Guides

How to end your workday with a shutdown routine

Updated October 20, 2026

Short answer: Pick a fixed time to stop, then take ten minutes: send the replies that take two minutes, write down every reply, promise and answer that’s still open with its next step, check tomorrow’s calendar and what’s due, and choose what you’ll start with. Then stop, and leave email closed until morning.

The author Cal Newport popularized the “shutdown ritual” in 2009: a review of about five minutes at the end of every workday, finished with a set phrase (his is “schedule shutdown, complete”) and a promise to yourself that work is over. The phrase is the memorable part, but the review is what matters. Once everything still open is written down with a next step, there’s nothing left for your mind to hold on to overnight.

Research on recovery backs the idea up. The psychologist Sabine Sonnentag has found that people who mentally switch off from work in their time off report higher life satisfaction and less strain, and are no less engaged at work for it.

Set the time first

A routine that starts “when I’m done” never starts. Pick the time you stop, put it on your calendar, and begin the routine ten minutes before it. On days with a late meeting, move the time, but keep it.

The routine

1. Send the replies that take two minutes. They’re cheaper to send than to carry to tomorrow.
2. Write down what’s still open: replies you owe, things you promised, answers you’re waiting on, each with its next step and a date.
3. Check what’s due tomorrow and anything overdue. If you’ll miss a date, tell the person tonight: it’s easier to hear about a delay before the day than after it.
4. Look at tomorrow’s calendar: the first meeting, and anything you need ready for it.
5. Choose the first thing you’ll do tomorrow, so the morning starts with a decision already made.
6. Stop. Close the laptop, or say the phrase. Anything that comes in now waits for the morning.

When something comes in after you’ve stopped

Most of it can wait, and the routine is what makes that safe: you know what’s open and when you’ll get to it. Newport’s rule for a work worry that comes up in the evening is to remind yourself that everything was already checked, instead of thinking it through again. If you can’t help looking at a new message, write it down without answering it, and leave it for the morning.

On Fridays, look back at the week

Once a week, add a few minutes to the routine: what you closed, what slipped, and who you still owe. It’s also the moment to drop the loops that went stale, and to tell the people involved.