Are You Taking Enough Breaks?

Taking Time Off While Working Remotely

Photo by Paico Oficial on Unsplash

If you’re working remotely and you’re not taking breaks during your workday, there’s a big chance that you suck at your job.

How many breaks do you often take when working from home?

Don’t tell me you don’t take any or you think breaks are only for remote slackers who work in bed all day?

Well, I hate to break it to you but burning the candle at both ends won’t really get you to the light at the end of the path. On the other hand, your health may be deteriorating and you’re still not aware of it.

In this article, we’ll give some insight into how remote workers take breaks or divide their break time from their working hours through their real-life stories.

Disclaimer: Names have been changed to protect their privacy.

Robin & Charlie
I’ve got a dog, who mostly dictates my break schedule. Generally, I take 4 breaks of 10 minutes to take him out, which gets me out as well! So if you’re thinking about adopting a dog, do it with no hesitation.

Jim at his remote office
I was working at the office before covid, so I basically kept my working hours the same. I allow myself more flexibility but it helps me to keep its normal hours. Also, I started thinking about something: it’s easier to notice when you’re procrastinating at home than at the office (for me at least). At home, it’s quite obvious when I’m not being productive, but in the office, you can always distract yourself by helping other people or having a chat with your coworkers. With that in mind, I try not to be very hard on myself when It’s like 3 or 4 p.m and I’m basically done for the day. I don’t need to be productive 40 hours a week. As far as how many breaks, it depends on the day. But I always stop twice to have a snack or do some stretching. Oh and I don’t rush through lunch too, I eat in about 20 min and take the rest of the hour to relax and watch videos.

Emma who got her life together
There are a few things that seem to help make the difference between work life and home life. Firstly, it is worth sharing that I live alone in a one-bed flat and I visit my partner on weekends. During the week I try to stick to working from 9:30 a.m to 5:30 p.m allowing for 2 hours of evening work on a personal project. Changing clothes between periods of the day has helped me greatly. In the morning I wear workout clothes and go for a jog or walk for 20 minutes, before showering and preparing my mindset for work. At lunch I always go outside or leave my desk and find a space that I never work in to chillax for at least 20 minutes without screens. More recently I have started listening to a podcast during lunch as I walk around my flat or outside which seems to reset my brain for the afternoon. At 5:30 p.m I put dinner on and sometimes change again to signal that work time has finished. I always try and eat before getting back into a personal project which I try and work on a different desk to my daytime work, this seems to make me feel more relaxed. Delaying personal calls until “after work” time also helps me to have something to look forward to an evening. Catching up with family and friends on the mobile phone (not zoom which now feels like work).

Laura the remote pro
I’ve been working from home (and cafés/coworking spaces pre-covid) for 3 years now. It’s quite important to “schedule” your breaks and include them in a routine. At least for me as I was finding myself working in a pajama for 12 hours and forgetting to have lunch (or take a shower). I’m not a big fan of the gurus selling their “road to be great” routine… but I think it’s necessary to have some stuff that you do daily or few days per week. For me, it’s a sport in the morning and reading in the evening. During the day I have only one break: lunch + a walk. And I try to make sure my workday is shutdown before 7 p.m (unless something really urgent needs to finalized).

As you saw, taking breaks is very important to establish a healthy lifestyle and be productive during your day in general! We hope this article gave you some inspiration to take more breaks while remote working.

If any of the readers have something to share that could help, please don’t hesitate to drop a comment or a note :)

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