Break Techniques For Efficiency

After noticing a similar habit among highly creative people (Einstein, Mozart, da Vinci, etc), the neuroscientist Dr. Nancy Andreasen designed a brain-imaging study to explore the neural basis of this habit. Essentially, these creative people all carved out time each day for... “Free-floating periods of thought,” Dr. Andreasen writes in her book, “The Creating Brain.” The specifics of the habit differ. Leonardo da Vinci, for example, would often sit in front of a painting “and simply think, sometimes for as long as a half day.” Whereas Einstein loved to aimlessly drift at sea on a little wooden boat he called the “Tinef” (Yiddish for “piece of junk”). He had to be rescued by the Coast Guard so frequently that a friend eventually bought him an outboard motor for emergency use, but Einstein refused it. “To the average person, being becalmed for hours might be a terrible trial,” the friend said. “To Einstein, this could simply provide more time to think.” So, Dr. Andreasen conducted the first study of brain activity during “free-floating periods of thought,” when the body is in a “resting state” and the mind is free to wander. “We found activations in multiple regions of the association cortex,” she writes. “We were not [seeing] a passive silent brain during the ‘resting state,’ but rather a brain that was actively connecting thoughts and experiences.” Essentially, Dr. Andreasen found that the brain defaults to creativity. When the body is still and the mind is allowed to float freely, the brain engages in what she termed REST (“random episodic silent thinking”). And during REST, the brain “uses its most human and complex parts...areas known to gather information and link it all together.” Separate from those that led to Dr. Andreasen's study, I’ve collected many examples of creative people describing their own REST-ful habits: The legendary designer Paula Scher: “I figured out every identity program I’ve ever done in a taxicab…you sit in the back...look out the window and you can sort of let your mind wander.” One of the great songwriters of all time, Paul Simon: “I used to go off in the bathroom...turn on the faucet so that water would run—I like that sound, it’s very soothing to me—and I’d play, in the dark, letting my imagination wander.” (During one of these sessions, these words came to him: “Hello darkness, my old friend / I’ve come to talk with you again”—which became the opening verse of “The Sound of Silence”). The filmmaker Quentin Tarantino: “I have a pool...And I hop in my pool and just kind of float around…and then a lot of shit will come to me. Literally, a lot of ideas will come to me. Then I get out and make little notes on that...That will be my work for tomorrow.” - - - So whether it’s sitting in front of painting, drifting in a boat, riding in a taxi, playing the guitar in a dark bathroom, or floating in a pool, if you want to be more creative, carve out time each day for “free-floating periods of thought.”

What do Albert Einstein, Paul McCartney, and Virgina Woolf have in common – besides being highly influential figures in their respective fields? All three revealed that some of their most creative ideas came to them whilst they were walking or sleeping. Ok, so what’s the brain up to this time? Why should disengaging help #creativity? In 2014, a group of researchers at Stanford measured the positive effects of mild physical activity on creativity – and found that walking boosted creativity by between 50-80%. 👉 When students took a brisk walk around the college campus or walked at a relaxed pace on an indoor treadmill facing a blank wall – their performance on a test of creativity called the “Alternate Uses Task” improved by a whopping 81%! The AUT tests “divergent thinking,” which is the ability to explore many possible solutions, including blue sky or out of the box thinking. 👉 Walking outdoors produced the most novel and highest quality analogies, indicating that walking had a very specific benefit in improving creativity. 👉 Furthermore, walking made people more talkative, resulting in roughly 50% more total ideas being produced compared to when sitting. In other words, just going for a short walk led to a massive increase in creativity. Or, in the words of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, "All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” Sleeping on it seems to have a similar creativity-enhancing effect as physical exercise. How many times have you come back to tackle a seemingly insurmountable problem after a sleep – or even a nap – and the pieces seemed to fall right into place? Studies have found that during the phase of sleep known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, the #brain is able to make new and novel connections between unrelated ideas, which is a key aspect of creativity. This state of sleep allows for the free association of ideas, which can lead to creative problem-solving and the generation of innovative ideas upon waking. REM sleep is thought to contribute to "incubating" creative ideas, as the brain reorganizes and consolidates memories, potentially leading to creative insights. Both physical exercise and sleep are mood-enhancers, which may contribute to enhancing creativity. Research suggests that positive moods can enhance creative thinking, making it easier for individuals to think flexibly and come up with innovative solutions. Positive emotional states often increase cognitive flexibility, broaden attention, and allow for more associations between ideas, which are key elements of creativity. Turns out, there are practical ways to spark more ‘Aha!’ moments in our lives. The next time you’re struggling to think of a solution to a problem, try taking a walk or sleeping on it – the evidence-backed cheat-codes for unlocking creativity!

