| Once when I was working for Corporate America, | | | | task. After that we're just staring into space or |
| my supervisor happened to catch me playing solitaire | | | | reading the same lines over and over again, failing to |
| on my computer. I froze mid-mouse-click, a deer in | | | | take much of anything in.People who specialize in |
| the proverbial headlights.After staring at me coldly for | | | | academic success teach students to physically get up |
| several agonizing seconds as my heart sank through | | | | and walk around when they start to feel their |
| the floor, he melted into playful laughter."I'm kidding!" | | | | attention waning, and the same applies to corporate |
| he blurted out. "Oh, you should have seen your face! | | | | environments. The mind needs a break in order to |
| But listen... seriously... you really need a better game | | | | regain its focus.But recent studies on the causes of |
| than that. Here, try this one."He commandeered my | | | | ADD have also proven this mind-body connection: |
| keyboard and surfed over to a shareware site, | | | | children suffering from ADD who engage in certain |
| cheerfully extolling the merits of the new game while | | | | physical exercises on a regular basis show marked |
| I could do nothing but stare in silent fascination.There | | | | improvement in general attentiveness and prolonged |
| isn't any punch line here. It's a true story. He was | | | | task focus. (See Exercising a Longer Attention Span, |
| dead serious about downloading the game package | | | | published in May by The Boston Globe.) And |
| for me, and he was right about it being a good one. I | | | | countless neurological studies have shown that the |
| played it avidly for years.But there is a lesson in his | | | | brain needs a variety of stimulation in its physical |
| actions: understanding the all-too-human needs of | | | | environment in order to keep generating new |
| your direct reports is critical to good | | | | connections.The implications to the corporate world |
| management.The need for occasional breaks from | | | | are revolutionary. In short, employees need to be |
| repetitive tasks is an inescapable fact of human | | | | encouraged to take frequent breaks. People don't |
| nature. Everyone needs them. But all too often we | | | | need to leave the building for an hour at a time, but |
| fail to take them when we need to. Afraid to look | | | | they do need to go do something else once in a |
| inefficient or less-than-dedicated or just plain lazy, | | | | while.In an office environment, people need to be |
| many employees choose to stay at their post--be it | | | | able to get up and walk around when they need |
| a computer, a loading dock, or a cash register--rather | | | | to--and the office culture needs to encourage this |
| than take the breaks they need to stay fresh and | | | | behavior. In retail, tasks such as working the cash |
| productive all day long.Worse still, many corporate | | | | registers, greeting customers, and restocking shelves |
| policies actually demand that people make this | | | | should be rotated frequently, with occasional breaks |
| unfortunate choice, considerably undermining the | | | | away from the public eye. And the principles apply |
| effectiveness of their own workforce.It may seem | | | | equally to physical labor. Both mind and body need |
| "natural" to expect higher productivity to come with | | | | frequent breaks from repetitive activity.The idea of |
| more work time, but this simplistic formula ignores a | | | | frequent breaks may raise some eyebrows, but it is |
| profound truth: the human mind can only do the | | | | the only way to maintain true efficiency. Trying to |
| same thing for so long before it starts to shut | | | | keep working when you're feeling "squidgy" |
| down.This natural drop off in repetitive ability can | | | | significantly reduces your overall productivity, which |
| manifest in a thousand different ways, from mental | | | | will continue to deteriorate until the mind gets the |
| symptoms such as stress, irritation and loss of focus | | | | break it needs.So it turns out that my supervisor was |
| to physical symptoms such as muscle stiffness and | | | | right to encourage me in my solitaire habit. He had a |
| fatigue. I personally experience the need for breaks | | | | strict "quality of life" policy, and it worked brilliantly. |
| as a rising sensation of "squidginess." When I'm no | | | | We stuck to our forty-hour work weeks, we went |
| longer functioning at optimum capacity, I can feel the | | | | out of the office for lunch, we took breaks |
| difference, both mentally and physically. I sum these | | | | whenever we needed to, and our team managed to |
| symptoms up by saying I feel "squidgy," but the | | | | bring our three-year project to fruition both on time |
| word represents an entire group of sensations all | | | | and under budget, a feat virtually unheard of in the |
| bundled together for convenience.Mentally I start to | | | | industry.Managers who understand the need for |
| have a harder time focusing. My mind begins to | | | | varied activity will encourage their team members to |
| wander and I have trouble keeping track of where I | | | | take plenty of breaks from the daily grind, which in |
| am in the larger work plan. I begin to miss details and | | | | turn allows them to come back fresh, keeping |
| to forget one or two of the six or seven next steps | | | | productivity levels high.On the other hand, the |
| that I usually keep in my head.Physically I find that I | | | | constant interruptions of the modern workplace can |
| begin to squirm and fidget at my desk. I start to | | | | lead to tremendous inefficiencies if the need for |
| notice physical discomforts--eye fatigue, muscle | | | | temporary relief goes unfulfilled. When a human being |
| stiffness, and general restlessness. I start to stretch, | | | | can't take genuine breaks, the mind will innocently |
| to rub my eyes, to scratch at imaginary itches, and | | | | manufacture fake ones in the form of unnecessary |
| to shift position frequently. I find myself thinking | | | | e-mails, phone calls and "consultations" with |
| about getting up for another cup of tea or coffee or | | | | colleagues--anything to avoid the drudgery for as |
| maybe getting a snack.What I've learned is that I | | | | long as possible.This kind of "busy-work" fails to give |
| don't really need a snack or a caffeine boost; these | | | | the mind a real rest and results in losses that have |
| are just excuses my mind is creating to try to get | | | | been estimated to cost the economy over half a |
| me to take the break I so desperately need.Lest | | | | trillion dollars every year in the United States alone. |
| anyone should think that I suffer from ADD, I don't. | | | | With so much at stake, companies need to make a |
| These symptoms don't come on quickly. They arrive | | | | conscious effort to understand and embrace the |
| after forty-five minutes to two hours of intense | | | | underlying nature of human productivity.--EM Sky has |
| concentration, depending on what I'm doing. With all | | | | been a math instructor for The Johns Hopkins |
| the recent focus on ADD, many people have lost | | | | University, a special effects technician in Hollywood, a |
| track of the fact that a human mind which is | | | | project manager for BellSouth, and a rock climbing |
| functioning perfectly still has a limited attention | | | | instructor in Atlanta. She briefly considered leaving her |
| span.Studies performed on successful college | | | | life of adventure to become a lawyer, but |
| students have proven that forty-five minutes is | | | | fortunately she came to her senses. Now she is an |
| about the average limit for the amount of time that | | | | author, writing on business, life, and society for the |
| a human being can focus meaningfully on a given | | | | whole human being. |