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How to Pace Ourselves at Work

In my last post, I talked about how studies conclusively show that we perform much better if we take periodic breaks; not only do we take less time to complete our work, but we make less mistakes.

Now most people including me find it hard to remember to do that in the heat of deadlines, when all we can think of is to hurry and push harder to fulfill our promise. So it’s really important to ingrain good “break” behaviors, turning them into habits that we do without thinking.

And if we are the boss, we need to come to terms with what we consider to be productive breaks, and what is goofing off.

For example, it is recommended that we take a 10 minute walkabout every 90 minutes. It is important that we move around during that break, because thinking uses up a lot of oxygen, which we need to replenish in our cells. Examples of “productive” walkabouts are:

- Visiting other staff to chat about how things are doing

- Walking to the water cooler and drinking water while stretching and bonding with co workers (as long as the talk is not destructive to individual or group morale)

- Walking around the block clearing our mind to leave room for creative problem solving ideas

- If we work in a home office, getting up to drink water, walking the dog, petting the cat, or cleaning something (maintaining strict time boundaries to prevent it from turning into a way of procrastinating)

Another recommendation is to take a minute break for every 30 minutes of concentrated work. That can be a perfect opportunity to observe our thoughts and feelings while deep breathing and doing a quick stretch.

It sounds like no big deal, but it makes a big difference to both our performance and our energy levels. The quick energy techniques that I teach are based on our physiology, and people report that they make a measurable difference in how they feel about their day; not only in what they accomplished but also in how they feel physically and emotionally.

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