REST, REPEAT , AND REFRESH : LET ME TELL WHY
It’s probably never been easier to acknowledge that a lot of us work too much and too hard, and should take more time off. Indeed, according to the NY Times, the very idea of burnout seems to be having a cultural moment.
“If you think you’re burned out, you’re burned out,” Jill Lepore wrote recently in The New Yorker, summarizing the workplace zeitgeist, “and if you don’t think you’re burned out, you’re burned out.” The time has come for workaholics and productivity junkies (and the rest of us) to be as deliberate, thoughtful and creative about taking breaks as they are for a reason. And that is about more than just using up vacation days.
The point isn’t just that it’s nice to goof off every so often — it’s that it’s necessary. And that’s true even if your ultimate goal is doing better work: Downtime allows the brain to make new connections and better decisions. Multiple studies have found that sustained mental attention without breaks is depleting, leading to inferior performance and decision-making.
The good news is that at least some companies are starting to take breaks seriously. Lately, companies including LinkedIn and Roblox have experimented with mandatory vacation for all or most employees in the form of “spring break” periods. Actions like these that emphasize the value of time off represent a “profound” shift.
