WHY THEIR TIMING MATTERS
How Micro-Breaks Help You At Work
I don’t always do better when I try to ‘push through’ a challenging task, and research backs up my experience
Every day, in the late afternoon, I go to the dogs.
I step away from my laptop, pause the writing or editing I’ve been doing, and hit a walking trail along Mobile Bay that attracts the four-footed.
The dogs their owners amble or relax on benches and watch the sun sink over the bay as the rest of us enjoy their company. My neighbors and I joke that it’s a canine tea party, and that’s not far from the truth, given how many treats the passers-by hand out to the spaniels and retrievers.
I try to allow at least a half hour for my late-afternoon break, which lets me take an energizing walk after socializing briefly with the dogs and their owners. But even a much shorter time away from my desk can be a welcome reprieve from deadlines and other pressures.
A pause in my work lets me return to it with a refreshed perspective. The dogs are so happy to receive their Snausages or Milk-Bone biscuits that no matter how glum I’m feeling about a stalled draft, I’m cheerier when I go back to it.