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“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” —Mark Twain.
While our dear Samuel Clemens was talking about a very different sort of pause, I think his words are still wise and apropos — our lives are action-packed these days. We produce and consume constantly. If we’re not at work, we’re at some form of play, and otherwise we’re asleep. Scheduling rest that isn’t sleep seems counter-intuitive to the idea of a life well lived, but in reality, without purposefully pausing, we run the risk of burnout.
A pause, defined as a temporary stop in action, is sometimes exactly what the doctor ordered. If you answer yes to more than three of the following list, you’re probably due for a break — even if you only see yourself in one of them, it’s probably a good idea to fit some self-care into your busy day.
Key signs you need a break include:
• irritability, with self and others
• Changes in eating habits
• Cynicism about work
• Difficulty concentrating
• Getting sick more frequently
• Lack of energy
• Lack of motivation
• Low mood
• Frustration
• Feeling unfocused or fuzzy-headed
• Physical symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches
• Poor performance at work
• Sleep disturbances
• Using drugs or alcohol to cope with stress
• Withdrawing from friends, family, or co-workers
I have heard breaks referred to as “preventative care”, the idea being if you take breaks now, you hopefully won’t burn out later. Studies have found that taking breaks reduces or prevents stress, can help to maintain performance through the day and reduce the need for a long recovery from work at the end of the day. Even a short break can increase your energy levels and decrease your exhaustion later on.
Microbreaks, so a break of a few minutes, just stepping away from whatever you’re doing, maybe getting a drink, or lunch breaks, a half hour or hour away, and even longer breaks have all been shown to have a positive relationship to your well-being and your productivity. Excessive stress leads to poor performance at work and fatigue afterwards, and sometimes sleep disorders or cardiovascular disease. Improvement in these areas can be seen when people start taking breaks, from short ones to longer ones, like a vacation.
Social breaks are exceptionally beneficial — chatting with your coworkers and peers allows you to share your experiences and feel part of the group. This sense of relatedness can show a positive association with feeling recovered after the break. So, research is telling you to go on vacation with a buddy!
If you’re feeling stuck on a certain task, sometimes stepping away for a moment or three, and then coming back feeling a little refreshed, can give you that chance to have clarity in what you are doing, and give you a boost to your performance.
Here are some tips to help you take breaks:
– Set a time to break and meet with others, use the buddy system.
– Set an alarm on your phone to help you make sure you take the breaks you need.
– Do something you enjoy on your break, like taking a short walk or having a flavoured coffee.
– Note any benefits you feel from the break, this will encourage you to take more of them.
– Use a visual cue, like post-it notes or posters to remind you that breaks are important.
Remember, if you’re working remotely, you need to schedule breaks, too. Being interrupted by kids, or a partner, or the dog, or the front door, or your phone is not the same as taking an intentional break, the key word here is ‘intentional’.
A technique I’ve discussed before, even recently, but which bears another mention, is the Pomodoro Technique. This practice has a pause/break built right into it. It is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.
The original Pomodoro technique has six steps:
1. Decide on the task to be done.
2. Set the Pomodoro timer (typically for 25 minutes, though you can even set it for just 10 minutes).
3. Work on the task.
4. End work when the timer rings and take a short break (typically 5–10 minutes).
5. Go back to Step 2 and repeat until you complete four pomodoros.
6. After four pomodoros are done, take a long break (typically 20 to 30 minutes) instead of a short break.
Once the long break is finished, return to step 2.
Sometimes it’s good to pause for self-reflection or even pause to reach out for assistance. If you find yourself reaching out, know that my door is always open. You can even just book me for a free 30 minute discovery call. Let’s talk about how to build more breaks into your daily routines. And as a colleague of mine once said, let’s leave this on a “pausitive” note, so here is a short video about the Vagus Nerve Reset method:
@micheline.maalouf Vagus nerve reset. Make sure you do this for longer than I did (minimum 30 seconds each side) let me know if it helped! #learnontiktok #tiktokpartner
♬ Nuvole Bianche - Yuval Salomon
