How to change your workday to feel more energized

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The usual work schedule was created for manual labor in the factory, and not for strenuous work in the office. How can you change your day to maximize your impact and creativity?

For most of the 20th century, scientists thought of the brain as a machine. They examined its parts and determined their functions. Broca's center is responsible for speech, the amygdala - for fear, the neocortex - for higher mental activity.

The brain-machine association is a model of productivity in the industrial era. We entered a new age, but we still continue to use the type of behavior that is appropriate for the time and meets its needs. And despite the great advances in the study of the brain, many of us still cling to the outdated idea of productivity without even realizing it.

Body control when you need to control your mind

In the industrial era, managers controlled bodies. The bodies they found to work 8, 10, or 12 hours. The quality and efficiency of work, of course, suffered, but not too much. In a plant, it is important to keep the line moving and managers try to limit downtime to increase production.

But the brain doesn't work like a machine. You cannot run it for 12 hours and then turn it off. The body also needs rest, so the factories organized shift work to ensure the supply of fresh and rested bodies.

But the brain needs rest much more often. Without rest, he becomes overwhelmed, filled with nonsense and is incapable of creativity. Thus, continuous mental work without interruption seems effective only if you compare the brain to a machine.

But our brains are more like a five-year-old: they have enormous reserves of energy, creativity, and a drive to learn. But, like a child, he needs periods of short rest and entertainment.

Bosses and managers of the 21st century must realize that in today's working conditions they control not bodies, but brains. So how should work be organized in our time?

1. Choose the right rhythm of work

In 1980, Japan tried to create excellent students. Children were expected to study harder and longer than in other countries.

But despite the fact that the Japanese schoolchildren had a longer school day, there were much more breaks - every 40-50 minutes. A quarter of the time was taken by breaks. Yet Japanese children outperformed American schoolchildren who did not have as much rest.

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz did a similar thing. They found that people with high mental performance do not work 100% all the time. Their mental activity is undulating, with ups and downs. The takeaway is simple: try to establish a rhythm for your team - 40-50 minutes of work and 10-15 minutes of rest.

2. Make breaks free

Another interesting point of the mentioned Japanese study is that the break times were completely free. The children were given the opportunity to do whatever they wanted.

Let your employees do whatever they want during breaks.

If you get distracted from the main project and start doing smaller ones, it doesn't give your brain the necessary rest. And when you go back to the main project, the brain will not be working at its maximum capacity.

So during breaks, let your teammates do whatever they want: read books, watch YouTube videos, call family or friends, take a nap, play board games. Anything that is not work.

3. Sit on the ground

This does not mean that you need to lie down on the floor in the office. Go outside, find a lawn, take off your shoes, walk on the grass, sit on the ground, or lie down and stretch well., published in the Journal of Environmental Study and Public Health, found that physical contact with the ground activates the parasympathetic nervous system. The body is filled with acetylcholine, a relaxing hormone. This will help you step back from work, clear your mind, and prepare for the next period of productivity.

Whatever you do, try to move away from an eight-hour workday with only one lunch break. Remember, what works on a production line will not be effective in the office.