I know many of you have a lot on your plates and you are under a lot of pressure to complete these tasks within a certain timeline. Therefore, you are working around the clock including during your lunch breaks. This is very unhealthy; unhealthy for our minds, unhealthy for our physical bodies and unhealthy for our relationships with our family and friends.
As an entrepreneur, I am very guilty of not taking a break and so this article is for me as well. I started my company in 2013 and I probably took vacation once and it was not even a vacation, it was a “shop-cation”. However, it is taking a toll on my body and I feel so burned out. Therefore, last week, when the management of Her Majesty Prison invited me to Grand Turk to do a presentation on financial literacy with the prison officers, I accepted the invitation. I could have stayed in Providenciales and got some work done or I could have done a presentation by zoom, however, I really needed a break so I spent the entire day in Grand Turk to do a one hour presentation.
It is good to take breaks from time to time. It enhances your mental wellbeing, reduces stress and allows you to function better.
Utilize your vacation and your lunch breaks
There are some people who work don’t take lunch breaks and there are some people who don’t take vacation and some take and still work during their vacation. Everyone is entitled to lunch breaks and vacation. Use this time to get refreshed and revived. It will improved your productivity. Doing the same thing over and over without taking a break will burn you out. Some of you may even die in the process and guess what you will be replaced. Therefore, organize yourself and take a break. During your lunch break, get something to eat and then do something fun like getting a massage. I recalled one day in the middle of my work, I decided to go to a Spa (courtesy of my wife) and it was one of the best days of my life. I was relaxed and returned to work in a recharged mode. Now when you take your vacation, don’t just shop, spend some time relaxing and exploring the destinations where you are vacationing.
Everybody deserves a break
There must be a reason why lunch breaks were implemented in the workforce and at schools. I believe it is because it was recognized that everyone deserves a break. Your body needs a break. Your mind needs a break. This is exemplified in the Bible from the beginning of time when God was creating the world. After six days of creation, he rested on the seventh day.
Take a break from social media platforms
Since the introduction of social media platforms, many of us have spent countless hours on these platforms and have become addicted to them. If you are spending all of your time on the social media, this means you are not putting the necessary time in other areas of your life such as your family, friends and work. You can use your break time to be on social media, don’t use your work time and family time to be on social media. You need to take a break from social media too. Do you remember on October 4, 2021 when there was a Facebook outage for six hours? While this outage negatively impacted the financial condition of many individuals and companies, the positive side is that it allowed us to take a break.
Conclusion
Just like a vehicle needs servicing often so does our bodies. If the vehicle is not serviced on time, you may risk destroying the engine. Likewise if you don’t take a break from time to time, you are “killing” yourself. It is pointless working so hard if in the end you become so stressed out and unhealthy. Take a break and see what a difference it makes in your productivity levels.