Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 2: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 2: tip is to name your breaks. Taking regular breaks during
Speaker 2: the workday tends to make people more productive, and we
Speaker 2: tend to take things more seriously when they have formal names.
Speaker 2: Naming your breaks just might nudge you to actually take them.
Speaker 1: Today's tip comes from a participant in my recent Better
Speaker 1: Workday Challenge as part of my next book, currently called
Speaker 1: Big Time, I had hundreds of people implement some strategies
Speaker 1: that I believe can help anyone improve their time at work.
Speaker 1: One of those strategies is to take two short breaks
Speaker 1: each day where you do something restorative. People try this
Speaker 1: out and report back on how it went. One person
Speaker 1: mentioned that she was naming her breaks, think things like
Speaker 1: the morning walk or afternoon tea time. Giving her breaks
Speaker 1: names meant that she wasn't just taking a half hearted
Speaker 1: break by checking personal email in between Zoom meetings, she
Speaker 1: knew it was time to go take her morning walk.
Speaker 1: I know people take breaks in lots of different ways,
Speaker 1: but I absolutely love this idea. In an eight hour day,
Speaker 1: it might be good to take one mid morning break
Speaker 1: a lunch break, and then a mid afternoon break. Lunch
Speaker 1: already has a name, but what do you call those
Speaker 1: other ones? I could picture all sorts of things. If
Speaker 1: you decided to do the headspace app for ten minutes
Speaker 1: mid morning, that could be your morning meditation break. A
Speaker 1: mid afternoon walk might be called your afternoon constitutional Or
Speaker 1: perhaps you check in with a work friend in mid
Speaker 1: to late afternoon, this could be your tea time teta tet.
Speaker 1: If you listen to upbeat music during a break, that
Speaker 1: could be your morning motivation moment. You can see I
Speaker 1: like alliteration, but what I really like is figuring out
Speaker 1: what kinds of breaks you like to take when, and
Speaker 1: then formalizing them, at least to a degree. People do
Speaker 1: generally expect to take lunch. There is a purpose to
Speaker 1: that break, and it has a name, but generally it's
Speaker 1: good to break more frequently than that. By giving other
Speaker 1: breaks a name, you make them sound purposeful and more
Speaker 1: like an expectation. It is not just mid afternoon and
Speaker 1: you are tired. It is afternoon constitutional time. It is
Speaker 1: not just mid morning and you already can't think straight
Speaker 1: because that last meeting was so ridiculous. It is morning
Speaker 1: meditation time. Your breaks don't have to be the same
Speaker 1: every day, nor do they have to be different from
Speaker 1: each other within a given day. But most people have
Speaker 1: certain things they know will reliably energize them. I certainly
Speaker 1: try to grab a walk most afternoons. By naming your breaks,
Speaker 1: you can turn what is sometimes an afterthought into more
Speaker 1: of a ritual. Rituals are more likely to happen, and
Speaker 1: if your breaks happen, you will be more productive. It
Speaker 1: really is as simple as that. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or food, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.