How to Get the Most Out of Your Lunch Hour
As it turns out, what you do during your lunch hour can be just as important as your morning and after-work routine. Using your lunch break wisely can help you to refuel, re-energise, and can serve to make you feel less fatigued by your work-life.
How do you spend your lunch break?
First – Make a plan!
A lunch break not only fuels your motivation to power toward the end of the day, but it also gives you something to look forward to in the morning. So our first tip is to make a plan. Decide how you want to spend your lunch break and DO THAT! Don’t forget that your break is your concern and you should spend it the way you want.
Take a Walk
Schedule in a walk during your lunch break and chase those good endorphins and harness your productivity.
The advantages of regular exercise on general health is no longer a mystery, and the benefits of how it improves your life on a day-to-day basis are many. A study from Stanford University in 2017 showed that a person’s creative production increased by an average of 60% after going for a walk.
Do Not Disturb
Make it clear to your workplace that your lunch hour is a do not disturb time.
It’s hard to put a dent in your workload when you are continually bombarded with inquiries and emails. Interruptions to workflow, no matter how brief, make you feel busier and reduce productivity. So, spell it out loud and clear with a ‘do not disturb’ block-out in your calendar.
Take time out and grab a healthy bite.
Our bodies are complex, and our brain needs specific nutrients to function with clarity. Blocking out a daily lunch break on your calendar will force you to step away from your desk and eat mindfully.
While we’re not nutritionists, we do know that to feel good after lunch we need to be sourcing our fuel from whole-grains, low-fat protein and plenty of fruit and veg.
Clear and organise the space around you
Are you looking for some afternoon clarity? Spend your lunch break de-cluttering your desk space. If you want to organise your thoughts and focus on your work – you need a work setting that encourages this kind of clarity. So hop-to-it and clean up your workspace! Organise your computer desktop, remove any clutter from your desk, don’t eat where you work and put away your dirty dishes.
Feed your creativity
When you have a large workload and are feeling overwhelmed, sometimes the best thing to do is to disconnect from the work at hand and get creative for 20 to 30 minutes to reset your brain. When you return to the project, you’ll have a fresh and innovative perspective.
Creativity can take on many forms and can be sourced in various ways, depending on you.
- Read a book or a newspaper.
- Listen to a podcast or audiobook.
- Draw your ideas
- Put music on and dance.
Post to social media
Your lunch hour is a great time to attend to your social media habits. Research shows that one of the best times for activity on social media in Australia is around lunchtime on weekdays. So use this time to Like, Tweet, Post, Record, curate your account and catch up on any social information. Some workplaces worry about their staff being online all day – the reality is its part of our lives and an excellent way for you and your employees to stay connected with industry peers, leaders, and businesses, plus it can help you develop the skills and knowledge needed to succeed on these platforms.
