Taking A Break Is A Skill
I think the art of taking a break is an endangered artisanal craft that only a few of us remember.
Many people struggle with even just remembering to unglue their eyes from their screens once or twice during the workday. If you're struggling with that, there are a gazillion productivity apps, timers, and "guides" on how to make sure you don't lose yourself in your hyperfocus.
My husband, for example, uses an app that will pop up an overlay on his computer screen telling him in really big letters: Time for a break!
It also displays a timer that he has set so that the break doesn't morph into an hour.
The first step in learning how to take a break is to set some sort of trigger to make sure the break actually happens.
But what do we do then?
Once the break has been triggered, most of us will pull out our phones and sink into social media, browse around on the internet, go play something, perhaps get something to drink and a snack. So far, so good. We've made sure we disengage from work at a set time and we've made sure that we do "something else". If we're really good, we even walk down the hallway for a bathroom break.
A break needs more than that, though.
Honest show of hands here!
For your break…
Do you get up from your chair?
Do you move, perhaps even do some micro exercise?
Do you go outside?
Do you look at a plant?
Do you get away from the screen and avoid looking at a screen for the duration of the break?
Do you switch context and let your mind deal with something other than work?
If you've answered yes to all of these questions, congratulations! You're a really good break-taker.
If you have answered "no" to at least a few of them, I am sorry to tell you that you still suck at taking breaks.
For a break to be effective, you need to thoroughly disengage from what you were doing. The idea is for your brain to rest. This does not happen when you keep it busy by looking at your phone, listening to some bit of a podcast, or consuming some other type of digital media. Not watching your e-mail inbox like a hawk is not the same as taking a break.
So much for the bad news.
The good news is that you already know how to take a break. You've just forgotten.
Remember when you were a kid in school and your breaks were built into the schedule? You probably had one lesson and then a little break, then another lesson, and then recess. What did you do for recess?
Over here, kids have to go outside during recess. Nobody gets to stay inside unless it is raining.
This is true even for older students.
Outside, most students will move around in some way. The smaller ones will play catch or ball, but even the teenagers jump about a bit. My son is sixteen and he still tells me of soccer matches during recess.
Even the less physically inclined kids at least walk around the yard a bit. Back in my day, we'd go for strolls along a trail in the park behind the school. Round and round we went, sometimes walking vigorously and sometimes just meandering slowly. We even made dates and appointments to go for “a park walk” together! Ah, the excitement of being young!
That's what a true break looks like.
Eyes off the screen, body up off the chair, walking around and taking fresh air. Perhaps some conversation. No devices, no podcasts, no texting.
I have to admit that my breaks still vary in usefulness by quite a bit. When I am in the office or have errands to run, I end up with really good breaks because I have to walk outside for lunch or to go to the post office. I like taking a roundabout town to hit the butcher and the grocery store after my first burst of morning work.
On days where I have no errands to run, though, I sometimes barely make it to the kitchen and back. I can definitely improve on the "movement on your break" thing and add more fresh air exposure.
At least, I've gotten really good at least getting away from the desk and avoiding screens so there is hope for me yet.
As always, I am still working on it!