[babelfish]

Something that helps me is having 2 laptops (though I'd imagine it would work just as well with 2 accounts on the same computer). My work-provided laptop stays in my work area at all times, and I don't put anything work-related on my personal laptop. I also took at least an hour or two customizing each one (name, background, dock) so that it feels different than the other. That way when I hop off my work laptop at the end of the day, if I decide to pick up my personal laptop, it immediately feels like I'm doing something different.

[jarofgreen]

These days I have different computers for work and play but I used to just have one for both.

If that's you, absolutely, definitely, try having different user accounts for work and personal.

Having that separation is very important, and having different accounts is an cheap and easy way that almost everyone's OS already supports.