Don't forget to take breaks once every 2 hours or so
Photo by Nattu
“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” - Bertrand Russell
In the busy world we live in today, taking are often take a back seat. It’s often viewed as laziness and reluctance to work. There’s this belief ingrained in all of us that hard work = good and if you do nothing, you’re wasting your time.
I don’t agree. Some of you might be wondering where I’ve disappeared to in the past 2 weeks. Well, I went for an impromptu get away. My wife saw a Gold Coast ad one day and we just decided to go the next day (one of the perks of working form home). I tied some loose ends that night and we head off, initially deciding to stay there for 2 to 3 days but we got hooked at stayed there for a whole 13 days.
To tell you the truth, I take some 3 - 4 months worth of breaks every year, most of the time in 14 days block.
Why? Well, it’s not that I hate work. I love it. But it doesn’t matter what much you love your job, there’s just no way anyone could do what they do 24/7 for the whole year and not get bored with it. There’s just no way it wouldn’t catch up to you.
But it doesn’t matter what much you love your job, there’s just no way anyone could do what they do 24/7 for the whole year and not get bored with it.
Breaks allows you to recharge not just your battery, it also allows you to recharge your passion for what you do. With burning passion and a clear mind, who knows what you can achieve? Taking breaks also allows me to be far more productive than I could ever be if I had worked all year like most people do. I’ve tried it and I know.
When to take breaks?
Do you know what’s the circadian rhythm? It’s the rhythm in which you sleep at night and wake up in the morning. If you record what time you sleep every night and what time you wake up every morning, you’d find that they are mostly the same every work day. Then there’s another pattern for weekends.
And not only is the time you go to sleep fairly consistent, how long you sleep would also be fairly unchanging.
That’s the circadian rhythm. If you disrupted that rhythm but staying up late and sacrificing sleep for a prolonged period of time, you’d find you body start to deteriorate.
But did you know there’s a much smaller rhythm in play? It’s called the ultradian rhythm. That’s where you’d find you get tired every 90 - 120 mins. So remember to take 10 minutes breaks there.
The rhythm I want to talk about here is your yearly rhythm. I don’t know if they have a name for this. It’s where you take breaks in certain periods of time every year. Most people could taking breaks during the Christmas - New Year period. Imagine if your boss were to demand that you go to work that week.
Would you be fine with that?
That’s because he’s distrupting your rhythm. If he does that to you for a prolonged period of time, you’d find yourself deteriorating emotionally. Imagine yourself missing out on the Christmas fun, family gatherings and parties. It’s what would happen to your body when you distrupting your circadian rhythm.
So here’s what I want you to do. Take a look at your life and identify what is your yearly rhythm. When the time comes, go ahead and enjoy yourself. Don’t deprive yourself of that break because you NEED it.
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