212. A Smarter Study Break For Focus And Flow

In today’s mini episode we’re taking a look at the surprisingly helpful question of what you do on your study breaks.

Choosing the right break activities can help you return to work on time, ready to go again, perhaps with some fresh insights and certainly some fresh energy.

The wrong break activity can suck you into a spiral of procrastination that turns a 10 minute breather into 50 minutes of doom scrolling.

Choose a smarter break with the 10 ideas we share today for a smarter study break.

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Breaks Shape Your Focus
• 1:40 Distractions, Guests, And Brain Habits
• 2:13 The Break-To-Work Slippery Slope
• 3:46 Timed Breaks Vs Relaxing Breaks
• 4:34 Hazardous Break Activities To Avoid
• 5:55 Ten Safe, Restorative Break Ideas
• 11:05 Walking And Doing Nothing Well
• 12:14 Reflect, Share, And What’s Next

Transcript

William Wadsworth: 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Exam Study Expert Podcast. In today's mini episode, we're taking a look at the surprisingly helpful question of what we should be doing on our study breaks. Because as any long-term fans of sitcom Friends will know what you do on a break matters. I've not watched a lot of Friends, but you don't grow up a child of the 90s and not know that reference. Anyway, when we think about the breaks between our study blocks, it's not just about the dead time between work. Choosing the right break activities can help return us to work on time, ready to go again, and perhaps with some fresh insights and certainly some fresh energy. The wrong break activity, on the other hand, can end up sucking us into a dangerous spiral of procrastination that can turn a well-in- that can turn a well-intentioned 10-minute breather into 50 minutes of doom scrolling. I was inspired to talk to you about this today because next week here on the podcast we'll be hearing from the wonderful Colin Corby, technologist and digital detox coach. He's going to be sharing some top tips on navigating the practicalities of actually dialing down the impact of distractions in our studying and in our lives generally. If you caught last week's excellent episode with Dr. Sarah McKay, it was a really fantastic overview that she gave us of the key neuroscience recommendations for good healthy brain habits for scholars. It was a top episode if you didn't catch it. Well worth going back to last week and checking it out. One of the things that she talked about was the impact of distractions. And I think, as many of us know, you know, distractions are not good news when we're trying to get stuff done, but acting on that advice is not always straightforward. So that's what Colin is here to help us with next week. We'll be sharing some really great practical, tactical steps we can take to actually dial down those distractions, find more space, find more brain space, find more focus in our studying and get our stuff done more efficiently. Now, one distraction-related question I wanted to tackle today, ahead of that, is something that's come up a number of times with some of my coaching clients in recent months. And that is how to transition back from a break to study mode again. So I mean the little mini breaks you take between study blocks. You know, I think most of us are in the habit of not kind of sitting at our desk for three hours straight. You know, we divide apart that time into study blocks of, you know, half an hour, an hour, whatever works for you. And then we'll just have a little break, uh, a little brain break in between those blocks of time. I think that's that's good practice. And the research would suggest it's it's we're not at our best if we're just sat chained to our desk for four or five hours straight. We need those little breaks, they're important. But a common pattern that many of us struggle with is what was supposed to be a short five or ten minute reset quickly can balloon into 20 minutes, half an hour, 40 minutes, an hour, uh, or even longer. And then that eats into the rest of our workday and impacts our productivity for the day as a whole. And look, I'm certainly not immune to this challenge myself. I completely get the issue. So I wanted to share a few thoughts in today's episode to help with that. So let me set the scene. You know how it is. You take a break, you've been working hard for the first hour of the day, uh, you you you pick up your phone that you've been working so hard not to be looking at the whole time, uh, or you you flip on the TV or flop down on the bed, whatever it is. And then what was supposed to be that brain break for just 10 minutes uh you know quickly turns into 40 minutes of doom scrolling, and now it's 22 minutes past four, and you might as well just chill out for another eight minutes and start at 4.30 precisely, and suddenly 48 minutes have evaporated. So, what can we do about it? Well, if you're following tools like the Pomodoro technique, the suggestion is here that you time your breaks. So you do um a five-minute or 10-minute timer uh between your Pomodoro sessions, uh, and that ticking timer helps you measure the length of that break and make sure you get back to work on time. And and for some people, I'm sure that is a perfectly valid solution that works just fine and gets the problem sorted out. Now, for me personally, I really don't like having a timer running when I'm on a break. It's like the least relaxing thing in the world. It feels like I'm constantly straining under the yoke of an oppressive master in this form of my clock. You know, I psychologically need that clock to stop when it's time for a breather. That's kind of the point of taking a breather for me. So if a timer isn't the answer, then what is? Well, um a mini or even not so mini breakthrough that some of my coaching clients have been having recently when we've been talking about this, is thinking about what you actually do on your break. So we want to pick an activity that's not only restorative, but crucially is easy to put down. We can stop it, we are in control, no or very limited willpower needed when it's time to hit pause on that activity so we can then get back to work. So before we talk about what works, examples of highly hazardous break activities that can quickly lead us into trouble would be really anything that involves any kind of scrolling or feed type mechanic. Uh, so that's many of today's social media, YouTube shorts, TikTok, you know, anywhere where you're being shown suggestions designed to be as close to, you know, irresistibly compelling for your you and your interests, such that you can't help check out the next one and keep going that bit longer. Um I think we'd also want to put warning signs around any form of media that is designed to be really kind of highly engaging, um, so gripping TV shows or films uh or even page-turning books, anywhere where you've got that potential to be really sucked into a story