Working from home during the pandemic makes your mind more susceptible to switching to autopilot. I’ve been aware of our brain going on autopilot for many years now. When your mind goes on autopilot, you carry out tasks quickly, accurately, and without conscious thought. Have you ever driven home and wondered how you got there? That was you on autopilot. Another example of autopilot is typing. I’m a self-proclaimed fast typer unless I am consciously thinking about where all the keys are. Typing, for me, gets more complicated when I switch from doing it absentmindedly. Autopilot may be good in your Tesla, but not so much for your career.
Obviously, these are good examples of how your brain on autopilot can be a benefit. Our minds are equipped with an unconscious decision-making system to take care of routine tasks. It does this to prevent us from being overloaded. However, in some cases, rather than protecting us, it is causing us to disengage.
Working from home and lockdowns resulting from the COVID pandemic has made it easier to limit your ability to disrupt your routine. You likely roll out of bed and into your office to catch up on email. You swear today will be different, and you will limit your prework activity. However, when you look up, you suddenly realize it is late into the evening, and you still haven’t showered. Your autopilot took control and won over intentionality.
So many workplaces have gone remote due to the pandemic. As a result, there is no commute, no diversion for the random donut or bagel. There are no opportunities to see what new shops may have opened along your route. Most of all, there isn’t an alternative route to take to get to your office. Consequently, we are living in an ideal environment to feed our brain’s autopilot tendencies.
Six Signs You Are Living on Autopilot
- You feel you are existing, not living – you relinquish control of your choices and fall back on old habits.
- You waste time – mindlessly scrolling social media or your newsfeed rather than completing difficult tasks.
- Your routine is predictable – you wake up dreading the day ahead because there is nothing you are looking forward to.
- You complete activities without asking why, how, or what you are doing – your daily decisions take no thought at all.
- Your memory is a blur – you aren’t fully present, so you don’t remember doing activities like watching TV, driving, or having conversations.
- You feel like time flies – you can’t remember what you did throughout the day, week, month, etc. and often feel guilty for not having accomplished much.
If you identify with any of these symptoms, your brain is on autopilot. Living on autopilot disengages us from our present and our future. It signifies you are operating in the most comfortable thinking mode.
Being on autopilot is good for repetitive tasks. However, while at work, it is best to act with intention and be as present as possible. Switching off your brain’s autopilot helps you handle complex activities such as reasoning, managing relationships, learning new things, and, most importantly, building new habits.
Disengage Your Brain’s Autopilot While Working From Home
If are suffering from any of the autopilot symptoms, shift back to mindfulness with these five fun and creative ways to break your work from home routine. Your family, friends, boss, and career with thank you.
1) After dressing for the day, take a walk around your block before starting work. Every other day add another block or turn the opposite direction. Explore areas of your housing division you don’t usually venture to.
2) Notice the small things. While in the shower, feel the water temperature, deeply inhale the scent of the shampoo or body wash.
3) Move your apps around. Move your social media apps around on your phone, and if you feel froggy move them somewhere difficult to access. Do the same on your work computer. Moving the apps you commonly access to a different place forces you to be mindful when opening them.
4) Engage outside your usual work circle. Randomly call a co-worker you don’t usually engage with to ask what they are working on or how they are doing.
5) Change your routine. Instead of listening to music, find a podcast. Rather than reading the news, read a book. Instead of mindlessly liking social media posts, engage with insights or questions. There are many routes to get to your local grocery; go on an adventure, and try them all.
Switching from autopilot to intentionality while working from home is possible with a bit of creativity. Challenge yourself to turn off your brain’s autopilot and steer your way back to a present and engaged state of mind.
