tawandamusarurwa
HAPPY new month to you all. It is my hope that schoolchildren are enjoying the holiday with their parents.
Changing Perspectives
Rutendo Gwatidzo
There is something good that I learnt about taking breaks. These breaks can be in the form of leave days or weekends for workers.
If we analyse the subject further, we see that during the day, there are tea and lunch breaks.
These routines are very common but some of us do not really understand what they mean or why they exist.
A break is a pause from what you are doing for a moment or a certain period. Generally, life has many pressures that take away our attention for a great deal of time. From the time we are born until death, we find ourselves dealing with different pressures at various stages of life. Some of the pressures can be too much to the extent of causing sickness or even death.
Pressure will always be a part of life and we need to learn how to manage it so that we are not adversely affected.
How to survive pressure
Sometimes, you need to retreat in order to advance. Sometimes, you may find yourself fighting the same battles for several years, while others overcome the same type of battles once.
We are all different and, therefore, our battles will never be the same. However, one thing that is the same is hard work and perseverance in order to achieve success.
If you find yourself fighting the same battle continuously, you will probably need to retreat and regroup in order to upgrade your battle strategies. Some battles are meant to be fought alone but others require company.
The best way that works may require you to take a break from the battle, see from outside what works and then implement in full force.
Organisational status
One of the challenges in many organisations is that of having teams that operate without a specific agenda and deadlines. On paper, objectives and timelines do exist. However, when it comes to implementation, deadlines are missed and objectives somehow forgotten. Worryingly, a significant number of the teams barely do anything about it.
Some of the teams are willing to meet objectives within deadlines but they do not know how.
One of the tips that I would like to share today is that of finding time to regroup. Sometimes, you may need to depart from the routine way of doing things and look at the same task from the terraces in order to see differently and strategise accordingly.
For instance, take a break from your job, then go and watch others doing the same task and see if you will not draw lessons for yourself.
Sometimes, you may simply need to take a break from a task, do something completely different and come back refreshed. You might be surprised how you suddenly begin to see things differently. Those tea and lunch breaks are not meant for eating only; they are also meant to give your mind a break from focusing on one thing so that when you come back, you will be refreshed and be able to think straight.
My organisation did an exercise on the subject in recent weeks with three other institutions.
We came up with two groups in each organisation. The first group comprised teams that work continuously without taking breaks.
These people are the type that will even eat their food while working, and during weekends, they continue to work every day.
The second group comprised teams that usually pause from their work. They take lunch and weekend breaks, and even leave.
The findings of the exercise were amazing. The seemingly playful teams that were associated with taking breaks were found to be ahead in terms of meeting deadlines and targets.
General facts
The mind is created in such a way that it can only focus on one thing for a certain period and then it begins to shut. The advisable thing to do is to take breaks from one thing, focus on another and revisit the same task in order to be more effective. Often, many of us define ourselves by what we do, and being busy may feel honourable, hence we tend to overdo what we think works.
According to many health experts, there are plenty of good reasons to give yourself a break from one task.
When you do not give your mind the chance to pause and refresh, it does not work efficiently.
You may experience burnout and health problems associated with it. Be inspired and encouraged to be deliberate about retreating in order to advance in what you do.
Rutendo Gwatidzo is the managing consultant at The HUB HR Consultancy. She is a multi-award-winning leader, consultant, speaker and coach. She is also the author of “Born to Fight” and “Breaking the Silence”. Contact detail: 0714575805/ [email protected] / Rutendo Gwatidzo_Official FB public page.
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