Taking Breaks

I recently joined a weekly "life retro" group that some former teammates have been running. Similar to how a sprint retrospective provides teams the opportunity to discuss how they are doing building software, this group has been using the retro format to discuss how they are doing building their lives. Specifically, they ask "what went well, that we want to keep doing" and "what went poorly, that we want to do differently."

During my first session, my answer to what went poorly was a feeling of being behind on my work tasks. More accurately, it was my reaction to this feeling. I tried to "fix" the problem by working more; this meant staying later and taking fewer, shorter breaks.

This was far from the first time I tried taking the "work more" approach, and, sadly, even though I am writing myself a blog post to remember to do otherwise, it will not be the last. Despite countless reminders to "work smarter, not harder," when a deadline is approaching, it is easy to fall into a mindset of throwing more time at the problem.

The Right Amount of Pressure

I acknowledge there are situations when working more is necessary. However, I believe these should be the exceptions, not the rule. While doing research for this post, I came across the Yerkes-Dodson law which seems to align with my feeling of there being a "line" between good and bad amounts of pressure.

The law dictates that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases.

Often represented as a bell curve, there appears to be a peak level of arousal (stress, pressure, excitement) beyond which your performance will decrease.

With the Yerkes-Dodson law in mind, it seems that my attempts to work more to combat my feelings of overwhelm were counterproductive. Working more increased my arousal, worsening the problem and pushing me further over the edge of the productivity curve.

I had not taken the steps to self-regulate against work concerns; instead, I allowed the adverse feelings to compound and hinder my ability to produce good work. With this new insight, I want to explore avoiding this situation in the future.

What am I going to change?

I believe taking breaks provides an outlet to periodically reduce mental strain, preventing me from becoming overstimulated and overwhelmed by my work. Therefore, I want to make sure I take breaks even when (especially when) I am struggling with difficult work or looming deadlines.

What's not in a Break?

To start, let's identify what a break is. To do this, I will turn to Cal Newport (like I do for most things related to productivity) and his deep breaks concept.

If you read his post about deep breaks, you may notice that it is less about what a deep break is and more about what it isn't. The goal of this style of break is to avoid switching to tasks that will leave attention residue. When you shift your attention to something else, "residue" seems to stick around in your brain and make fully re-engaging with your previous work more difficult. The result is an overall decrease in performance.

An example of a high attention residue context switch that I struggle with is the "quick" check of my email inbox or chat notifications. While I may spend less than a minute or two scanning my inbox, there is almost always something that catches my attention and lingers in my mind when I switch back to my original work.

If you are already worried about getting enough work done, you may feel hamstrung by the idea of removing work-related tasks from your break time. While it may feel counterproductive, you should find this single-tasking strategy allows you to produce better work, often at a faster rate. Remember, the goal is not to take a break from one task and work on another. The goal is to take a break away from work so you can resume with renewed vigor. You are trying to step back from over-arousal and move back into peak territory on the Yerkes-Dodson curve.

When thinking about what to do during a break, we can turn to the dieting advice "don't resist temptation, remove it." Knowing that we want to avoid context switching during our break, we need to get away from attention-stealing situations. Namely, we need to get away from our computers (including our phones!). Don't test your ability to resist checking your email. Get away from your computer and all of the attention-stealing options it provides.

...then what is in a break?

There are plenty of break-time options that will not result in attention residue. High on the list is "nothing." It is perfectly okay to sit in a chair and stare off for ten minutes.

Since shifting to remote work, I have found simple household tasks such as washing dishes or starting a load of laundry rank high on my list of break-time activities. They work particularly well for short intra-task breaks. These small household tasks work well for a few reasons.

1. They don't shift my attention to cognitively demanding problems; I can let my brain rest.
2. I don't particularly enjoy doing them; this means I'm not spending more time on them than necessary.
3. They contribute to the positive psychological effects of cleanliness and organization.

Regardless of where I am working, my favorite break-time activity is getting outside and walking. Walking has many benefits and spending as little as five minutes in nature can improve self-esteem and mood, so it's not surprising I am happier when my day includes a walk.

Making Time

We now come to the crux of my retrospective goal: how do we keep up our break-taking habits during times of stress?

Implementation Intention

Implementation intention is the idea of planning an action (an intention) for a particular time or situation (the implementation). Going beyond the generic (e.g., "I want to take more breaks") and getting into the specifics has proven effective in achieving goals across multiple domains.

Findings from 94 independent tests showed that implementation intentions had a positive effect of medium‐to‐large magnitude (d = .65) on goal attainment.

In the linked post, James Clear suggests using the template

I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]

put another way,

if Time.now == TIME && me.current_location == LOCATION
  me.do BEHAVIOR
end

We can use this template to plan our daily breaks. As an example,

I will [take a 15-minute walking break] at [12:30] in [my neighborhood]"

When developing your implementation intention, be specific. Specificity is an essential aspect of this practice. From the article,

Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity. It is not always obvious when and where to take action.

Implementation intentions provide this clarity.

Habit Stacking

A special form of implementation intention is habit stacking. Habit stacking builds on the idea of specifying your intention, but ties the "when" aspect to an existing habit.

The Pomodoro® Technique is a perfect example of this strategy. The general algorithm for the technique is:

1. I will choose some work to do
2. After I choose some work, I will set a timer
3. After I set a timer, I will start working
4. After the timer goes off, I will take a break
5. After I take a break, I will repeat the process

Rather than determining an exact time for your work or break, you base your actions on the previous step you took.

Another example of habit stacking can be to plan around meetings. While not a habit in the way we traditionally talk about them, we often have meetings that we regularly attend. We can "stack" on these recurring meetings just like a habit. Consider the following, "after stand up, I will take a 15-minute walking break." Breaking after a meeting can help clear the build-up of attention residue and reset your brain for other work.

Time-block Planning

Inspired by Cal Newport's release of a time-block planner, I have been experimenting with his form of time-block planning.

Time-block planning leverages the psychological effects of implementation intentions by pre-scheduling your time for your entire working day.

One intention I have been trying to set for myself is a one-hour, mid-day lunch break. Writing down my intention to take this break shows myself I think this is important. I have also found knowing I have the rest of my day planned and accommodating a break eases my worry about not having enough time to get all of my work done.

You don't have to dive into time-block planning fully to set an intention to take a regular lunch break. A solid starting point is scheduling a recurring lunchtime break on your work calendar; this applies the foundations of intention setting and has the bonus effect of preventing others from scheduling during your allotted break time.

Conclusion

Finding balance is difficult. It can be even more difficult in the midst of your work week when you are focused on getting your work done. Retrospectives can provide you with the opportunity to step back and better evaluate your ever-changing situation. In my case, I realized I was fanning the flames of burnout. Talking about the issues I was facing triggered me to learn more about pressure and productivity, the positive effects of breaks, and how to reinforce my break-taking habit.