What’s Recess Got To Do With Work?

I recently read an article about the ratio of play time to study time for children.

Unless you too have read the item, you probably weren’t aware that in Finland, school children are given a 15 minute recess break EVERY HOUR.  And it’s been proven, in study after study, not to mention the anecdotal evidence from the teachers, that these kids are incredibly alert, engaged, interested and participate fully in their classroom hours.

So let’s take a page out of that lesson.  This is not meant to be a blog about changing the public school system’s recess to classroom time ratio in North America (though I do hope others will take up that cause), but what can we glean from this in our working lives?

My big take away is this:  More breaks lead to higher rate of engagement, creativity and productivity.

I get that we are all different and travel to the beat of different drums.

So don’t take a 15 minute break every hour.  Take a 10 minute break every three hours.

Or take a half-hour or a one-hour break at lunch like our employment contracts likely state (but many of us are too worried what others will think about us if we take a lunch break when nobody else in the office does).

Carve out your breaks.  Call it recess… call it creative juice refill…. Call it what you want.

Want to be more productive, engaged, fulfilled, creative and happy at work?  Find ways to take recess! What do you think?