The Mindfulness Blog

About a month ago, a venerable bastion of conservative news, The Chicago Tribune, published a business piece entitled, "Want to be a peak performer? Build in breaks". The sub-title was, "Ways to manage time, eliminate distraction and stay healthy at work". Sounds like something that should peek the curiosity of a lot of lawyers!

One particular header in the piece caught my eye: "Build in regular breaks", which opined:

"It's so easy and tempting to just plow away at the task at hand. But this approach isn't productive, and more hours do not equate to more work completed.... But what is the ideal break time? One study found that the most productive workers followed the 52 to 17 rule--working for 52 consecutive minutes and then taking a 17 minute break. (This is similar to the Pomodoro Method)."

I understand that a 17 minute break is more than most lawyers will allow themselves on a routine basis, but the concept of taking a break, at one or more times during the day, is something that we ignore at our own peril. The way things work at most every law firm these days, self-care is a matter of one's own responsibility, but it's really just another aspect of time-management. And if we don't take care of ourselves, how can we ever expect to take care of others, like our families or our clients?

Mindfulness is something we can all achieve, if we build regular meditation breaks into our day--shorter "installment payments" if our day is running tight, and longer "lump sum payments" if our day affords us some extra time. Either way, making time for one's self in the course of a busy day, is important--it makes things a bit more bearable, and it allows us an opportunity to do something good for ourselves.

So build in a break or two for yourself, at work. And treat yourself to a little quiet time that you'll always appreciate, and never regret!