Dear Reader: If you’re tethered to technology for work, how can you detach, at least temporarily through the new year?

If you’re not working until early January, give yourself permission to mentally and physically check out. Unplug. Log off. And if you are working, but there’s a reduced staff and less intense work atmosphere than usual, remain engaged with work but know that when it’s a national holiday or the weekend that you, too, can fully unplug — guilt-free.

A serendipitous bonus to unplugging involves potential bursts of creativity. This is merely a list to get you started — you may want to concoct a few ways you can unplug.

Channel your inner French persona. A few years ago, France greenlit a labor law for a right to disconnect from work emails, texts, calls and more outside of standard work hours. Although the law doesn’t say it’s illegal for bosses to send emails after-hours such as nights, weekends or holidays, it does protect employees from being punished for not responding when they’re off the clock.

Think about how you can set boundaries with your boss and clients if it’s not an urgent matter. Is it a requirement to responds as soon as possible? If you’re a boss, can you jot down your idea and wait to hit send until everyone’s back at work?

Remove your smartphone from your bedroom. Arianna Huffington, CEO of Thrive Global, wrote in a blog post, “Smartphones have only been around for just over a decade, but several years ago I began to notice how charging my phone in my bedroom was affecting my sleep. And since then, studies have confirmed that even when we’re not using our devices, part of our minds are still subconsciously attending to them, or anticipating an interruption. Plus, the blue light our devices emit suppresses melatonin, the hormone connected to sleep regulation. So as soon as I started taking my devices out of my bedroom as part of my sleep routine, my sleep quality improved.”

Identify a neutral space to simply read and/or think. Bill Gates leaned into “Think Weeks.” When he was at the helm of Microsoft, he took a week off twice a year to a cabin in the forest for isolated, uninterrupted concentration and read as many papers as he could.

If you’re unable to dive into isolated, uninterrupted concentration, consider smaller increments. Laura Stack, president and CEO of consulting firm The Productivity Pro told CNBC, “I check myself into my third space — a local hotel up the road — every quarter to write for 48 hours. I’ve published eight books in 14 years using this approach.”

That third space doesn’t have to be expensive or far away. Consider your local coffee shop, library or museum cafe.

Consider taking a drive for distraction-free time to remove yourself from the work zone. It can help you unplug from the trenches at work and potentially dream up big ideas.

Tribune News Service