Each morning (typically from Monday to Friday) we all wake up and “get ready for work.”

Most likely, you’ll take a shower; change your clothes; eat some food; then head over to your car or local transit station (unless you work remote, in which case you’d just open your laptop).

From there, you’ll spend the next 8 hours of your day completing tasks; engaging in a presentation or two; having lunch; and setting things up for the next day.

Contrast this to a video game.

When you’re going to play a video game, chances are, you’ll turn on your console (take a shower); change the armour on your character for a specific series of missions (change your clothes); power up that character to take on some challenges (eat your food); then head out into the digital world (going to your car or local transit station).

While spending your time in the video game world, you’ll probably do some quests (complete some tasks); fight some dragons (engage in a presentation or two); power up again (have lunch); and hit a save point so you’ll be right where you need to be the next time you log on (set things up for the next day).

Do you know what the primary difference is between these two situations? In one, you know it’s a game, so you’re able to compartmentalize after the fact ; and the other, you think is your entire life (granted, for some gamers, they think the game is their entire life, while work is the game that they play).

The truth is, just like picking up a new game at the store, you can always get a new job; but what you’re missing out on is the realization of autonomy and the compartmentalization between playing and not. 

Far too often, people can get so caught up in their supposed “reality” and “bring their work home with them.” Again, that isn’t to say that those who play video games don’t think of the video game when they’re not playing, it’s just that those who play the game know (ultimately) that it’s a game. 

You are not your job; you are not your role; you are not your pay check; you are the person in the times in between each session—we just have a tendency to forget that we’re only playing.

-learn to log off.