You have probably been told a million times about the importance of managing stress at work. And if you are one of those people who immediately took the advice and are having healthy work days, I envy you. If you are like me and the advice went in one ear and out the other, this is for you.
Initially, the idea of taking breaks at work seemed absurd to me. There always seemed to be a never-ending list of tasks, leaving me feeling like I didn’t have the luxury of stopping for a break. It felt like a waste of time. I spent hours confined to my windowless office chair, rarely taking a moment to step away. Despite completing my work, I was miserable. I would get so stressed throughout the day that by the time I got home, I was exhausted. I lacked the energy to prepare a proper dinner, resorting to microwaving frozen meals and dreading the cycle repeating itself the next day.
I wondered if this was how the rest of my life was going to go. I had seen higher-ups who would get worked up over how stressed they were and wondered if that’s what I had waiting for me in the future.
For most people, they would say to just start doing the bare minimum to get the day over with. I care too much about the work I do to give the bare minimum, but I am also not a robot. I can give great output but at a cost.
It wasn’t until my professor Kelly McCormick made stress management into an assignment that I began listening to the advice. We were tasked with creating a stress management plan, implementing it for three days, and documenting our experiences.
I decided I was going to take a five-minute break every hour. Though I hadn’t precisely outlined how I would spend these breaks, I figured any pause from work would suffice. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work. After day one, I was still exhausted, but I was determined to complete this assignment.
On day two, I took ten-minute breaks every hour, but this time I had to leave my office and stand by a window. I found walking around outside for a bit also helped. This changed everything.
I had the energy to do my work and put the same amount of effort in. I also came home feeling happy and had enough energy left to cook a real meal.
I don’t want to live a life dreading work, and I don’t want to “just get through it” with the bare minimum. These ten-minute breaks were something so small, but absolutely life-changing. Even better, it is something that has shown to be both beneficial to me and my work.
So if you were like me and thought that breaks were a waste of time, learn the power of pausing.
It’s not trivial. It’s transformative.
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