Do you feel like you are always busy? Are you continuously available by phone, e-mail or WhatsApp? Do you work for hours on end and are you too busy to read this weekly tip? Then read on quickly, because a break seems to give us smarter, faster and more control over our day.

A BREAK MAKES US SMARTER

Maarten Frankenhuis, veterinarian and former director of Artis, explains in the article ‘Why loafing is vital – and what we can learn from other animals’ why animals are much better at maintaining the balance between effort and relaxation than we modern humans. Animals lie around for a large part of the day, are ‘off’, only to be very active and tense afterwards. We, the homo sapiens, have lost that balance. We sit still most of the day, but we don’t ‘laze around’. Our brain is constantly on and we expect to be alert and sharp all day long. We are not made for this.

ADVICE TO ‘PAUZE’ FOR A WHILE

1. Schedule when to check your email or other messages. Do this with your full attention instead of fleetingly in between.
2. Make an appointment with yourself when you are no longer available. Checking your messages just before going to sleep is not good for a good night’s sleep.
3. By being consistent in the above, you also give clarity to the people around you and they will adjust their expectations.
4. Get up from work every hour to do something else, grab a drink, take a walk around your house.
5. Turn off notification features.
6. Do you really have to be at this meeting?
7. Can’t let go of something? Write it down so you can park it.
8. Just ‘doing nothing’ or having no goal, is also ‘doing something’, namely lazing around.

The above advice is of course not a solution, but it can help you to stand out more often.

See “How to thrive in a world of too much”. To buy the book see this link.