Do you end the work day just completely spent? No more brain capacity at all? Totally exhausted mentally and physically?
And in this day of all day Zoom meetings, it’s even more prevalent, right? Just sitting there, staring at the Brady Bunch of meeting attendees, trying to focus and pay attention to what’s being said? And never taking a break, hopping from meeting to meeting?
Kind of a brain and energy sucking day right?
Well there’s a physiological reason for that. It’s called the ultradian rhythm. Your brain can go for 90-120 minutes straight of good, hard concentrated work, and then it needs to recharge from it. It’s why Andrew Huberman’s protocols involve two 90 minute work blocks each day with lots of break time in between.
You try to do more than that and your performance will likely suffer! In fact it’s probably been suffering for months now. Do you relate?
What’s the answer?
Take more breaks.
Schedule focused work time lasting ideally no more than 90-120 minutes (some say they can go to 2.5 hours so it’s very individual).
Get up and walk around in between sitting down at your workstation.
Go outside for sunlight and recharge.
Limit your Zoom meeting schedule. Determine which meetings you really need to attend and which you can drop.
Be ruthless with your break time; do not let anyone schedule something into those times!
If you feel like every day is a total slog and may start off OK but always ends up in a mental and physical puddle, give the above a try. You want to optimize your work performance? Don’t take expensive supplements; start here!
Image source: Med-i-Well
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