It's okay to disconnect from everyone to connect back to yourself. I still remember staring at my phone during the darkest period of my burnout. 47 unread messages. 16 missed calls. 3 "urgent" emails. Each notification represented someone else's needs, priorities, and emergencies. None represented mine. We live in a world that has weaponized our availability. The average professional now checks their phone 96 times daily, once every 10 minutes. We've normalized being perpetually available to everyone except ourselves. My breaking point came when my body forced a reckoning through crippling insomnia. Six months of sleeping less than an hour a night while running a startup doesn't end well. My doctor's prescription wasn't medication but something far more radical in today's world: disconnection. Society has conditioned us to view disconnection as selfish or irresponsible. Yet the greatest leaders throughout history have practiced strategic solitude. Newton developed calculus during a plague quarantine. Einstein formulated relativity during solitary walks. Maya Angelou wrote in rented hotel rooms away from everyone. Your relationship with yourself is the foundation for every other relationship in your life. When that primary connection weakens, all others suffer regardless of how much attention you give them. The paradox? Temporary disconnection often leads to deeper connection. The clearer you become about who you are, the more authentically you can show up for others. I've now built non-negotiable solitude into my life. One day each month, I disconnect completely. No explanations, no exceptions. The result has been counterintuitive. I'm actually more available, creative, and present when I do connect. When did you last spend time alone with yourself, not as a punishment, but as a gift? ------------------------------------------------- Follow me Dan Murray🧠 for more on habits and leadership. ♻️ Repost this if you think it can help someone in your network! 🖐️ P.S Join my newsletter The Science Of Success where I break down stories and studies of success to teach you how to turn it from probability to predictability here: https://lnkd.in/ecuRJtrr

One of the most important lessons I've learned in my career is the power of taking a real break. It can be easy to celebrate constant hustle, always-on responsiveness, and squeezing just “one more thing” into the workday. But the truth is that results require rest. Creativity needs breathing room. Well-being demands boundaries. At Verizon, we talk a lot about being our best for our customers, our colleagues and the communities we serve. That starts with being our best for ourselves. And that means knowing when to unplug. Whether it's stepping away for a vacation, signing off fully for the weekend, or just taking a walk between meetings—these moments of true rest are not “nice to have,” they’re essential. They give us the clarity and focus to lead well, solve problems creatively and support one another. I recently took a few days off, and it was cleansing in so many ways. I could hear myself think and felt a sense of peace simply because I made the space to pause. Working endlessly is a direct path to burnout. Nothing will impact your efficiency and productivity more than draining every drop of your energy and attempting to push forward on fumes. My best ideas always come after I disconnect — not when I am running on empty. Here’s the catch. You need to make the time vs. take the time. It may sound like a subtle difference, but unless you carve out dedicated space to untether yourself from work, devices and whatever else you are juggling, it just won’t happen. Changing scenery is not enough. You need a full rest and reboot for it to count. Everyone needs to model this, especially if you’re a people leader. Your teams look up to you. If you don’t truly disconnect, they won’t either. So check in with your teams, talk openly about what you’re doing to step away and make sure they have a break within reach.  I hope everyone reading this finds a chance this summer to really unplug, recharge and come back renewed. It’s one of the best investments we can make — in ourselves and in each other. #VTeamLife #Wellbeing #Culture #lovewhereyouwork #lovewhatyoudo

Taking breaks is part of the job. If you plough straight from task to task, stress builds and focus drops. I'm often guilty of this. I get absorbed by a challenge or an opportunity, dive in and find that three hours have passed before I know it. Microsoft ran EEG tests on people in back-to-back 30-minute meetings. measuring what happens in their brains. They found that short pauses prevented stress from accumulating, boosted engagement, and smoothed the stressful “gear-change” between meetings. In other words, breathers help you do better work. Here are three ways I make breaks count: 1. The pre-task pause Before a tricky task, I go out and take a five-minute walk - even if it's pouring! - then start. Beginning with a breath of fresh air calms the transition and stops me white-knuckling through the first half hour. 2. The one-song reset I turn up the volume on a three-minute track (currently something by Post Malone) stand up, stretch my wrists, look at something out of the window very far away. Then I refill my glass with cold water, and sit back down as the song ends. The music is my timer, so there’s no alarm faff - and I always come back on cue. 3. The park-it technique I end a deep-work stint by writing two lines on the notepad by my keyboard: “what I did” and “what I’ll do next”. Then I step away. Writing down the next step eases my fear of losing momentum, so I can pick it up again the next day. If, like me, you get absorbed and let hours disappear, try one of these this week. What’s your most reliable reset?

