Take a Break
Oysters and po’ boys and crawfish, OH MY!
I’m in New Orleans this weekend for a nice little gathering of friends. It’s great way to get out of the New York winter for a bit and honestly, could you begrudge a man a cocktail or two and a saunter? No. No you can’t.
With that in mind, I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to take breaks while working. I think for the average person, this topic seems a little bizarre. After all, if you need a work break you just take one, right? But for anyone that is really trying to develop themselves to the best of their potential (and especially for someone with an injury), this information can really help.
Why Breaks Matter
Once we hit adulthood, our time can feel very limited. There can be an endless amount of tasks to complete for a job and regardless of time and pay, there’s only so much energy we can devote to a moment. This can create the feeling that we are under pressure and NEED to be EXTRA EFFICIENT and KNOCK SH*T OUT NOW.
This is a rather intense attitude. And while it may be true that you have these demands on yourself, you have a choice in your attitude towards the situation. If you’re the typical New Yorker, it’ll be tough to change that attitude overnight. Taking breaks can be a very effective way of walking out of an intense situation and resetting your attitude.
Why Breaks Matter If You Have an Injury
Most of my students are working with some level of chronic tension or pain. In many cases these are the result of severe injury or illness. In these cases there can be EXTRA pressure to not only get your tasks done, but to COMPETE WITH THE HEALTHY FOLKS. Having worked myself in the NY tech scene for 10 years, I completely get it. Your boss is too damn busy to understand that a slow work pace is more efficient and less prone to error. So how can you - as someone with an injury - possibly take a break and be perceived as lazy?
The sociological and political risks for taking breaks are BIG. But the punishment for skipping breaks is BIGGER.
When we SKIP Breaks:
Errors increase in our work
Pain builds to unmanageable levels
Writer’s block becomes frequent
I would expect all of this to come with a shortening of the breath and stiffening of the neck and back.
How Often Should You Take A Break?
Ideally, if you plan on working for 2-8 hours you should take a break every 10-15 minutes. This is not an exact science, but most folks only really have that much focus in them before they start to mind wander. Once you’re mind wandering, you need to be honest with yourself and admit that you have actually stopped working and are now just trying to force something productive out of yourself.
Introducing the Pomodori Technique
One very popular “productivity hack” is the Pomodori technique. The name for the system is derived from a kitchen tomato timer thingy I think. I first heard about it from a musician ages ago and decided to give it a go. I’ll outline the system for you.
Before you sit down to work, set aside 5-10 minutes to outline your tasks for the day. Your intention is to work for 15 minutes and take a break for 5 minutes. This cycle will repeat for the duration of your work session.
For your 15 minute tasks, you are going to STOP your task when the timer goes off. No cheating.
If your tasks are centered around learning or research, you may have 4 skills that you want to learn over the course of your work session. This may be scales, rhythm, phrases in a song, geometry, algebra, Italian grammar, whatever. In this case, you should use each 15 minute tasks for a DIFFERENT skill. This keeps the mind fresh and builds breadth and depth over time.
If your tasks are more singular like, “write chapter one of the book”, then you just take the break as a break from the bigger task at hand.
For your 5 minute breaks, you will have 3 breaks every hour. One of these should be a 5 minute lie down for sure. Of the other two, I would suggest a 5 minute walk for one. The other could be an Alexander game like Hands on Back of the Chair, Windmills, Squats, or going up on toes.
Why This Technique is HARD
F.M. Alexander had some rather famous students in his time. One of them was a successful writer who would suffer from pain due to rather long writing sessions. F.M.’s advise was basically the same as mine today: in order to prevent pain, you must take a break before things get too intense.
In the case of this writer - an outright genius by all accounts - he found it impossible to risk losing his train of thought once he got into the flow of things. FM suggested that any train of thought that you leave can be found again. The implication of his advise is that leaving and finding a train of thought is a valuable skill in and of itself.
When we become attached to holding onto an idea, we typically grip up in ourselves and hold our breath.
Does This Resonate With You?
These blogs are hopefully a way of helping you better understand yourself, how you function, and why things sometimes feel off in a general way. If these posts are helpful, I encourage you to subscribe, leave a comment, ask a question, or check out the archives for my previous articles. I like hearing from everyone and I’ll do my best to respond as I can.
Get In Touch
If you’re in NYC, you may learn more about my private teaching practice at johndalto.com.
If you’d like to book any lesson time with me, you can find my booking link here.