Supervisory Leadership

According to the Bible, when God got finished with creation, He rested. Not a bad idea.

In today's 24/7 world you can always find a reason to work. But you'll be more productive and happier if you make time for a break.

We've known this for a long time. Around the turn of the Twentieth Century, Frederick Winslow Taylor and his colleague Carl G. Barth studied the efficiency of coal shoveling in a steel plant. One thing they discovered was that workers are more efficient when they have breaks.

Scientists such as Dr. Ernest Lawrence Rossi, who study what are called "ultradian rhythms", have found that human beings naturally fall into a pattern of needing a break after 90 to 120 minutes of work. Rossi recommends a break of 15 to 20 minutes before beginning the next work period.

Taking a break doesn't necessarily mean taking a nap. Take a break by doing something different. If you've been sitting, stand up and move around. If you've been with people, take time alone. If you've been doing visual tasks, switch to auditory ones.

You'll get more out of your day if you take those breaks. But don't stop with your day. Look at your week, too.

The Hebrew word, "Sabbath" means "the day of rest." For a very long time, Jews and Christians honored the Sabbath day by not working. When I was a boy, Blue Laws restricted activities and the sale of goods on Sundays.

Blue Laws are now mostly of historical interest and in most places you can do just about anything on Sunday that you can any other day of the week. But most of us could benefit from a real day off, with no work at all.

Try it. See if you can manage a day without reading email and checking voicemail. See if you don't go back to work refreshed and revitalized.

Then think about taking a big chunk of time off. We used to call it vacation, but that was back when we actually took them.

Harris Interactive and the Family and Work Institute, in separate surveys, found that a third of US workers did not take all their vacation time last year. And many of the folks who did take vacation time just kept right on working.

Travelocity found that forty percent of travelers are checking their work email while on vacation. Thirty-three percent keep mobile phones at the ready to stay in contact with work.

The idea of vacation is that you get away and get a break. You're not supposed to bring the office with you, even if you can.

If you want to be more productive, take time to recover from work. Take regular breaks. Take a day off. And take a vacation.

Sources of Additional Information

The Power of Full Engagement : Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

You may reprint or repost this article providing that the following conditions are met:

• The article remains essentially unaltered.
• Wally Bock is shown as the author.
• The notice Copyright 2005 by Wally Bock or similar appears on the article.
• Contact information for Wally is included with the article. You may refer readers to this Web site as a way to meet this requirement, or use the information on our contact page.

Any other reprinting or reposting requires specific permission which is almost always granted. Click here to request permission if necessary.

Return to Top | Site Map | About Wally Bock | Contact Us
Media Center | Speeches & Training | Sign Up for Our Newsletter

© 2005 Wally Bock. Click for Contact Information.