As a college student in California attending Cal Poly San Luis Opispo, I discovered the coolest couches on the second floor of the Robert E. Kennedy Library. Oh, BABY! I thought I had died and gone to study heaven! On any given break between classes you could find me on the first couch at the top of the stairs on the second floor, studying hard…for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes I was sound asleep. The couches were comfortable, the library was cool and quite, and very conducive to long, long naps. The only problem was, I had a lot of studying to do. And, I had every intention of using that “slack time” between classes to get all of my studying done before heading off to my job in the data center at French Hospital.

It did not take long for me to realize that this was not a good investment of my study time. It was time for a change. I shifted from the couches to one of the study cubicles (still on the second floor) and created a more study friendly environment. This was a key step, but was really only a half-step to my ultimate success. With long, LONG durations of study (sometimes 12 to 14 hours at a time), I would become really fatigued after about 90 minutes…and would begin pining for those couches. My mental focus would decrease and my emotional energy would reach all time lows. In fact, my desire to get up and go do something entirely different (like go surfing) would overwhelm my need to study. I decided to treat my study time just like class time. I would study with a great deal of intensity for about 50 minutes and then take an intentional break for 10 minutes every hour. I would get up, stretch, walk around, get a drink, anything to disconnect from my studies and get my blood flowing again. Later in my college career, I purchased a Game Boy portable game system and would spend a few minutes playing video games to add a mental disengagement to my physical one. This had the dual benefit of giving me a mental break, but also gave me a bit of a reward for studying hard.

It was a bit counter intuitive, but taking frequent breaks not only increased my enjoyment, but it allowed me to accomplish about 100 times more than I would have if I had simply tried to muscle may way through my study time. During your day, are you taking frequent enough breaks in order to be more effective? Do you get up, move around, stay hydrated, snack, etc? Doing so could be the difference between being fully successful and sleep walking through your day. You can take a 30 second break (stop, close your eyes, breath deep, stretch, etc.), a 5 minute break, a 1 hour break, etc. during your day to increase your effectiveness.

Try it. I guarantee you will notice the difference.