{"id":30949,"date":"2021-03-21T10:13:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-21T14:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=30949"},"modified":"2021-04-04T13:20:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-04T17:20:00","slug":"take-a-break-from-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Take a Break From Work: Your Brain Needs Rest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why is it so important to take a break from work? How can overworking your brain actually be counterproductive? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can be tempting to spend most of your time working, especially if you have a demanding job. However, if you don&#8217;t give your brain time to relax, your work will become shallow and unproductive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn why you should allow your brain to relax at the end of every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Should You Take a Break From Work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re the type to want to be productive, it may be tempting to spend every waking hour working. <em>Deep Work <\/em>author Cal Newport thinks this is a counterproductive mindset, and that you should instead deliberately shut off your work and let your brain relax. Here are a few reasons you should take a break from work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First of all, even experts can only accomplish 4 hours of intense concentration each day. At the end of the day, your brain is depleted of willpower and is usually at its least effective in doing effective tasks. If you try to work, you\u2019ll often waste your time doing shallow work slowly, possibly tasks that didn\u2019t need to be done at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secondly, giving your brain time to relax is useful for solving difficult problems. This arises from two theories of thought:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/intuitive-thinking-2\/\">Unconscious Thought<\/a> Theory:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-subconscious\/\">the subconscious<\/a> parts of the brain are constantly working in the background to solve problems, in ways you can\u2019t perceive. This subconscious work is high bandwidth and sifts through lots of possible solutions. In a stressful environment, such as one where your brain is overworked and given no chance to relax, your subconscious is less effective at this. This may also explain why some surprisingly good insights come at relaxing but otherwise odd times, like while in the shower or driving a car.<\/li><li><strong>Attention Restoration Theory:<\/strong> like willpower, your ability to focus is limited and needs to be recharged. Deliberately setting aside time to relax today improves your focus tomorrow.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Both suggest that <strong>giving your brain time to relax is useful for solving difficult problems<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tips for Shutting Off Work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So how do you shut off work and relax? <\/strong>The book <em>Deep Work<\/em> suggests creating a shutdown ritual, where you check your work for anything you forgot and plan your next day\u2019s work. Here\u2019s an example ritual:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Check your emails for any last urgent items.<\/li><li>Keep a todo list of unresolved items.<\/li><li>Make sure every item in the todo list is scheduled to be completed.<\/li><li>Look through your calendar to make sure there aren\u2019t important deadlines you forgot.<\/li><li>Make a todo list of tasks tomorrow.<\/li><li>Say \u201cshutdown complete\u201d or some equivalent phrase to explicitly mark the end of work.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The important concept here is to <strong>convince yourself that things will be fine when you shutdown<\/strong>. You\u2019ll never be able to finish all your important work in one day. Instead of feeling anxious about unfinished tasks, be confident that all the important tasks are accounted for, and that you\u2019ll make meaningful progress the next day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One specific suggestion on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/cant-relax\/\">how to relax<\/a> after work &#8211; walking in nature. Unlike city streets, they\u2019re cognitively undemanding, since there are no crosswalks and cars to navigate around. But they provide enough interest to the senses (sight, smell, hearing) to avoid a rambling mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why is it so important to take a break from work? How can overworking your brain actually be counterproductive? It can be tempting to spend most of your time working, especially if you have a demanding job. However, if you don&#8217;t give your brain time to relax, your work will become shallow and unproductive. Keep reading to learn why you should allow your brain to relax at the end of every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":30961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9,30],"tags":[250],"class_list":["post-30949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-psychology","category-work","tag-deep-work","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Take a Break From Work: Your Brain Needs Rest - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did you know it&#039;s actually counterproductive to overwork? 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Your brain needs to take a break or it won&#039;t be able to do deep work.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-21T14:13:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-04T17:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/tired-guy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"933\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"586\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"Take a Break From Work: Your Brain Needs Rest\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-21T14:13:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-04T17:20:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/\"},\"wordCount\":571,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/tired-guy.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Deep Work\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Psychology\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/\",\"name\":\"Take a Break From Work: Your Brain Needs Rest - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-a-break-from-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/tired-guy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-21T14:13:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-04T17:20:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Did you know it's actually counterproductive to overwork? 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