Taking Breaks Throughout the Day

It’s summer, which kind of wreaks havoc with my normal schedule. The kid is out of school, and while my wife mostly takes on the role of teacher and entertainer for the summer, she does need some time to work as well. I’ve started taking a longer break in the mid-morning from around 10am until 1pm to accommodate this. I’ve found it’s quite nice and has me thinking of utilizing this strategy to a greater extent, even when the glorious school year once again returns.

I’m usually a late evening person, but to work with this newer schedule I’ve been trying to head off to bed sooner so I can wake up around 5:30. This allows me to get in three or four hours or work before that break occurs, which feels fantastic, and with the extra-long lunch break, it allows me to take our little one to the park and get in some good play time. We usually run to the park of our choosing, which is around four miles round trip, so I also get a workout in as well.

The long break just helps break up the day — I was a little worried about feeling like I was working all day since the time from the start of the workday to the end is longer, but it seems to have a bit of the opposite effect — that I’m working more real life into my workdays. I may even play with this more later, and perhaps it makes sense to take two longer breaks during the day, or a long break, but another longish one. This could especially be helpful during the winter, when it makes more sense to work in the dark evening hours and provide opporunities for getting outside and getting in runs while it’s actually light outside.

I think there are some great benefits to breaking up the workday with some larger breaks throughout the day — it’s definitely worth some greater exploration.