I’m taking some time again to continue the series around stress management. This time, I will tell you how I do more work by working less.
This is a paradox, until you realize that efficiency has to do with focus, emotional attachment, working together and energy levels.
With some tricks, I’m trying to work on all these fronts.
- The power of power-naps
In my company, there is a system of ‘alpha sleeps’. The underlying theory is that you take a short nap (15-30 minutes) but don’t fall asleep. Just deep enough to still be there but still deep enough to build up energy.
This is not easy. I do it regularly but for a couple of seconds at least, I’m gone.
However, when doing this before or after lunch, it helps a lot to start the second part of the day with fresh energy. It’s not as efficient as really going to sleep so the tiredness comes back sooner than in the morning.
However, it’s a great help to not start the afternoon with a big lack of energy. - Micro-breaks for staying one-self
During our stay at Plum Village, we (my wife and I) learned about ringing the bell to come back to yourself. It was quite something to hear the bell and all of the sudden, for 10 seconds, everything went quiet. The hubbub then continued so nobody lost their train of thought. You really have to experience it in order to understand what it does to people.
The Firefox plugin Bell of Mindfullness helps you do the same at home or work. Other apps are mentioned on the Plum Village website. By default it rings the bell every 15 minutes but I configured it to 20 minutes.
How does this help ? It’s my experience that by taking this 10-15 seconds breaks correctly, you connect again to yourself. By doing that, strong emotions around, e.g., that particular mail you have been reading tend to evaporate. This means you can be more open to what other people suggest or talk about. That way, true connection and communication can happen. This makes work a lot more efficient because the emotional baggage is decreased.
I realize this sound a bit far fetched, but it really works that way for me.
What is “correctly”. My experience is that you should- really be in the moment. Don’t do it thinking “Let’s do this because the bell rings” or “I will just break and it will help”. There is more to it than that. Full concentration to what you are doing during that break is a big part of it.
- You should be completely conscious of your breathing. Feel every breaths as it goes into your lungs and comes out again. Feel the air flowing through your nose or mouth, down the throat and into your lungs. Feel your lungs and stomach expend and relax.
It’s almost as if you are conscious of every molecule of air entering and leaving your body and the reaction of your body to it. - sit up straight. Don’t bend over since this is a pose of action. Don’t bend back because this is too much relaxing. Don’t slough as well. You want to be relaxed yet attentive !
- Drain stress
For me, this works best with Yoga. I have been doing this for so long now, that I can’t imagine a life without it.
Even better would be to be able to take (bi)daily shorter yoga sessions at home. That way, even with less exercises, it would work on a much deeper level.
Another good way would be doing some power sport. It all depends on what works best for you. - Find the correct time to do things
Because I take a power nap and I limit my time for e-mails, I start with e-mail right away in the morning.
There are quite some studies indicating that this is the worst time to do it. However, at that moment my energy levels are the highest so I can deal better with all the demands.
Because the e-mail time is limited, there is also no risk of spending the whole day on nothing but e-mail.
Therefore, the risks outlined in these studies seem to be counteracted.
In the afternoon, when the energy levels are lower (even with a power nap it’s lower than in the morning), I do things that give me energy. In my case, that’s technical stuff such as examining new trends or programming/automating/fixing bugs.
The most difficult part are the micro-breaks. When working together with other people, it’s pretty awkward to take these micro-breaks because a pause of 10 seconds happens. If the other person doesn’t know what’s going on, he or she might think you’re gone. Even if they know what’s going on because I mentioned it, I feel regularly that they don’t know what to do during this break.
Doing it collectively is better since everyone is then sharing the same moment. Doing that at a Zen Buddhist location such as Plum Village is of course much easier than in a commercial setting. My dream is that this might happen in commercial settings as well. I’m convinced that there would be a lot more cooperation and thus the company would be more efficient. Would this also work with extroverts ?
This is part of my “40 days without stress” series. You can start from the beginning or go to the last part on how this all worked out.
