~This was originally posted on Medium on 9/17/19~
Here at the start of week 10 of my software engineering bootcamp experience, I find that I am still learning my own patters for this kind of work. The good new is, I love it, and can become completely absorbed in and engaged by my work. The bad news is, this leads to me working for hours on end with no breaks, and I’m already suffering for it. The thing is, I know better. So as a reminder to myself, and to all of you, I’m going to talk here about why you should be taking breaks.
For one, taking breaks throughout your day absolutely increases your productivity. So many of us have that voice at the back of our heads (or coming from the manager’s office), saying that if we don’t commit every second of the day to working as hard as physically possible, we are being lazy, or we won’t achieve the goals or expectations being set for us, whether by ourselves or others.
The thing is, that voice is objectively, scientifically verifiably, wrong. Research shows you will be healthier, happier, and more efficient and productive if you take breaks and work a reasonable number of hours. One Psychology Today article cites sources showing that watching a short funny video or spending just a couple minutes in nature can improve your productivity on returning to work. The same article shares a couple tips for how to ensure you are taking effective breaks; 1) disengage from your work mentally and 2) do something that will create positive emotions.
Despite this, there is a trend in the US of valuing incredibly long work weeks, particularly in the tech industry. My number one fear going into the tech industry, even greater than the possibilities of sexism in the workplace (though they can’t be truly separated), is the culture of overwork. I’m going to get real — I deal with a chronic illness. I have daily tension headaches. I have an awesome life and they typically don’t hold me back — but only if I am allowed the needed space to take care of myself. To be honest, the space I personally need is what every person should be afforded, but those with more severe disabilities also deserve the space to thrive in this culture and industry. This article by Rachel Thomas does a great job of covering the discriminatory nature of the inflexible long hours that are standard in tech culture.
Before I see myself out here, I want to touch on the topic of burnout. Years before my headaches even started, I experienced intense burnout at a social service job. Upon finally seeing a list of the signs of burnout near the end of my time there, it was almost comical, if it weren’t so starkly terrible, to look down the list. I remember looking at each bullet point going, “Hey look, it’s me, double me, extra me, so me… Geez maybe I’m burned out. I wish I had seen this months ago, so it didn’t get this far…” Don’t let it get there. Here is one article on the signs of burnout. Take care of yourself. Don’t let people push you into overwork. Speak up for a culture of taking care of each other. Every person is worthy of the time and space to take care of themselves; never forget that you are enough.
There are so many great articles about this topic out there. The Psychology Major in me wishes I could write you a full paper on this topic, with proper citations and in depth analysis, but she also knows that I do not have the time or energy to do so, and that I should prioritize my health, so I have linked below a number of articles I read for this post that do a lot of that work for me.
Now go forth, take breaks, and value your own time.
· https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-wide-wide-world-psychology/201704/why-and-how-you-should-take-breaks-work
· https://hbr.org/2018/12/the-case-for-the-6-hour-workday
· https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/asia/four-day-workweek-new-zealand.html
· https://medium.com/s/story/techs-long-hours-are-discriminatory-counter-productive-17dc61071ed5
· https://medium.com/compassionate-coding/only-you-can-prevent-tech-burnout-be3f0504c627
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