Are you one of those employees who works non-stop without taking a break? If you are, tsk tsk! More and more studies show that this is neither healthy nor smart. Ever ask yourself why you work this way? I'm going to say it's fear based. Fear of not getting things done. Which would lead to what? Getting in trouble, or not getting a raise (and certainly not getting praise) and worst case; getting fired, the boot, s-canned, walking papers and so on. But it may not be as drastic as all of that. Maybe you want to rush home to family or beat traffic. Or better yet (maybe) you want to hit the gym on the way home, yeah!
I can almost hear you saying, “why should I take breaks? I can power through. I rock”. These studies show that we as human machines are far more productive when we take breaks. We can clear our minds during the break. Or if we need to focus on a problem often being away from the desk is more efficient. Now we're on to something. If we take breaks and are thus more efficient we won't get into trouble, we'll get that raise (and the praise we've been missing since childhood) and voila—promotion. Ha! We won't hear the old, “hit the bricks,” line. We have just conquered that fear thing and we're more rested for it. Hmm, more relaxed and a raise? What a concept.
It may be difficult in the beginning. You may feel like you're missing out on productivity or that the other guy is getting more done. Don't get sucked into those feelings. They are fear based as well. Remember, you are now a leaner, more energized, clear headed fighting machine. And don't worry, the breaks don't need to be lengthy.
Dig this, you're at the gym lifting weights. It's your back and bicep day. The plan is to do 6 different exercises, 3 back and 3 bicep. And you plan on doing 3 sets of each. In between each set you rest for one minute. You rest so your fatigued muscles can catch a breather before firing up the next set and subsequent exercises. After 35-40 minutes you're done and feeling good. Somebody you think is cute checked you out from the treadmill and an instructor clocked you up and down with an approving eye. Muscles worked, ego boosted; mission accomplished.
Now let's go back to the beginning of the workout but in a parallel universe where you do the exact same workout with no breaks in between sets/exercises. You finish your workout a few minutes earlier but that is where the upside ends. You found you got progressively weaker as the workout moved on. You had to lighten up some of your weights. You dragged your butt from station to station. Treadmill admirer admired someone else. Instructor gives you nothing but a pitiful shake of the head. See where I'm going here folks? You performed inefficiently because the muscles could not regroup. The same goes for your brain during the work day. But give the mind two 15 minute coffee breaks and a 30 minute lunch and baby you can't lose.
Let's look at the whole week. Eight hour day, 5 days a week without breaks that's 40 hours. With breaks we're talking 1 hour break per day multiply this by 5 days, we get 5 hours of chill and recovery time per week. You might think, 'forget it I want to be home or to the gym an hour earlier'. But the payoff for the person who takes the 5 hour per week break is that by the weekend he/she has more energy through the weekend; they've been more productive at work; and had better workouts during the week. The 'break taker' doesn't have back and neck soreness because they stretch, (even briefly), during their breaks and they possess a more calm mind. One that isn't racing constantly and still 'talking' to you when you're trying to fall asleep at night. One must also keep in mind that the loved ones that you are racing home to see will no doubt love you more if you take those breaks...even if you arrive an hour later! Breaks are good for the body and good for the soul, so take em' while you still can!
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