Hitting the focus limit: When and how to take mingle or movement breaks

After some 90 minutes, most of us inevitably hit the focus limit. At that point, we hardly get any progress out of the time we put in. It’s then better to stop working and have a longer bout of what I call ultradian defocus – for at least seven, ideally 20 minutes.

There are several tell-tale signs that you’re hitting the focus limit, and thus need a longer break rather than a micro break. These notably include making more errors and slips, feeling tired, having difficulty focusing, and getting easily distracted again.

Upon getting to that point, do a mingle or movement break. For the former, scheduling a break with a colleague you like right after your focus bout allows you to kill two birds with one stone: On the one hand, research shows that a deadline helps you focus deeply. On the other hand, committing towards another person makes you accountable, which significantly increases the probability that you do take the break – even in stressful times.

You could also take a movement break. After focusing intensely, walking is the prime candidate. At that time, it has three advantages: It triggers your unconscious mind to come up with solutions to the problem you just finished working on; It provides you with ample opportunity for visual defocus, which is very replenishing; and it calms you down, as the self-generated forward motion decreases activity in the amygdala, that part of your brain primarily associated with feelings of stress.

Lastly, given that you’re at the office, you can combine mingle and movement breaks for some of the advantages: For example, scheduling a “coffee walk” with the colleague you like will give you the helpful deadline, accountability, visual defocus, and stress release.

In a nutshell, don't overdo it – after 90 minutes of deep focus, it's time to take a break. So mingle, move or do both!

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Until next week,
Christian