Even though Christmas and New Year have just finished, I don’t think I really took my mind off work for very long. I think when you run your own business you never get any time off, you’re always thinking about what needs to be done and how you can achieve it around your many other responsibilities.
Yesterday I had an appointment at the doctor’s (my first trip to a French doctor since moving here in October). I don’t know what it was, but when I got home I had a coffee with my Mum and decided I would give work a break until after lunch. So lunchtime came and went, I did a few chores around the house and my boyfriend went off for the afternoon (he’s renovating a farm) and I stood on the doorstep and realised how much time I spend sitting at my desk and how much of the lovely weather I hadn’t seen in the last few weeks.
Hadn’t I moved to France for a different lifestyle? Set-up my own business so I could dictate my own working hours?
So I jumped on my bike and went for an impromptu ride along the river, I gave myself a target of getting 2 miles and then turning round and coming back so in total I would have done 4 miles. It was a little hard going as I’d not ridden my bike for a while, but I made it! Not happy with just a half an hour bike ride, I decided I would take a bit more of a break and catch up on some English TV I had to watch.
I went back to work at 4.15pm and was far more productive, not feeling sluggish and tired. It worked wonders! While watching the TV I decided that I would factor in some breaks each day, maybe not anything as energetic as a 4 mile bike ride, but even a 15 minute walk outside would help.
I guess the point of this blog post is to remind you that taking a break from work, even if you are busy is likely to improve your creativity and your productiveness. I found this great Ezine article called 7 Reasons to Take Breaks at Work – what great reasons to take a break!
So, on my new whiteboard (see my blog post Help Family and Friends Understand you ARE Working!) I am going to note down on my to-do list each day half an hour of ‘ME’ time, whether that’s going for a bike ride, a walk to the shop, or just reading a non work related book.
Do you take breaks?
I would be really interested to hear how many of you take regular breaks from work, what you do and how it helps? If you want to take more breaks at work but you are just too busy, then why not look at outsourcing to a virtual assistant, my blog post 20 Reasons for Hiring a Virtual Assistant will give you some great reasons why you should.
