Be More Productive By Taking A Break

April 25, 2007

All the productivity systems ever invented, all the to-do list sticky notes ever stuck to your desk, and even all the caffeine you’ve ever injected can’t stop you from slowing down and losing focus.

Great productivity isn’t about working all the time.

Great productivity is about being effective when you’re working.

And one key to being effective when you’re working is to make sure you’re not working all the time.

Got that?

It’s impossible to go 100% all the time. Even the most energetic, dynamic and psychotic person can’t be giving it all, constantly. That means you need to take a break.

What’s important is recognizing when your attention and energy are waning. Wait too long and you’ve just spend a half hour staring at the computer screen getting frustrated by your inactivity. Take a break too early and you’re eating into precious productive time.

For starters, I try working in short bursts, which means I can take a quick break between tasks. But often I move from one task to the next and don’t take a break, so this isn’t a perfect system.

I use a few key indicators to tell me it’s time for a break.

  1. Boredom. When something starts to feel tedious or uninteresting, take a break. Come back in 15 minutes and look at the task with fresher eyes, or start on something else.
  2. Distraction. When you’re constantly checking email, Twitter, Facebook, etc. it means you’re losing focus. It’s important to admit to yourself that you’re distracted – you’re no longer being productive – so take some time to “goof off” and catch up on your friends’ whereabouts and activities before getting back to things.
  3. Lack of Precision. When your work gets sloppy or you can’t get something quite right, take a break. Lack of precision will lead to frustration, more distraction and less productivity
  4. Being Unconscious. When you suddenly crash face first into your keyboard…it’s too late.

What’s your best productivity tip? We want to know!

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Comments
  • Great tips! Of course for a person who is OCD and ADHD it's kind of difficult to take a break. I did just take a very selfish 'me' day last week though :)

    Sometimes I work best going full throttle for a week or so and then taking one day to just goof off doing whatever I want, even if it's holding down the couch.
  • I read a great book called "The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal". It talks about the importance of downtime and other energy management principles. I recommend it.
  • Great advise I some times feel like it get to be to much. I think your right that you need to take a break sure work is productive but there come a time when you just need a breath of fresh air. I think I shall take 15 thanks!
  • Gayla - I don't think a "me" day is selfish at all. It's a must! Actually, I'm tempted to take one right now...

    Marc - Thanks for the book reference, I'll have to take a look.
  • Gayla, I agree with Ben. You have to take time for yourself. I work hard - I also play and rest hard.

    Ben, one of the things I try to do is work highly focused for 50 minutes out of each hour - usually on one and no more than two tasks. Then, I take a 10 minute break. Then back to 50 minutes of focused work. I've found this to be more effective than any other way for me to work.

    Also, you have to turn off your feed reader and your email client for stretches.
  • Ben,

    Just a thought. Coffee (or red bull) is not a substitute for a break. Tried it and it doesn't work.

    Distraction is a real problem for me. Dawud, I agree you do need to turn off your feed reader and email client. I just get distracted looking for the close button. :grin:
  • Dave,

    Coffee or Red Bull aren't a substitute for a break, but you can drink them while on a break, right?

    And for BlackBerry users, it doesn't count if you turn off your email client only to have your BlackBerry buzzing right next to you when new email comes in. How sick is that? Working on the computer but checking email on the BlackBerry. And I consider myself productive?!?! *ouch*
  • Ben ~ I grew up with a mother that fluttered around like a butterfly on acid. Even to this day, at 62 with a full lower leg replacement and serious head injury a few years ago, she can still run circles around me.

    Every time I think about taking a ME day, I can hear my mom saying "there's plenty of time for rest when you're dead." LOL

    God love my mom!

    I did just get a laptop, so in the near future I'll be blogging from the backyard in a chase lounge - that's probably the best I can do for rest. :)
  • Gayla - that sounds like quite a mother.

    But it also sounds like even more reason to take a break.

    Blogging from the backyard sounds great. As soon as the weather gets a bit nicer, that's 100% my plan as well!
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