Power Break

We have all heard of “Power Naps” but we don’t have the luxury of those in our day to day. So I have been thinking and practicing a little bit of what I called “Power Break” and want to share with you in case this resonates.

I am a do-er, high achiever like most of you and can totally relate to what is now commonly referred to as “high functioning anxiety”. Over years I have become much better at recognizing, alleviating and even preventing this anxiety — thanks to my own education as a Life Coach and self-education on emotions/mind and practice of meditation etc. But this is still a part of my life and I have come to terms with it.

Here is the story of how it came about:

One evening after work I was washing dishes. My back hurts, like it does every day, but a voice in my brain, let’s call it “Ms JustOneMore” says “just finish this one task then you can rest”. As soon as I finish it, I see the dirty countertop and 10 messages on my phone unanswered. That voice says again, “just this one more task and then you can rest”. You see where this story is going.

But one day as I am going about the above routine, tired and in pain, another voice inside spoke! Let’s call it “Ms CareAndBeware” and here is how the conversation between those 2 voices went as they talked about me — the do-er self.

[Ms CareAndBeware]: “How will a 2 minute break hurt anything? She can still get to the tasks right after”.

[Ms JustOneMore]: “Well what if she lies down and then does not get up because it is too comfortable. What if she falls asleep, or loses motivation to finish a task or just becomes lazy. While I have her in the working mode, I would rather have her finish just one more task.”

[Ms CareAndBeware]: “You do realize that by tiring her like this, her productivity is actually going down. You can get more out of her if you let her take a break. I promise you she will get to the most important tasks after it”

[Ms JustOneMore]: “Argh, I am not sure. Whatever, give it a try. I am going to be watching how this plays out and if she does not finish everything, I will not stay quiet.”

What really happened in the conversation above is “I gave myself permission to take micro breaks as an experiment”, to try and see if taking breaks really hurts or boosts my productivity. I also reminded myself that the only way this experiment will succeed is if I honor my commitments to finish the important and hi-pri things before I go to bed that night.

This balance between permission to self-care and promise to honor my do-er commitments is what has been working. I feel empowered to reassess what is important and hi-pri. Its not 100% successful but it is 80% successful and this works! It has reduced my anxiety around pending todo list and physically allowed me to care for myself.

Here is how I practice Power Breaks:

Menu:

• I have crafted a menu of small breaks that I choose from (all less than 5 mins) — make a cup of green tea, step on patio to take in some fresh air, lie down and stretch my back, stare at wall with open awareness, take 5 deep breaths. All of these breaks are physiological (having a body component).
• Notice none of my breaks are only mind related like watching FB, IG, youtube etc. Since the feeds of all these are unpredictable it might put me any mind state and the addictive component risks the 5 min time frame.

Permission:

• I remind myself that I have power/permission to take a break.
• I remind myself that I am a person who will honor my commitments so I can rest my body and anxiety during break.

Resuming:

• When a part of me does feel lazy, I remind myself, honoring commitments is what keeps this experiment working and builds self-confidence.
• When I feel afraid of some important work, I remind myself that once I start, I know from past observations that I will make good progress. So just start even if it is messy.

Instead of thinking of breaks as “rest” or “cool down” which somehow invokes guilt, I have now reframed “break” as a mechanism to re-power (like mini battery recharge).

Give it a try — Powerup with Power Breaks!

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