The Mock Commute
Bookend your work-from-home day with a fake commute so your brain knows when to switch modes.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 2
- Confidence
- 82%
The Mock Commute is a short, pleasant ritual that replaces the psychological function of a real commute: giving the brain a clear signal to switch between home mode and work mode. Vanderkam notes that while everyone hated commuting, its one upside was the obvious separation it introduced. A walk around the block, walking the dog, or a fixed coffee ritual can recreate that separation. The evening version is even more important, because the biggest WFH problem is not knowing when to stop — half-working all evening is the worst of all worlds.
Origin
Vanderkam identified that the single benefit of the commutes everyone despised was the clean separation between home and work, and designed a shorter, pleasant substitute to preserve that benefit for people working from home.
Core principles
- 01Many people need a mental separation between home life and work life; without it the transition feels jarring.
- 02A commute's one redeeming quality is the clear separation it provides between modes.
- 03A short, pleasant ritual can deliver that same separation without the misery of a real commute.
- 04The hardest problem in WFH is not overwatching Netflix — it's not knowing when to stop working.
How to run it
- 1
Choose a start-of-day ritual
Pick a short activity that moves you or resets you: a walk around the block, walking the dog, running a quick errand, or a fixed coffee ritual.
Pro tip It can be as simple as always making coffee in a specific mug and carrying it to your workspace.
- 2
Choose an end-of-day ritual
Create a matching signal that the workday is done — a fake commute around the block or writing tomorrow's to-do list.
Pro tip The goodbye ritual gives you permission to actually relax.
Watch out Leaving the laptop visible all evening leads to half-working, half-relaxing — the worst of all worlds.
In the wild
Someone working from home can see their laptop all evening, feels they should be working, but is too tired to produce anything, so they hover in a half-working state, neither productive nor relaxed.
→ A closing ritual that ends the day lets them fully relax and recover instead.
Common mistakes
Skipping the end-of-day signal
Without a deliberate goodbye ritual, people never mentally clock out, leading to unproductive half-work all evening and no real rest.
Making the ritual long or unpleasant
The point is a short, pleasant separator; turning it into a chore defeats the purpose and it won't stick.
Is it for you?
Best for
People relatively new to working from home who feel jarred moving between home and work mode.
Not ideal for
People who genuinely feel no mental separation between home and work and switch modes effortlessly.
From the transcript
“a mock commute is something that's much shorter and more pleasant but still introduces that same separation”
“the bigger issue is that people don't know when to stop”
From the episode
Laura Vanderkam: Smarter Ways to WFH (Work From Home)
Laura Vanderkam