Our very busy work lives challenge our mental and physical stamina.
Here are some tips from a recent article in Harvard Business Review on how you can sustain a high level of energy by utilizing strategic breaks during your day:
*Change Your Mindset: Breaks Are Smart. The workday is not a tortuous marathon. It’s more like an NBA basketball game where you need peak performance throughout the day. This is why NBA players take breaks every quarter. There are regular timeouts and substitutions.
*Don’t Task Switch. Set blocks of time for various tasks and projects – don’t bounce around. Research shows that “multi-tasking” creates stress and a loss of productivity.
*Reset Your Meeting Default. Cut your meeting default by ten or fifteen minutes and use that time to get out of your office for a quick walk or a stretch.
*Enforce Hard Stops on Meetings. You know the usual suspects who use too much air time in a meeting. Respectfully ask them to summarize and make sure to finish meetings on time.
*Schedule Breaks. Experiment with what works for you. The NBA breaks up a game into quarters and maybe you can do the same thing – with a longer “half time” break in the middle of the day. Put these into your calendar.
Taking strategic breaks will make you more effective and resilient for the long run. And they will set a good example for your team. Start pacing yourself better today by utilizing some of these tips.
*Ideas for this blog taken from: Zucker, R. “Don’t Underestimate the Power of Small Breaks During A Busy Workday,” Harvard Business Review online, March 11, 2024.
