Your lunch is important. Not just what you are eating, most of you are aware of that, but also how you are eating it.
Yes, that’s right.
We are all busy and usually our To Do list is longer than we can get done today. This sense of pressure makes us feel like there is not enough time and before you know it you are having lunch behind your desk, barely tasting what it is you’re eating.
Or you are skipping your lunch break all together while other days you quickly wolf down your lunch while running to get to your next meeting on time. Because you are so busy. There’s no time left to waste on eating lunch.
Well, I recommend you to think again. In fact taking a proper lunch break will save you time!
Research has shown that taking even a short 20-minute break helps increase your concentration and your energy level. It also has a positive effect on your productivity. I remember reading about research several years ago (but for the life of me can’t find it to properly reference it….). It concluded that people who took a 45 minute lunch break were more productive than those who continued working and ate behind their desk.
So while you think you are saving time by not having a lunch break you are actually slowing down your productivity so much that your friend who went for lunch and perhaps a quick walk will still get more done during that day!
On top of that skipping breaks reduces your creativity too.
“Never taking a break from very careful thought work actually reduces your ability to be creative” says Kimberly Elsbach, a management professor at UC-Davis who studies the psychology of the workplace. “It sort of exhausts your cognitive capacity and you’re not able to make the creative connections you can if your brain is more rested.”
So those are plenty of reasons to allow yourself a decent lunch break. And rumour has it that it will help improve your mood too.
As I was working on this article I stumbled upon my “It’s all good” cookbook from Gwyneth Paltrow. In it Dr. Habib Sadeghi writes: “Food is sacred. Its dual purpose was understood by many ancient cultures, which is why food was an integral part of their spiritual ceremonies. … We feed our bodies through food, but we feed our souls through what makes us happy, through pleasure. Because food brings us so much pleasure, it’s not just essential for a healthy body, but a healthy spirit, too.”
As a spiritual being we can’t expect to be able to do what we came here to do while neglecting the vehicle we have been given (our body) nor to skimp on the nourishment of our soul.
So I recommend you to incorporate a healthy lunch break into your day. It’s good for your body, your mind and your soul. And for your business too 😉
And to not just do this on days when you have plenty of time but also (especially!) on those where your To Do list seems to dictate the pace of the day. At the end of the day you’ll be grateful you took the time for it.
If you want more tools to increase your energy, focus and productivity and to take back control over your enery level then I highly recommend my powerful online program ‘Energy Management for Sensitive Souls’.
This will provide you with The Powerful Energy Management System that will help you grow your career without all the energy-drain or exhaustion—and still have plenty left over to enjoy your personal life and feel good .
