If you can’t remember the last time you felt truly motivated and refreshed at the start of a workday, you’re not alone. In fact, Australians are experiencing the highest rates of burnout in the world, with a 2023 study finding that one in two Australian workers feel exhausted at work every day.

On top of this, a lot of us find it hard to “turn off” when we finish work, says psychologist Marny Lishman. “Many people use their ‘out of office’ hours to catch up on work that their office hours don’t allow for,” she says. “The line between work and home is now very blurred.”

One way to combat this, she says, is to focus on setting up a routine that works for you before and after work. But instead of filling every minute and feeling the pressure to cram your morning and evening with events, Marny says to slow down with a manageable routine that includes mindfulness activities.

Sound familiar? It’s an idea that’s quickly catching on in the TikTok community, where hundreds of videos featuring the ‘My five to nine before my nine to five’ and ‘My five to nine after my nine to five’ trends have been viewed tens of thousands of times. And for good reason.

When we are feeling mentally and physically healthy in ourselves, Marny explains, we perform better in our personal and professional life. So, to help build your own mindful routine, here are five expert-led mindfulness techniques to try.

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Mindfulness Activity: Meditation

The first thing to include in your routine, says meditation and mindfulness instructor Luke McLeod, is a meditation practice. “There’s mountains of research supporting the numerous health benefits meditation can bring,” he says. “These include reducing stress, improving your mental health and increasing your focus – all things that can help you in your work life as well.”

Meditation can be practised anywhere and at any time – even on a busy train ride home; drown out commuter noise and focus in with the help of some noise cancelling headphones. Need a little help getting in the zone? Try a mental health app, like Headspace or Calm, which offer guided meditations. 

What to Try

Products to help with meditation: black JBL noise-cancelling headphones shown on a yellow background, and a white Winix air purifier shown on a pink background.

Mindfulness Activity: Mindful Breathing‍

Although we all breathe without noticing, mindful breathing can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve sleep. For breathwork, Pilates instructor Eddie Nelson says starting the day with “coherence breath” should be one of your non-negotiable mindfulness activities.

“To do this: I breathe in for five seconds and breathe out for five seconds through my nose for five minutes,” she says. This kind of mindful breathing, she adds, provides feelings of calmness and stillness and will help you deal with the day as it unfolds – encouraging you to “respond instead of react”.

What to Try

Products to help with mindful breathing: a grey Morphee Zen relaxation aid shown on an orange background, and a grey Withings sleep analyser shown on a purple background.‍

Mindfulness Activity: Practising Gratitude

A woman writing in a gratitude journal at a table with a coffee mug in a living room setting.

Alongside meditation and breathwork, practising gratitude has a range of health benefits that are useful for improving your workday. As well as encouraging better quality sleep, building resilience and reducing fatigue, thinking about and writing down the things you are thankful for can increase your feelings of happiness and satisfaction with life – including your job. “Proactively practising gratitude is where you think about what you are grateful for and why you are grateful for that,” says Luke. 

Try writing down what you’re thankful for in a journal, or create a gratitude jar using small pieces of craft paper or sticky notes and a container. “These mindful gratitude exercises put everything into perspective,” says Luke. “All those things that are stressing you out won’t seem as stressful, because you have these things in your life that are pretty good right now.”

What to Try

An assortment of products to help with practising gratitude, shown on various brightly coloured backgrounds. Products include things like dot journals and colouring books.

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‍Mindfulness Activity: Movement

Exercise in nearly all forms has mental and physical benefits, however, Eddie believes that mindful movement, such as Pilates, yoga and walking, is a great way to set you up for a productive workday.

“Pilates is wonderful because it’s not too intense but really helps with developing the mind and body connection,” she says. This kind of movement helps bring you into the present moment, she adds, and it’ll help undo the physical and mental effects of sitting all day in the office.

What to Try

An assortment of products to help with mindful movement, shown on various brightly coloured backgrounds. Products include things like smart watches and massagers.

Mindfulness Activity: Curious Walking

A walking outside an office building, smiling and looking upward.

In addition to Pilates and yoga, Luke encourages his clients to practise ‘curious walking’, which is a simple form of mindfulness. “Curious walking or mindful walking is where you go for a walk and you try to find three things you’ve never noticed before.” It doesn't matter how mundane the three things are, he says, just anything that pulls your mind out of its current thinking mode and into the present.

Whether you squeeze your walk in before or after work, or even during your lunch break, this technique can help to give your mind a break from any worries and reset for the day ahead. You can also put a timer on your fitness tracker so you can fully focus without checking your watch.

What to Try

An assortment of products to help with curious walking, shown on various brightly-coloured backgrounds. Products include things like headphones and fitness trackers.

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