Have a break, have a … more productive day.
It’s been a long week, and it’s not even Friday yet. How can you hope to stay productive in work? It might be tempting, but simply trying to power through is not the answer.
Employees often fall into the trap of feeling too busy to take any time out, but there’s a reason we are given adequate work breaks by law.
Science has shown that taking regular breaks in work will help to maintain your focus and productivity. Even if you feel like you’re too busy, working non-stop will lead you to get bored and distracted.
You might think that you can only stay focused on the task at hand if you stick with it and work really hard to get it finished.
However, doing this will get you stuck in a mental rut. Taking a break to let your mind relax and wander will open it up to a more creative thought process. This will give you better clarity when you return to the task at hand.
The breaks you take don’t even have to be huge blocks of time and you can decide what system works best for you. For added relaxation, you should use your breaks to practise mindfulness to avoid burnout on a particularly busy day.
Once you’ve decided what kind of break you should take, you’ll want to make sure you can utilise it fully to maximise your productivity.
This could be something to help you de-stress; something unrelated to work to stimulate your brain with.
It could be a simple, 10-minute break to enjoy a coffee or a snack, or you could take a few minutes to read an interesting article or listen to a podcast.
Check out the infographic below from Quid Corner to decide what way you want to take breaks in work and how you can best use them to your advantage.
Infographic: Quick Quid