and and not want to tear yourself away. Now, before I get accused of being the fun police today, I want to say, like, I'm not saying you're not allowed to do these things. Of course you are. Um, what I'm saying is we want to distinguish between the things that are um kind of safe, healthy brain break activities when we're just wanting that five, 10-minute break versus the things that we might uh choose to engage in when we've kind of got longer stretches of leisure time, you know, maybe at the end of the day when the studying is done for the day, uh, you know, or on an evening off or a day off. Okay, so what then could we be thinking about doing instead? Uh I'm gonna share 10 of my favorite ideas today, fairly quickfire style. Okay, so here we go. In at number 10, uh, if you must watch something, uh choose to watch something that isn't too gripping. So something that's easy to put down. Okay, so for me personally, I've been a big wildlife documentary fan my whole life. Uh, way back to my GCC exams at school, up until now. Um, you know, I find you know 10 minutes of an Asenborough documentary a really reliable way to have a nice short break. I can be sure I can put it down. It's not gonna be a problem to hit stop after just a short dose. In at number nine, if you're reading something, again, we want to choose something that's not too compelling. So not kind of the latest thriller that's you know gonna keep us page turning chapter after chapter. Um, for me again, uh, you know, I've blipped into Bill Bryson's travel writings uh as a pleasant five-minute distraction uh for breaks over the years and enjoyed that. In it number eight, do chores, fold a set of laundry, do a few dishes. It's a clearly defined task uh that's that's easy to stop after ten minutes. In it number seven, meditate. So this isn't one I personally use as I prefer to meditate in the mornings, uh almost as a brain warm-up for the day. Uh but I do know people that have had good success with this as a break activity. A couple of creative ones next. So init number six, make music. So play through a piece or two on the piano or guitar or whatever you play if you play. Uh that can be a really nice thing to do if you're a musician of any kind. Uh in it number five, relatedly, uh arts and crafts. So do a quick sketch, a micro watercolour, or or just knit for a few minutes. Nice thing to do on a break. My next three are all quite movement oriented. Uh, so as such, a great way to not only take a break from studying, uh, but also score some nice fitness points too. So init number four, work out. Do a few push-ups, squats, lifts, whatever you like to do. Uh, maybe even a quick dance break to get the blood pumping if that's something you'd like to do. Uh init number three, stretch. Do a short stretching routine or a 10-minute yoga sequence. And then init number two, my personal favourite way to move on a break, going for a quick walk. This is fantastic. Uh wakes your body and mind up and also gives you space to think, digest, reset, and plan. And and unlike some of the other recent options, you know, you don't have to be kind of have any particular skills or kind of interests or or or even be kind of particularly sporty. It's something that's super accessible to anybody. I know you could argue that about many of the examples I've just given. They are accessible to everybody. Um, but let's face it, you know, there's there's a lot of people that probably wouldn't choose to stick on a dance number and do a quick five-minute dance around the living room. I know kind of I wouldn't. Whereas the walk is kind of something that really is is is kind of pretty universal to almost anybody, uh, I think. Um, and there's some really nice research into the power of a walk to kind of help your mind uh think, and it's really kind of good for uh triggering creativity and helping you have fresh insights and join the dots. So I'd particularly recommend this one if you're hitting a bit of a roadblock, a setback, or a kind of creative or intellectual challenge in your studying of any kind, um or from a kind of a different angle, you know, it just feels like from an energy or like an emotion standpoint, you just feel like the day needs a bit of a reboot and a reset. A walk can often go a long way to giving that for us. And then finally, in at number one, do nothing at all. Well, virtually nothing at all. But but seriously, don't neglect the option of just doing nothing for a few minutes. Or, you know, what seems as close to nothing as we ever really get in our lives. You know, if you're only wanting to break for just a short time, just a few minutes, kind of five minutes at most, possibly even a little less. I think nothing beats in my view, just not planning to really do anything. You know, you get up, you go refill your water, uh, you know, maybe put on the kettle, make a make a cup of tea, um, perhaps use the use the loo, you know, um, stand up, move about, uh, perhaps you spend a few moments gazing out of the window, take a look at a detail in nature. That's that's kind of there's some research on on that as being a nice activity to do when you're on a break. So if you can see a tree or any foliage out of the window, or there's a little houseplant somewhere, uh, you know, just take a few moments and kind of look at the foliage, try and look at the patterns, the colours, spend a few moments uh focusing on that. Nice way to kind of take your brain off things uh and give your brain a little reset. Um, and then you know, there's nothing to even break away from. You had a little break, you've had a little breather, and then you can return to your desk ready to go again. So that concludes the roundup of suggestions I've got for you today. As always, I want to invite you to reflect on what's gonna work best for you as a break option between study blocks. Is it gonna be getting moving, getting creative, uh engaging in some form of media that's that's not too unput downable? Uh, you know, what's gonna be the best option for you? Perhaps you already do something from the list uh today, or perhaps after today you're inspired to try something. I'd love to hear what it is. Or perhaps there's something else that I haven't mentioned today that you find works really nicely for you. Whatever it is, I'd love to hear your feedback. Do pop that in the comments uh if you're particularly watching this on YouTube or listening to us on Spotify where we have a good comment section. I'd love to hear any extra ideas or your feedback, what you're gonna try from this today. So that's a wrap for today. I hope you found this helpful. And remember that next week we'll be continuing the theme of focus and dialing down those distractions with the help of special guest Colin Corby. I hope to see you then for that. For now, thanks as always for tuning in and wishing you every success, as always, in your studies.

SPEAKER_00: 12:13

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