Do you find yourself unsuccessfully trying to get more done in a day?
Does it feel like no matter what you try, you just can’t manage to get everything finished?
I hear you…
There seems to be more and more on our plates nowadays.
The boundaries between work and home life have become blurred.
Constant connectivity has left us attached to our devices, only a quick click away from reminders of how much outstanding work there is to be done.
If you’re anything like me, you might feel that it’s become harder to keep up the pace that is necessary to get everything done.
Scrolling through social media makes me think that a lot of us are searching for the secret behind getting more done.
Social media is filled with articles about how to better schedule your day, how to optimize attention or how to multitask even better.
But I think that these approaches are fundamentally misguided.
So then how can we get more done?
After trying all sorts of strategies to be able to get more done for years, I finally realized that the secret to getting more done is actually… to do less!
Now, I know that this seems counterintuitive.
Just hang with me for a second here.
This was certainly a very hard concept for me to buy into. You see, I had a deep-rooted fear that if I started to do less, my to-do list would just keep growing.
I had visions of returning from my relaxation to an even longer, even more overwhelming to-do list. I couldn’t grasp how that would help me feel less stressed…
The idea of slowing down and taking a break when I was feeling overwhelmed just didn’t make sense to me.
You ever find yourself having similar thoughts?
Not only did I fear the repercussions of taking time away when I had too much on my plate, but the approach of slowing down also wasn’t aligned with widespread beliefs that our society holds.
But… for some reason… I decided to give it a try anyhow.
I slowly started to consciously and religiously carve out daily moments that allowed me to disconnect from my daily obligations.
Recovery periods are just as important for the brain as they are for the body
Oddly enough, as time went by, I started to notice that even though I was working few hours overall, my productivity had actually increased.
My attention and concentration were much better with regular brain breaks. I got better at prioritizing important tasks rather than reactively dealing with whatever popped up in the moment. I became less reactive in my communication. I could let things go more easily and didn’t waste as much time focusing on negative situations. Incorporating these regular daily brain breaks into my routine brought me a step closer to stress-free communication.
When we train our physical body, with the goal of attaining optimal physical performance, we need to build in regular recovery periods.
And yet, we don’t prioritize doing the same with our minds.
Our brains have become habituated to being in a state of constant stimulation. But this doesn’t mean that this is good for us.
Beginning a regular practice of recovery periods for my mind (or brain breaks, as I like to call them) allowed my brain a reprieve from the constant onslaught of mental stimulation to which are all now exposed.
This can be as simple as enjoying a five minute walk, taking a few deep breaths or sitting in your office listening to calming music through headphones for a few minutes. The only criteria is that the activity you choose needs to be something that you find calming and something that does not engage your brain.
In other words, scrolling through social media DOES NOT COUNT!
Regularly taking a few minutes for a brain break, several times a day, can help to reset your brain and nervous system, and will help fuel your productivity and well-being throughout the day.
Just like our body performs better physically after a period of rest, so do our brains.
Instead of viewing these brain breaks as time when you are doing nothing, shift your mindset to see this as investing in yourself so that you will be in an optimal state when you most need it.
I promise you – you won’t regret it!
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