Your Breaks are More Important than Your Business, Here is Why…

Photo by S Migaj on Unsplash

Life is Not Just About Work. Treat yourself in a way that it deserves. Take breaks; nothing bad will happen. It is actually best for your business to have breaks, not to mention the health benefits and mental state.

Having a break might seem counter-productive and promotes laziness. In fact, it is recommended to have breaks now and then for better performance and increased productivity.

Working at a day job or even having a side hassle, you need to take some time off. Taking breaks have many benefits for you and the people around you.

Why are Breaks Important?

According to a study conducted and led by the University of Illinois psychology professor Alejandro Lleras¹, taking brief breaks between working sessions helps to stay focused throughout the working sessions. Also, breaks can be measured in days or even months. When we work for a long time — say a year — with no breaks, we tend to lose focus and have a hard time being productive.

While this is true most of the time, breaks also improve overall health and mental state. Taking breaks is good not only for the worker/employee but is also good for the employer as he gets the best outcome when the employee gets back to work energized and probably motivated to work.

When Do You Know that You Need a Break?

If you are facing one of the following, you should consider taking a break — there are many reasons, but these are the top reasons people are facing:

1. You get bored fast.
2. You sleep during work.
3. You always feel tired. (This is one of the reasons, but you might want to visit the doctor as well to get a checkup.)
4. You complain a lot.
5. You are getting back home from work stressed out.
6. You can’t finish a task on time.
7. If you did not take a break for over a year.

What are the Different Forms of Breaks?

Breaks are breaks. The name of the break really doesn't matter. Time, however, is what is important. In the U.S., there are different names for the breaks an employee has. Some known examples are lunch breaks, tea breaks, coffee breaks, etc.

When you are working on something at home or your office, you won’t have someone watching your breaks. So to be productive, you can apply the same principle not to abuse the breaking time and sabotage the work focus. If you want something simple to start with, read about the 6010 rule that I’ve written about earlier.

When is the Best Time To Take a Break?

For small working sessions, taking 10 minutes each hour of continuous work is great in most cases. You can spend 10 minutes doing what a break for you is. Some people chill, others take a walk or listen to music. It really depends on the person.

For long breaks — vacations — people are encouraged to have 4 weeks off every year to relax. Travelling can be a great option for many. Some people like to take breaks to sleep more; it depends on the person as well. The important thing is to relax and get away from the working environment and its stress.

References:
[1]: Yates D. (2011), Brief diversions vastly improve focus, researchers find, retrieved from: https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/205427