Take a break! Or how tea breaks made Britain Great

I remember stories that my grandad used to tell about his time at work.  I also remember watching old British Sitcoms set in a different era.  One thing I remember from both was the importance of the tea break for working life.  There wasn’t a small staff kitchenette where people could make their own drinks if they wanted to.  No, there was a tea trolley that came round and everyone would pause, even for a couple of minutes to get their tea before going back to work. It is my conviction that we need to take a break and it is tea breaks that made Britain Great.

Britain was once regarded as an international super power.  Now look at it.  Now, I do not have any scientific evidence for this somewhat ridiculous claim, but once upon a time, tea breaks were a key part of working life and Britain was a great nation.  As the importance of tea breaks declined, soon after the stature of this once Great Nation followed suit.

Much research has been done on this.  A quick survey reveals studies that suggest the average adult can focus for around 40-45 minutes before concentration slips.  Another suggests that environmental factors and our mental energy at the start of this focus period can increase that to near 2 hours.  Other suggest we can only expect to operate at our peak mental faculties for 15-20 minutes before we experience a significant drop in our function.

The exact numbers are not necessary as we can all agree on the point that direct us to.  We cannot maintain a high level of focus indefinitely.  As I have reflected on the working pattern of many that I see, what I see is people so convinced of their busyness, that they feel that they cannot afford to take a break.  This is a false economy.  This leads to a point where the amount of time that work takes begins to increase, meaning that the more we push ourselves, the less effective every minute becomes.  But, more concerning is the reduction in the quality of our work, especially where this work requires high levels of cognitive function to make high quality decisions.

In not taking breaks throughout our working day we may end up in a situation where, at best, our overall output for the day may be lower than if we did take breaks, and worse still, it can lead to the production of sloppy work that needs to be reproduced or bad decisions that cannot be undone and have a high cost.  At the very worst, it can lead to the downfall of a nation.

So take breaks.  I would say that roughly every 2 hours you need to take a break of some kind, just 10-15 minutes.  This will have the benefit of restoring your cognitive function, giving you a mental boost and an energy boost.  So, I list below the ways you can take breaks in order of their effectiveness, the first being the most effective:

1. Go for a walk – Some kind of physical activity outside.
2. Go for a short break in a different room of your building, doing something that is not your work.
3. Do another work activity that requires you to move around, e.g. sorting, organising, filing
4. Do another work activity that requires a different type of mind activity – ideally away from your desk.

Really, 80% + of the time we should be gunning for options 1 or 2 above.  If you do this, and do it consistently, I can almost promise you that both the quantity and the quality of your work will increase.

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E|F Muses on....

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