally, cultivating emotional intelligence and pursuing interests outside of work can provide a well-rounded sense of fulfillment.

Here are some practical approaches to achieving the ideal of working effectively while at the same time staying detached.

Engage in hobbies and passions outside of work to help maintain a balance in life. Pursuing outside interests that are not strictly related to one’s job can energize the individual. It is also a means by which a person can gain greater perspective on life, thereby reducing the chances of burnout and making sure work is not solely defined as part of who he or she is.

Align your work with a broader purpose or mission. When you look at your work as being part of a larger goal, it becomes easy to emotionally disattach from individual successes and failures. It’s easier to be motivated by intrinsic drivers when work is done for a purpose, rather than just driven for external reward.

Developing a growth mindset helps focus more on learning and improvement than on results. This perspective helps to see challenges as opportunities to learn and grow and setbacks are not emotionally shocking. To value the process is more important than outcome, it helps one to be motivated and excel in what they do and still maintain their self-worth regardless of the outcome.

It’s effective to delegate and learn how to trust your colleagues. Shared responsibilities help avoid micromanaging and reduce the stress. You create a collaborative environment by letting others do their work, and then you have enough time for work best done at a strategic level. This delegation allows you to step back, allowing your success not to be tied totally to your hands, and this keeps the emotional distance.

The other virtue regarding emotional detachment is setting boundaries between work and personal life. It is essential to define specific working hours and stick to them so that one has time for hobbies, family, and self-care. Then, avoid letting work dominate the entire life and maintain a healthy balance.

Mindfulness is a relaxation technique like meditation and deep breathing, which keeps one present, centered, and witnesses what goes through your head and heart without getting caught up in it, thus meaning detachment. Practicing mindfulness regularly will help you direct your attention better, reduce your stress levels and subsequently enhance your performance.