I’m back; my break from helping take Atara Bio from 3 to 330 employees over the last five years is over. I’ve returned to my full-time coaching practice working with execs, leadership teams and startups.
But what about somebody really important. You?
The research behind the value of taking breaks in your daily work life is overwhelming.
There is for starters the study that shows taking a real lunch break – getting away from your desk and taking your food someplace while your mind can rest – leads to greater employee engagement.
The work that shows taking periodic breaks during the day increases your productivity, reduces decision fatigue, restores motivation, improves your learning, and keeps your healthier.
And the studies that show breaks – long or short – are good for your brain. Here’s what the research from MIT shows.
So what does that look like, and how do you do it? Here are some thoughts:
- Stretch and get up and walk around at least once an hour. Go to the loo, walk around outside, climb some stairs, wander to the break room or cafeteria.
- Take control of the meetings that are yours and make them 50 minutes instead of 60, or 25 instead of 30. Encourage others to do the same. Take that extra five to ten minutes to grab some deep breathing time, or simply reflect on what you’re doing next.
- Ditch working in front of your computer. Take lunch outside if you can, or the break room, a spare conference room, or the cafeteria. Pause from work.
- Schedule “you” time for 20-30 minutes. Take a walk outside; unclutter your mind.
While I was lucky that my “break” was for five weeks not five minutes – the virtue of some saved up vacation time available when I terminated employment – the principle is the same. And again, there is a strong suggestion that taking a break between jobs does you good in a number of different ways, particularly since many really don’t take downtime during vacation in the age of smartphones and digital connectedness.
Taking a break helps you be more productive, refreshed, better at what you do and in the end, saves you time rather than costing you time.
Life Back West is an occasional set of writings focused on ways people, teams and organizations can be both more effective (doing the right thing) and more efficient (doing the right thing well). More about my work coaching teams, execs and startups can be found on the “About” page.