In the course of your work day, do you notice every once in a while you don’t seem to be making the progress you’d like on a task? What do you do? Maybe you keep working and hope things improve. Or you take a break to clear your mind. Some simply switch to another task and keep working.
If you’ve been fortunate enough to come across Tony Schwartz’s insightful book The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working – you’d know what he would recommend (Spoiler Alert: take a break while you’re ahead).
I came across this book about eight years ago and have been working to change my habits around work ever since. Schwartz’s book compiles research from a multitude of sources – all of which conclude that we are less effective when we work 8 hours (or more) a day nonstop. The research points to the value of taking multiple breaks throughout the course of the day to increase productivity.
In the U.S., our workplace culture reinforces the need to be productive, and for many of us this means always ‘doing’ something to that end. The problem is constant work doesn’t allow us to be in the most productive state. Consider the well regarded concept of taking a vacation multiple times throughout a year. If we have truly taken a vacation (i.e. not checking our inbox for the daily inundation of emails) we will come back refreshed, revitalized, and ready to get back to our work. Schultz’s premise is the same, albeit on the much smaller scale of our everyday work experience.