A study more people should know about: Simple “nudges” to reduce smartphone use improve wellbeing. 📚 The study: Olson et al. (2022), “A Nudge-Based Intervention to Reduce Problematic Smartphone Use: Randomised Controlled Trial” (published in The International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction) 🧪 What they did: The researchers randomly split two groups. One group was told to use their smartphones as usual. The other group was encouraged to use these simple strategies for 2-6 weeks:  1) Notifications. Disable non-essential notifications (sounds, banners, and vibration). 2) Accessibility. Keep your phone on silent (vibrate off), face down, out of sight, and out of reach when not in use throughout the day. 3) Unlocking. Disable Touch ID/Face ID (i.e. the fingerprint/face scanner to unlock your phone); use a password instead. 4) Sleep. Keep your phone on silent (vibrate off) and out of reach when going to bed (e.g. on the opposite side of the room). 5) Display. Turn down your phone’s brightness, set it to greyscale (black and white), and change the colour warmth to filter out blue light (i.e., turn on the “night shift” feature). 6) Social media. Hide social media and email apps (e.g. Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook, Gmail, Outlook) in a folder off of the home screen (or even delete them). 7) Computers. If you can do the task on a computer, try to keep it on the computer (e.g. social media, web search, or e-mail). 8) Relationships. Let your family, friends, or colleagues know that you will be replying less often unless they call you directly. 9)  Presence. Leave your phone at home when you do not need it (e.g. when getting groceries or going to the gym). 📈 The result: Among the group that used these strategies, the researchers saw: → Reduction in problematic smartphone use and screen time  → Reduction in depressive symptoms  → Improved sleep quality TL;DR The basic stuff works. Implement these basic strategies to hack back your phone. If you enjoyed this, download my 1-page playbook on how to build your Indistractable Phone: https://lnkd.in/ehvdikW9

We have normalised the abnormal. And it’s to our detriment. Companies and individuals alike seem to think that it should be accepted to work with constant interruptions and distractions. Radical point of view here: It’s not! The key to productivity isn't doing MORE – more tasks, more meetings, more apps for tracking metrics and deliverables, ANOTHER SPEADSHEET… It’s knowing when to step back and disconnect. A digital detox, if you will. I can tell you with full confidence, after 2 decades being around high performers and executives, that those who achieve the most in their fields are those who aren’t always accessible. Why? They're the ones who deliberately create space for deep work. The science backs this up: achieving flow state—that magical zone where work feels effortless and time melts away—requires three things: → Work that energizes you → Deep focus → The ability to work on the task without interruption How can you achieve all 3 when you’re dealing with yet another Teams notification or Slack message? Each of these interruptions is sacrificing your most valuable resource: your attention. A single interruption costs you not just the seconds to check it, but the additional 23 minutes to fully regain your concentration. My advice? Schedule "meetings of one" with yourself. Block your calendar, silence notifications, and communicate your unavailability just as you would during any other important meeting. Use this time to tackle projects that will benefit from your full and undivided attention. I’m not saying to go full analogue and reject technology completely, but rather to decide to use it intentionally. When you protect your focus time, you can accomplish in 2 hours what might otherwise take an entire day. What's your strategy for creating focus time? Have you experienced the productivity boost that comes from strategic digital detox? #DigitalDetox #LinkedInNewsDACH #ProductivityHacks

