APU Careers Careers & Learning

Give Yourself a Break

breakatworkBy Jill Kurtz
Online Career Tips Contributor

This time of year I see a lot of commentary about the value of taking a vacation. There is even a clever series of commercials for Ocean City, Md., about poorly used vacation days. Taking a break is important to your effectiveness at work, but not just in the summer and not just the week-long vacation type.

Every work day should include break time. This has been a hard lesson for me, someone who never took breaks when working retail and food service jobs as a student and who mostly eats lunch at her desk. Breaks can be long or short, but they are always helpful.

There are several reasons to take a break during the work day:

  • Quality Control. We always think we are working effectively, but it is not until we pause for a moment that we realize a sense of fatigue or fuzzy thinking. Stop what you are doing, close your eyes for a few moments, or take a walk down the hall. I bet when you return to the “great” work you were doing you will see an opportunity for improvement.
  • Mental Break. When you are working on something that needs intense concentration, a mental break can be very refreshing. Just a few minutes away from the task can be enough to give you the stamina you need to get the job done.
  • Idea Opportunity. If you are like me, some of your best ideas come when you are taking a shower or brushing your teeth. These routines are not taxing on our brains and allow new thoughts to enter. Take some time during the work day to do something that is mentally low-energy and you will be amazed at the fresh ideas that come your way.

Listen to yourself to determine how long of a break you need at any given time. Stopping work for just a few minutes can be refreshing during routine days. Other days may need longer down period and perhaps even time away from your workspace. For my breaks, I commonly walk to the office kitchen to get a drink or just do a loop around the hall, close my eyes for a few minutes, or move away from writing tasks to making a phone call.

Of course, there’s plenty of value to the full day off or week of vacation. Give yourself these much-needed breaks too.

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