How To Earn More Money by Allowing Your Mind Many Short Breaks

You don't want to take a break when the going gets tough. But is it possible to become 100% productive and never lose focus? Haven't we all noticed how a break affects our performance?

Then why do you forget to take a break? Because you are thinking like this: 'I am too busy to take a break. I have so much to do today.'

If you don't take the small breaks, your mind is going to do it for you - by slowing down, refusing to follow your commands, or completely shutting down.

When approaching a deadline, people want to do more in a short time. They ignore their natural urges and instincts.

They think - by not following their sleep rhythms, continuing to work even when their mind wants to rest, and finishing just one more thing - - they can reach their goal.

What they don't know is that their brains have an upper limit. Beyond that limit, the brain needs to go into an idle mode to restore its computing capacity.

Nigel Barber, Ph.D., writes in his article, "When we take a break and do something mindless like playing a video game, walking, or shoveling snow, our brains kick into overdrive."

Short breaks are necessary if you want to reach your optimal performance. These mental breaks allow you to become more focused, improve your memory, and replenish your creative juices.

Taking breaks is not a waste of your time and energy. If you want to earn more money, you have to enjoy what you are doing thoroughly. Going for a walk, spending time with your family, and listening to music - is necessary.

If you want to earn more money, you have to enjoy what you are doing. Deactivating and reactivating your goals allows you to stay focused.

If you do nothing for some time, it becomes your 'regenerative reboot.'

Alejandro Lleras, professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, says, "Deactivating and reactivating your goals allows you to stay focused," he said. "From a practical standpoint, our research suggests that when faced with long tasks - such as studying before a final exam or doing your taxes - it is best to impose brief breaks on yourself. Brief mental breaks will actually help you stay focused on your task!"

Brief mental breaks will help you stay focused on your task! ~ Alejandro Lleras, professor of psychology at the University of Illinois

You do not notice how the touch of your clothes feels on your skin after a few minutes. "Constant stimulation becomes unimportant to our brain, to the point where the brain erases it from our awareness," Lleras says in his research. "So I thought, things that are true for other sensations ought to be true for thoughts as well. If sustained attention to a sensation makes that sensation disappear from our awareness, sustained attention to a thought should also lead to that thought's disappearance from our mind!"

When you are not doing anything for some time, it recharges your brain cells. It can make a huge difference in your ability to do work that actually brings money.

With time, you develop a break-sense to stop working when your work is becoming dull. Before your mind negatively labels your task, leave it. Do something fun for a short time and come back to your work.

At Baylor University, Professor Emily Hunter, Ph.D., and her colleague Cindy Wu, Ph.D., found that workers who enjoyed short breaks had fewer health symptoms like headaches, eye strain, and lower back pain. Their job satisfaction levels were high, and burnout rates were lower. "Having a choice and doing something they preferred seemed to be critical," Hunter concluded.

"Whatever phase of life you are in, make time to pause and reflect where you are heading to." Dr. Roopleen says, "It is a good time to insert a comma now and realign yourself to your inner self before your life ends in a full stop."

It is easy to fool yourself that you are working with 100% focus even after an hour. But the fact of the matter is that your brain needs relaxation time to maintain its capability to perform.

When I am trying to write something useful, the level of my absorption into my work plummets after some time. If I push myself at that time, I only delay the end of the project.

But if I take a break, I can come back and finish the project on time. In my mind, the meanings of sentences become less crisp after I have been writing continuously for many hours.

Sometimes, I have to sleep for an hour to feel like myself. Dr. Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, advocates intense focus and intense rest to improve our learning and performing abilities - in one of his podcasts.

Takeaways

If you don't take a 17-minute break every 52 minutes, you may take longer breaks after finishing your current project.

It is better to take small breaks to remain more productive and start the next project more quickly.

Here are some of the things you can do to implement this "break time is money" thinking:

1. Make it a top priority to take small breaks after an hour. Use a timer to limit your work sessions.
2. Move away from your laptop. Walk, drink water, or wash your hands. Don't stick to the exact spot you occupied during your work session. Use your creativity to design better breaks.
3. Understand the importance of sleep in restoring your mental capacity. In addition to your nighttime sleep, plan power naps of 30 minutes during the day.
4. In one of your 17-minute breaks, use ten minutes for sitting still, focusing on your breathing - try regular inhale and extended exhale. When your focus goes back to work, try to bring it back to your inhales and exhales.
5. Know that we can do only one task at one time. Mother nature has designed our minds to do one thing at a time. Avoid multitasking in any 52-minute work session.
6. When a thought has the potential to distract you during work, you can always tell yourself that you'll come back to it during your next break.
7. Many small breaks improve your productivity. Tell your employers the benefits of allowing breaks to boost employee performance.
8. Money comes only from work you enjoy doing. Remember the difference between good hard work and bad hard work.

When you feel less tired, you are willing to set your priorities right.

Take a break to reevaluate your priorities. Take a break to enjoy the sun. Take a break to breathe. Take a break to stretch your legs. Take a break to continue your work with maximum energy. Take a break to stay sane.

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes including you." ~ Anne Lamott

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This story was original published on medium.com on June 30, 2021.