Turn your stress to success

I received this article from Jobsdb through my email. I believe that these power breaks really can help us recharge our drive and energy. They can also help rest your eyes from staring at the computer as well!

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Power naps. Browsing books during lunch break. A walk around the block during coffee time.

More and more employees are resorting to ‘quality break times’ to recharge themselves for a few minutes (or at most an hour) before they charge into the arena again.

Quality break times are not an escape that makes the employee forget his or her duties or zone out into fantasy land. Rather, they let his energies slow down a bit, tap into a resource that will refuel their creativity and brain power, and then infuse them with a fresh burst of adrenaline that takes them through the day.

Leadership coach Jim Loehr touched on this in his book, Stress for Success. He recommends that employees take a few minutes every day to take a breather from their work load and channel into a hobby that they like or at least a short exercise that removes part of the stress. It’s a way to recharge. Loehr likens it to athletes in the middle of a competition who uses the precious break times called by referees to do breathing or stretching exercises. It’s a way of slowing down for a brief time while still staying in the game.

Here’s how to do it (and remember, they take only 15-30 minutes during your official break):

1. Artistic/creative hobbies: writing a blog; learning computer design; reading a non-work-related book; drawing and design.


2. Physical: 10-15 minute power naps; a short walk around the office; clenching down on those stress balls; hitting a punching bag or doing jump-rope (if you have a mini-gym in the office)


3. Communal (or activities that you do with other people): swapping stories during lunch break or merienda that can evolve into brainstorming; non-gambling card games or chess; etc.

The next time you feel stress ganging up on you, slow down a little, smell the flowers by taking that quality break, recharge – and then get back to the race.

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