{"id":5119,"date":"2013-10-17T11:18:27","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T15:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alifeofproductivity.com\/?p=5119"},"modified":"2022-09-02T16:17:04","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T16:17:04","slug":"get-work-done-take-breaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/get-work-done-take-breaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to get more done? Take more breaks!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Takeaway:<\/b>\nBreaks let you step back from your work, recharge, come up with better ideas, slow down, reflect on your work, and ultimately make you a lot more productive. Take them.<\/p>\n

Estimated Reading Time:<\/b>\n3 minutes, 11s.<\/div><\/div>\n

\"mojito.001\"<\/p>\n

Some of the best productivity tips out there are counterintuitive.<\/b> For example, it’s hard to imagine that sitting on a cushion and doing absolutely nothing<\/a><\/span> can make you more productive, but it does.<\/p>\n

I think the same is true with taking breaks.<\/p>\n

Working straight through fatigue and tiredness to try to get as much done as possible feels<\/i> more productive, but like with multitasking<\/a><\/span>, you’re not actually<\/em> more productive. Your mind simply creates the illusion that you’re more productive because you don’t stop working.<\/b><\/p>\n

During my recent Week of TED productivity experiment<\/a><\/span>, I had the chance to not only watch some great TED talks on the importance of taking breaks, but also to test my hypothesis that taking more breaks makes you more productive.<\/p>\n

Experiment, and results<\/b><\/h2>\n

For two straight days during my Week of TED experiment, I took as few breaks as possible, and tried to watch as many TED talks as possible. For two days after that, I listened to my mind and body, and took breaks when either my body or mind was getting restless, while still trying to watch as many talks as possible. <\/b>On average, I took a five-minute break every two TED talks (they’re 18-minutes long each).<\/p>\n

Here’s what I found:<\/p>\n