[Personal] Active rest during workday vs weekend work
How to get more energy during your work week instead of just waiting for the weekend
I am currently going through a period where I have shifted my priority to my work life and so my work-life balance has shifted in the work > life direction. This has been challenging and to combat this I am trying to. This article is based on a piece of advice one of my colleagues gave me.
Some of the things that I am currently doing to combat this:
Scheduling active breaks → I notice that I have a dip in energy around 2 or 3 pm. Instead of pushing through I now anticipate this and take a break where I fully allow myself to not work.
Walking breaks → I try to take breaks while walking
Stretching → I stretch in my lab and sometimes look like a weirdo, but it works for me. I think this one in particular is also a helpful exercise of “no one cares what you are doing”
Committing to the break → You have probably been there at some point. Struggling through and half-heartedly working through a slump
Quick bodyweight exercises → I tried doing dips in the lab yesterday while waiting for a centrifuge run to finish, I also found a place to do some incline push-ups. Maybe I will find a *clean* spot for actual push-ups.
Biking everywhere (no really) → this just adds around ~30 minutes of light cardio and also makes me take a break from work
Scheduling “energy giving” social interactions → schedule time with friends that revive you strategically. For example, I feel very tired on Wednesdays so I reach out to friends and get something in the calendar on that day.
Some things which I hope to be doing:
Go outside during lunch → seeing the sun will help + it will be a longer break + I could get some bodyweight exercise in
Walking meetings → these are harder for me currently as most of my meetings are either online or require a discussion of data which is hard to present on a walk (flying laptops galore!)
Mindful walks → this can be combined with my lunch time walk (possibly with no phone)
Meditation breaks during work → need to figure out how to properly switch off my brain during work. Any suggestions would be welcome
I hope you found this list useful. If you have any suggestions to please do get in touch! I have been inspired to go on a walk during lunch today. Will update you all on how it goes.