Eric Partaker breaks down six types of breaks that boost productivity: 15-20 minute micro breaks, 10-minute breaks after 50-minute work blocks, full weekends off, quarterly long weekends, annual vacations, and 8 hours of sleep plus an hour without screens before bed. Recovery isn't a luxury. It's what lets you actually work.
For years I was obsessed with trying to improve my productivity, trying to get the absolute greatest amount of output for the least amount of input. But it wasn't until I mastered what I'm going to talk to you about today, the power of breaks and specific types of break routines, that my productivity really reached its full potential.
Hi, my name is Eric Partaker and I help entrepreneurs and leaders scale up not just their companies, but also themselves so that they can reach their full potential and all that they're doing in business and in life. And today we're talking about productivity, but we're not coming at it from the typical angle. We're coming at it from the angle of recovery or breaks. Because those people who take significantly more breaks throughout their day on average will outperform, outproduce, be more productive than another group of people that is not taking regular breaks throughout their day. But there are six different types of breaks that we need to master in our routines to maximize our productivity. Number one is the micro break. Most people don't take a break until say, after one, two, three hours of work. What I would like you to start trying to do is set a timer for 16 minutes, 40 seconds, 1,000 seconds. And every 16 minutes, 40 seconds, when that 1,000 second timer goes off, that's your cue to stop being in your seated position, get up, move around, even if it's just for a minute or two, move your legs, sit back down. It might sound like a crazy thing to do and a bit of a waste of time, but when we're seated too long and it actually starts to slow down, our productivity starts to slow down our thinking, and we need to re energize with that micro break routine. Now, you don't have to do it exactly 16 minutes and 40 seconds. I just kind of like the thousand seconds thing. But you could set it anywhere between 15 and 20 minutes. But it's just a quick one. Timer goes off, stand up, sit back down, or stand up, move around a little bit, sit back down. The next break routine that you need to master or install is a 50 minute, or you could think of it as an hourly break. I generally set it for about 50 minutes. So every 15, 50 minutes I get up and I take a 10 minute break. This isn't a break to do another form of work. This is a break where you're genuinely switching off from work. And what I've noticed, by the way, is that when I would work three hours straight in the past and instead suddenly only be working for, well, you have those micro breaks that I just described, but working for, say, 50 minute chunks and then taking those 10 minutes off. So in a three hour period, I'm working actually only two and a half hours, right. Compared to working three hours straight. But I was out producing my old self. And that's because I was getting that recovery that I needed to keep going at the higher level that I wanted to be playing at. The next break routine that you need to install, it happens every single week. It's called the weekend. But people don't generally respect the weekend. So they continue working often Saturdays and Sundays. Not all people, but a lot of people. And if that describes, you know, you, then you should really switch off on the weekend because by switching off you will actually produce more Monday through Friday than if you're constantly working at breakneck speed with no breaks at all. After our weekend, the next break I want to get into your mind is the getaway. And these are things that you could be doing, say on a quarterly basis, perhaps with your family or friends. And I like to think of it as just like a long weekend. Not a full, you know, full trip, but just an extra, you know, maybe it's a Friday or a Monday added, where you're taking a day off to the weekend and you're going somewhere, you're jumping in the car or taking a short flight and you're just getting away. You're experiencing something different or new. You know, stay in a hotel, but just get away from your current environment. The act of doing that will improve your productivity as well, because it just refreshes you. It puts you in a different scene and allows you to better appreciate everything that you've created in your life and that you're doing professionally. And then we have our annual vacation planning, so of course we have our holiday planning. But I would also encourage you to try to pick at least one or two other times during the year booked in advance. You have something to look forward to that you're going to be doing with your family as a family vacation, or with friends, however you like to travel and take your breaks. Now, installing all these break routines will dramatically improve your productivity because you have something to look forward to. You're creating some movement and re energizing yourself depending on which type of break we're talking about. And.
You'Re giving yourself that recovery, you know, that you need, because you know, we can't continue to produce at high level if we're always on and not also trying to be, you know, off as well. Now, the last break routine, because I said six. The last break routine. It happens every single night. It's called sleep. And you need to be getting eight hours of sleep every night. And I would suggest if you haven't tried this before, do what's called a digital sunset, where an hour before bedtime you turn off all the electronics so. So that the blue light going into your eyes doesn't inhibit the melatonin production, which is what happens if you have too much electronic light going into the eyes. So an hour before bedtime, shut off all the electronic lights so that you got as much melatonin flowing through your body as possible, which will induce the deepest state of sleep. So you get those full eight hours. So add these different break routines to your life. The micro break, the, you know, 16 minutes, 40 seconds, the 50 minute break, you know, the macro break. Make sure that you're doing your, you're actually, you know, appreciating the weekend and taking the time off. Do the getaways, you know, once a quarter, add an extra Friday or Monday. Do your annual vacation planning. Make sure you're getting those eight hours of sleep a night and your productivity will go through the roof. So I hope you've enjoyed that and please, like, subscribe, comment down below and hope to see you again soon. It.
