Stressing yourself out with all the productive things which you do within a day can make you feel frazzled and lead to things like toxic productivity. That's why things like the Pomodoro technique are so popular among productivity geeks. But there are some times where you are frustrated from your daily life and you need a vacation. That time there are two voices in your head "Should I take a break so that I would feel relaxed" or "No I can't take a break because if I do it then everything will start lagging behind". So today we are going to see whether breaks are worth your productivity?
Restore your focus.
Taking breaks can restore your focus. But I genuinely don't like the Pomodoro technique for this one reason that is distractions and interruptions just deviate us from our actual intention. It takes an average of 29 minutes to resume a task after we are distracted. So, when you take a 10 min break after a 50min productive session then you would require more 29mins to restore your focus completely. But if you want you can try the Pomodoro technique when you doing group study or if you are working with your folks for some kind of research for the project. But if Pomodoro floats your boat then it is fine. Do what floats your boat. Taking breaks between your productive sessions or taking a long break after a highly focused workday is really important because it makes you feel refreshed. Sometimes when there's a lot of work to do within a deadline and you are tired from the whole stuff then taking a power nap works the best. It might feel unethical before but once you do it you won't regret it. Taking a nap of 20mins can make you feel kind of energized and your mind would be clear as a crystal because you cram all your sleep into a 20min time limit. It's a nice way to restart your work when you feel stuck. I do it when I am not able to find the errors from a code 😅.
Taking breaks prevents decision fatigue. "In decision making and psychology, decision fatigue refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making." When you are less prone to taking breaks and you are more prone to taking decisions then you are going to face decision fatigue. A famous study found that Israeli judges were more likely to grant parole to prisoners after a break than after they had been working for a long time. So the next time you are not able to make decisions than try taking a break. Have a cup of tea or coffee and don't think about anything just have your drink.
Balances your life.
When you are trying to cram all the productivity at once it might lead to burnout. That's why time-boxing is most important in your life. When you allot a particular time for a task it has a certain deadline for the task which makes the whole thing simplified. When time passes by the task comes to an end. You don't need to cram all the things at once you can do the work in bite sizes. When you have a work-life balance your wellbeing improves and also your mental health is enhanced. According to a study standing up and walking around for five minutes every hour during the workday could lift your mood, reduce hunger pangs, and combat lethargy. Last month I was much frazzled and irritated from my schedule. Waking up, do research for blog posts, working on the technical analysis of various companies for investments, and also learning something new every day like coding or new Spanish phrases. I completely drained thinking about the "hustle culture". Also, another thing I did was I didn't give myself any chance to acquire some dopamine from any kind of social interactions or any social media kind of stuff. Which made things much worse. Then last week I went to the beach and did some water sports which was absolutely sick. It gave me some real insight into enjoying life along with your work. Hanging out with my friends made me more of a social person and now I really respect these small breaks or even the long haul vacations where you enjoy your life with your family and friends.
Breaks are really important in your life and also they are worth the productivity which makes the thing much simplified because when you become a workaholic you start losing your focus because there's no stimulation in your life. Take a break because it can give you more insights, it can make you more creative, it can enhance your relationship with your loved ones, it can make you connect through different people, it can give you that "aha" moment which you are searching since the last 3hours. Give attention to something which will make you happy during the productive downtime. Schedule time for yourself first because you are the centre of your life domains work, relationships, and society.
If you liked this post then subscribe to our mailing list below.
Cheers ✌️.
Comments