How can you use breaks to increase productivity in your workday?

Incorporating breaks into your workday is a strategic way to boost your productivity. Embrace the outdoors, like hiking (my personal favorite), running, walking, or exercising, to reduce stress and increase mental clarity. Getting your heart pumping also helps melt away stress. Practice mindful breathing with yoga or meditation, indulge in creative activities like painting or writing, or take a power nap for ~20 minutes to rejuvenate. Learn something new or have a non-work-related chat for mental relaxation. Finally, disconnect deliberately from work-related devices during your break to recharge and return refreshed to your duties. Work productivity is about being truly present and engaged, not in the number of hours spent working.

Cal Newport has popularised the concept of deep work, but he also advocates balancing periods of intense work with quality rest. Performing deep, meaningful work requires periods of intense focus and concentration, but we cannot sustain this indefinitely. We have limited amounts of cognitive resources that need to be refreshed if we want to maintain a good level of output. Breaks also offer opportunities to: boost creativity, focus and problem solving; manage stress and physical strain; and improve our overall health, amongst others. In short, breaks don't just matter. They are essential!

Countless studies show mental performance is improved during and after routine, repetitive, and “mindless” activities. Exercise is often cited as a benefit but it can also be simple things like taking a shower, solving a puzzle, drawing, dancing, or simple meditation. Brain is like anything else in the human body. It needs time to rest.

Understanding ourselves is a crucial aspect to planning effective breaks. Some will feel more productive earlier in the day, whilst others hit peak creativity in the afternoon. Schedule breaks according to your work rhythm so you can maximise your natural output. Developing this point, I am a fan of allocating specific tasks to points of the day they are best suited, and breaks are no different. Plan them in and respect them! If they are visible in your diary, your team, colleagues, or customers should respect that this is time you have allocated for a specific task (don't forget respect is a two-way street, however!). There are multiple frameworks you can use, but finding what works for you is ultimately best.

Ideally, breaks should not add new distractions as this can cause context shifts, diverting our cognitive resources elsewhere from the task we are trying to complete. This could be checking emails, scrolling social media, or looking at a similar (but unrelated) task. Even the briefest of shifts are enough to create an attention residue. Seek to fill breaks with activities that are self contained, unrelated to our task and don't take longer than 10-15mins to complete. Think taking a sort walk, reading an article, a short household task or errand, or musing about the good outcomes that may stem from completing your task (this may provide the extra motivation to get it finished!).

Everyone is different, so experiment with different break lengths and activities to find what works best for you. The important thing is to make sure you are taking breaks and using them to recharge so that you can come back to your work feeling refreshed and ready to tackle anything.