A browser with 100 open tabs! 🤯 We all know that is not how we should be using it. Now imagine our brain as that browser with 100 open tabs. A constant hum in the background, a relentless barrage of notifications, emails, and deadlines. That's the digital overload we're all grappling with. It's the modern professional's silent nemesis, stealing our focus, draining our energy, and leaving us feeling perpetually frazzled. As a marketer, I'm no stranger to this. The constant pings, notifications, and the need to stay 'connected' can be overwhelming. It's like we're caught in a digital whirlwind, right? The more we try to keep up, the more we feel left behind. It's a vicious cycle that leaves us drained, stressed, and less productive. So, what's the remedy? Daily digital detox. Here's what's been working for me for the past few months: 1️⃣ Digital Minimalism It's not about renouncing technology but using it with a purpose. Ask yourself, "Is this tool adding value to my life or just consuming my time?" 2️⃣ Unplug Ritual Create a daily ritual to disconnect. For me, it's a mobile-free hour before bed and after waking up. 3️⃣ Mindful Notifications Turn off non-essential notifications. Choose what deserves your attention. My social media, WhatsApp, and email notifications are always turned off. My Apple devices allow me to set a uniform focus mode across devices basis time of the day and location, and other OS like Android and Windows have similar features. 4️⃣ Clear Boundaries Designate specific times for checking emails and especially social media. Stick to it. My phone enters sleep mode at 11 pm and wakes up only post 7 am. 5️⃣ Tech-free Bedroom Establish areas in your home where technology is off-limits. After having a TV in my bedroom for years, I have taken it down. The idea is to have quiet time with my loved ones. 6️⃣ No Cheat Days The weekends are when we want to unwind, get lost in comfort and leisure, and gravitate toward our smartphones is natural. But don't give in to that. A book or even an afternoon stroll can be incredibly rejuvenating. The benefits? I'm more present in my interactions, leading to improved relationships - especially with my kids. I discovered a sense of calm and contentment - a rarity a few months ago in this hyper-connected world. The goal of a digital detox is not to escape from technology but to create a balanced relationship with it. It's about reclaiming our time and attention to live a more meaningful life. #DigitalDetox #Mindfulness #Productivity #Unplug

6 Steps From Burnout to Balance: (That Actually Work) (Spoiler: This one's going to make you mad.) → You reschedule "life" for next week → Your relationships suffer from your exhaustion → You wake up every day already behind Sound like you? Here's the secret: Burnout isn't a sign of success. It's a symptom. I learned the hard way. After months of grinding non-stop... My body decided enough was enough. It shut down completely. No more "just one more task." No more "I'll rest later." Just... darkness. Here's your 6-step roadmap to reclaiming your balance: Step 1/ Create thinking space → Block 2 hours weekly → Ask: "What actually matters this week?" → No meetings. No calls. Just clarity. Step 2/ Cut the complexity → Find ONE task that drains you → Eliminate, automate, or delegate it → Watch your energy return Step 3/ Own your power hours → Claim 15 minutes for YOU → Movement, mindfulness, or reflection → Make it non-negotiable Step 4/ Reduce the noise → Stop consuming endless content → Pick ONE source of inspiration → Focus on action over information Step 5/ Draw the line → Set work boundaries (and keep them) → Define your "done time" → The world won't end if you disconnect Step 6/ Find your mirror → Connect with someone who sees through excuses → Share your struggles → Accept support Remember, balance isn't about perfect harmony. It's about choices - deliberate ones. When you follow these steps: → Your mind clears → Your relationships deepen → Your energy returns You don't have to live on the brink of burnout. But only you can choose to step back. What's your first step? — ♻️ Repost if this resonated with you. → Follow Peter Sorgenfrei for more actionable insights on building companies. Would you like these insights delivered straight to your inbox? https://lnkd.in/dyjtnRBd

You’ve reduced your screentime before bed. You’re going to bed early. You’re getting 8 hours of sleep. But still, you don’t feel well-rested. This is why. Rest isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s highly personalized. And the key to know what rest means for you is: Your rest must be the opposite of your work. Think about it. → Sedentary vs. Physical work If you work a desk job, then rest for you is movement. A walk, a stretch, anything that wakes your body up. But if your work is physically demanding, rest for you is giving yourself permission to sit still without guilt. → Cerebral vs. Regulated work Rest for someone who spends their day making critical decisions is doing something mindless. While rest for someone doing repetitive tasks is mentally stimulating activities. → Social vs. Isolated work If you work with people all day, rest is silence and solitude. But if you work alone, rest is laughter, connection and human energy. Rest looks different for everybody. So stop copying other people's rest routines. And start asking yourself: What's the opposite of what I do all day? That's your real rest. #Rest #Wellness #Productivity #BoundlessWithRamG