How fewer hours each day working makes you more productive (A Shabbat principle)

How fewer hours each day working makes you more productive (A Shabbat principle)

In the previous post, we spoke about how impactful taking time off of work is. The numbers are staggering. In a 2022 study by Zippia, 55% of US employees don't use their PTO. We previously spoke about what leaders can do to ensure their team is taking time off that they need and being motivated or pushed sometimes to completely disconnect. Today will discuss the principle of taking time off from doing work each and every day. As well, as the Shabbat principle of doing other things one enjoys besides work.

Taking a break at work (not lunch breaks)

Whenever I think back to my office experience one of the ideas that fascinates me most is the lunch break. If you think back to the time you were in the office (or if you are still there in a hybrid model) think about this. How often did you ever run an errand or go to a doctor's appointment at 10:30am or 3:00pm? I'm going to assume with 99.9% confidence almost never. Why? Because it was faux pas. That's what your lunch break is for. Eating or doing whatever else in life you needed to take care of. That was the one block of time to live during your work day. If you left outside of the lunch break you were tagged as a slacker or someone who doesn't care for the unwritten rules. Asynchronous work and the change of mindset from presenteeism to results-driven will change all that. But that's for another post.

The idea of Shabbat is that we work. We create. We build. Then we need a break to recharge. But we all need to recharge every day, not just once a week. Desktime found from their data of the most productive people globally, that a ~20-minute break every 50 minutes is the ideal schedule. So on an average day, your team should take 4 breaks (not including lunch). As a leader, you should encourage this approach. You can support this by encouraging your team to take micro-breaks throughout the day. If your team is doing sync meetings (hopefully only for the right reasons) a short break before or after can help with context switching or unwinding/charge up. You can also do things together as a team. For example, something I'd like to try with my team is a 15-minute meeting where no one is allowed to talk. Put on some nice meditation music and close your eyes for a short break. Not only do you get the rewards of the break and mindfulness but you do it together as a team. Yes, there's no interaction but the experience of doing an activity as a team builds connection.

Go for a walk🚶

Go for a walk. Simple but one of the biggest game changers for me personally during the pandemic. When CoVid hit I didn't leave the house for more than 10 minutes during the day. For about 3 months. I truly was crushing and unsustainable. Then from the feedback I received during one of my podcast recordings, I started going for a daily walk. Game-changing was the word to best describe the impact most importantly on my mental health. As a leader, you first need to focus on your own health before you can support your teams. Maimonides understood the importance of a quick-paced walk as he codifies it as a crucial practice in good health. Which is related to observing the commandments. Being perhaps the greatest Jewish doctor of all time and the best doctor of his time, he was on to the 30-minute minimum daily exercise as we're seeing is the minimum standard doctors recommend today.

Quiet time isn't the only brain benefit walking offers. A study from 2014 from Stanford University found that creativity was increased by 60% while/by participants going for a walk. For me another proof around the idea of async brainstorming (not for this post but stay tuned). I can personally attest to this of how many breakthroughs or great ideas I've had come on my daily walk. You can also try walking meetings.

Take a nap 😴

One of my personal favorites of the Sabbath is the nap (the Shabbos shluf). I can't get through my Saturdays without it. But as per this whole post, the nap isn't just for the Sabbath. It can both recharge the batteries and boost creativity within your team daily. I've personally long pushed my team to take a nap during the workday when needed. I recently had someone on my team return from maternity leave. As all parents have learned the motto of sleep when the baby sleeps. On her return, one of the first things I told her was don't ever hesitate to take a nap during the day. I know you're up late and crazy hours. I personally know the impact of poor sleep on one's engagement & productivity.

Here again, our Sages shared insight centuries ago about how long to nap and the impact it can have on one's work. They stated that sleeping more than 30 minutes during the week isn't permitted. The nap should be done to give strength to their learning (work). On the Sabbath longer naps for enjoyment are great. So as we can see simply from the letter of the law a 30-minute nap helps energize you and helps with your work. Surprise, surprise, this is what top medical professionals state today. And modern science has reinforced the same benefits of the nap as our ancients shared years ago.

Learn something every day or do something different 📚

Ok, we covered 2 of the major Sabbath principles. The nap and the walk. Let's cover a third principle that helps make your team more successful and engaged. Doing something at work besides work. Sounds wild, right? We're supposed to do work when we're at work. Our Sages taught us that the Sabbath was given to us as a day to study and learn about G-d. After spending 6 days working hard, we need a break to work on our minds and do something else that we enjoy. Certainly as a break from the mundane work that most of us do.

For years, I've encouraged my teams to set in their daily or weekly calendars professional development time. Time not doing their job but something that they enjoy and could have a future benefit for the team or company. Whether taking a course, working on a project, or whatever they were looking to spend that on. I'd also start off every team bi-weekly fun session with everyone sharing one thing they've learned over the past two weeks. I'll share an example. Years ago I had someone on my Support team interested in taking a copywriting course. I imagine you're asking what's the connection. Well, after taking the course, their CSAT rating jumped significantly because they learned how to write more engaging and personalized replies to support inquiries. And customers greatly appreciate non-robotic answers. So much so, multiple bits of feedback came through to me sharing appreciation for the jokes or more engaging replies to solve their questions.

So why does this all matter? Before the pandemic, the only buzzword was work-life balance. It was this or that. One or the either. One couldn't exist while you were doing the other. Remember my example above about running an errand or going to an appointment at 10 am or 3 pm.

Post-pandemic no one is interested in balancing or prioritizing needs. The new buzzwords are either work-life integration or work-life harmony (I like this one better). Both can exist together harmoniously in the future of work. You can take a 2-hour lunch with your spouse. You can attend your child's game. You can do something for your health and happiness because productivity is shifting to results rather than presence. 2 years from now, few will be talking about RTO (return to office). We'll instead be talking about how we work. Companies and leaders that prioritize their employee's health, happiness, and engagement will build more productive and successful teams, companies, and products. Using the Sabbath principles of doing other things than work while at work, will be game-changing for many companies.

Don't believe me? In my last role, I implemented these practices and a few others to be discussed in future posts. In 6 months with a junior team, CSAT increased from 82% to 93%. And my Success team who launched from scratch after years of post-sale neglect 3x-5x'd my very ambitious end-of-year goals. Some in just 6 weeks. All of these types of micro-breaks will energize your team. As research from Fall 2022 has shown.

Not sure where to start or ready to jump into the deep end like me? That's ok. I've already noted a few great and easy ways to start. If your team is on at least 2 or more synchronous calls in a day try the 10 mins of no-talk post-meeting with meditation. Or perhaps have everyone set 30 minutes each day or 1 hour twice a week to their calendars to do some professional development. Because as a leader you should care about their future success.

If your team has any similar programs where employees have regular/daily time not doing work I'd love to hear about them.

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