Stay Productive by Breaking Your Day Into Micro-Bursts of Physical Activity
When I first started working from home, I sometimes found myself spending 12-14 hours chained to my office chair. While those days were “work,” those days were often the least productive simply because at some point I got stuck and couldn’t push it back to the place of productivity.
Fast Company ran an article this week that spoke to several productivity experts and gave tips on how to eliminate distractions and get results. One of their suggestions is one that I personally accepted a while ago: short bursts of physical activity.
Lifting and pumping blood can be a great way to rejuvenate during the day. It fosters creativity and can help get you out of recession quickly if you notice things slow down in the middle of the day.
As for me, I usually break down individual tasks into small bursts of activity. For example, after I finish writing this post, I will probably go down three flights of stairs to see if the mail has arrived. It probably won’t take more than 2-3 minutes to get to the lower floor and back, but it’s enough to convince my body that we are on an adventure, and I guarantee you that I will return to my desk with a fresher mind than before. of how I went to look for mail.
Unless you have work that can be broken down into small tasks like stories for the website you work on, most fitness trackers have a setting you can activate that will remind you to walk a certain number of steps every hour. The hour is a good time to move. Set this alarm clock on your fitness tracker, and then when it goes off, force yourself to take a short break and walk around the office for a minute or two.
The key here is to take frequent short breaks and do something that will raise your heart rate for a few minutes. This can be a walk, a few jumps from the side of the table, or a quick descent down the stairs. If you have trouble concentrating during the day, this may be exactly what you need to reboot your brain and set yourself up for more successful rest during the day.