Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to take breaks intentionally. We are going to
Speaker 1: take breaks during the workday, whether we plan to or not,
Speaker 1: so it pays to take them mindfully. That way, you
Speaker 1: will be aware that you actually took breaks and probably
Speaker 1: be more refreshed as a result. I recently ran a
Speaker 1: Better Workday challenge, during which I taught participants strategies for
Speaker 1: making their workdays more pleasant. One of these strategies was
Speaker 1: to take intentional breaks. The idea is that for ten
Speaker 1: minutes in the morning and ten minutes in the afternoon,
Speaker 1: you pause your work, step away from your screen and
Speaker 1: do something totally different. Maybe you go to the break
Speaker 1: room and chat with your work best friend, or make
Speaker 1: a cup of peppermint tea. Maybe you work on a
Speaker 1: crossword puzzle, or you might just go outside and take
Speaker 1: a few breaths of fresh air. Whatever it is, the
Speaker 1: point is to shift your focus and do something that
Speaker 1: will refresh you. This all sounds good, but some Better
Speaker 1: Workday Challenge participants soon realized that there was a fine
Speaker 1: line between being on a break and just being off task.
Speaker 1: This especially happened when the person was doing something not
Speaker 1: work related but at their computer. You know how this goes.
Speaker 1: Maybe you start by hopping over to a weather website
Speaker 1: to see whether your evening's softball practice is likely to
Speaker 1: be canceled, and then you find yourself on a sporting
Speaker 1: goods website searching for softball cleats like the one your
Speaker 1: friend has. Or maybe you go to link to see
Speaker 1: whether a college friend is still working at the accounting
Speaker 1: firm that your company just hired for your audit, and
Speaker 1: then you end up writing a note to congratulate another
Speaker 1: friend on her new job, and then reading several articles too.
Speaker 1: Are those breaks? I would argue that they mostly are
Speaker 1: in the sense that they aren't part of your job.
Speaker 1: But they are not the sort of breaks that will
Speaker 1: restore you for the rest of the day. They don't
Speaker 1: feel that different from your work. You might not even
Speaker 1: notice that you took those breaks, and so you can
Speaker 1: create a story of having zero time to relax. So
Speaker 1: how do you avoid mindless breaks like these? One general
Speaker 1: policy might be that if you are not working, step
Speaker 1: away from your screen if you possibly can, don't pass
Speaker 1: this potential break time by looking at your personal email
Speaker 1: or news headlines, or by internet shopping. Leave your workspace,
Speaker 1: or at least turn away from your computer so you're
Speaker 1: break marks a real change from your work. I think
Speaker 1: some people take these fake breaks because they feel less conspicuous.
Speaker 1: After all, if you are still at your computer, it
Speaker 1: looks like you are still working. Getting up and reading
Speaker 1: a novel outside might be seen as a bold statement.
Speaker 1: But when you are doing something not work related at
Speaker 1: your computer, you are not actually producing any more for
Speaker 1: your employer than you would be if you were away
Speaker 1: from your desk. Seriously, your employer gains nothing more by
Speaker 1: you shopping on eBay than you reading that vampire novel
Speaker 1: out in the Sunshine. So maybe go gently at first.
Speaker 1: But if you do a really good job, taking two
Speaker 1: ten minute breaks per day to do something refreshing is
Speaker 1: not that ridiculous. So in the days ahead, pay attention
Speaker 1: to when you are producing an when you are not,
Speaker 1: and when you are not producing, acknowledge that this may
Speaker 1: not be an effective break, you are just off task.
Speaker 1: If you do need a break, take a real one.
Speaker 1: You'll enjoy the time more and probably be more productive
Speaker 1: in the long run. In the meantime, this is Laura,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.