Don’t mention the C word, but it’s only four weeks until most of the working world gets to take some time off to recoup, regather and replan for the year ahead.

 While time off is probably the farthest thing from anyone’s mind right now, amid a busy period of uncertainty and change, there is much to be said about the benefits of taking a break away from your business.

 Emil Verster of Cornerstone Solutions explains and provides his top tips to take a break this holiday period.

Work and breaks are opposite sides of the same productivity coin. If you want to be productive, you need a combination of work and breaks. Work and breaks are inversely proportional – the harder you work the more enjoyable the breaks.

Breaks allow you to operate at a higher level. Too much work, and your productivity and motivation decreases. We do our best work when we are having fun.

Sometimes a circumstance demands a break because the timing is not right. The beautiful gift of taking a break is that it gives you time to reflect and get perspective and, sometimes, receive a break-through.

As we move closer to the festive season and the summer holidays, to enjoy your break and not be pre-occupied with work, it is important to prepare for your break. This requires completing your ‘To Do lists’, strategic planning, have spoken to your colleagues and clients about their start times and even made some appointments for when you return to work.

Some of our best ideas come when we taking a break and it is good to have somewhere to capture those thoughts. The Notes area on your mobile is perfect for ‘jotting’ down random thoughts or uploading a screen captured social post.

It helps to be aware of what problem you trying to solve, so ask the question of yourself and try to ‘trick’ your sub-conscious by engaging your reticular activating system (frontal lobe of your brain) to be working while you take a break.

Set yourself up to have a good break and avoid stress by controlling what you focus on. Avoid demotivating values like frustration by not sweating the small stuff, overwhelm by taking your time or anger by being more empathetic.

Remember if we can’t travel anywhere, a change in our routines is as good as holiday – ideally some moderation when it comes to watching the news and social media, instead enjoy more lazy, summer days, shared experiences with friends and family and living in the moment.

So let’s all come back in the New Year refocused, reprioritised, refreshed and ready to go. Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

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