Why Your Most Productive Days Include Downtime
Structure your time around bursts of energy and breaks.
The internet is overflowing with productivity advice.
- “How I Squeeze Every Ounce of Productivity From My Day!”
- “How I Hustle from Sunrise to Sunset to Achieve My Goals!”
- “How I Effectively Multitask Ten Things At Once!”
I’ll assume that the authors of these pieces are trying to be helpful. Heck, I’ve even fallen into that camp and written about time blocking.
It’s tempting to find motivation in articles about productivity. Or they have the opposite effect and make us feel bad — like we’re not doing enough.
But the reality is that we can’t be productive all. the. time. We’re not machines. At some point, the quality of our work will suffer. The only thing achieved is serious burnout. You’ve got to build some intentional downtime into your day and give your brain a chance to reset.
Table of Contents
What happens if you don't get downtime
The idea that humans can be productive for 8 consecutive hours per day is a myth. We do other things: surf the internet, respond to emails, text with people, attend unproductive meetings. We’re not doing 8 hours of what Cal Newport refers to as “deep work.”
Solopreneurs have it harder than most. There's no “forced break” in a solo business. No coworker asks if you want to grab lunch. I have entire days with no meetings and nothing between me and my computer screen.
Gloria Mark, a professor at University of California, Irvine, said on a podcast:
Our minds can get injured. It’s called burnout. And it’s a really extreme form of mental exhaustion. It’s when we experience chronic stress for a very long period of time. And in the same way it takes our bodies time to recover from lifting weights too much, or using the elliptical too much, we also need time for our minds to recover from burnout.
If you don’t give your body some breaks, you’ll hit that “burnout” threshold, and then it takes time to recover.
4 ways to structure your day for both work and breaks
The best way to make sure you take breaks is to structure your day around when you work best. You don’t have to do all four suggestions below, but start with the one that makes the most sense for how you work.
1. Work with your natural energy cycles and schedule
It’s easier to slot in “unproductive” time (breaks) if you know your “productive” time.
No shortage of people will tell you to do your deepest work early in the morning. The claim is that your energy is highest and you’re most productive during that time. “There seems to be a natural rhythm or set clock in our bodies, so many people tend to feel a little sleepy around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon,” says Lona Sandon, RD, MEd, a professor of nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. **
However, the best time to work is different for everyone, and you should pay attention to your natural energy patterns. I know plenty of people who get a burst of energy late in the evening or at night.
You’ve also got to be aware of the constraints in your life that don’t let you take a break. I’m a parent, so there are times of day when it’s impossible for me to take a break because I need to get the kids out the door for school. I’ve got to factor in both my energy levels and my parenting obligations.
2. Knock out the hard stuff early in the day
Mark Twain once said: "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first."
Why does this matter? For some people, it’s hard to take a break if you’ve got something looming over you. This is certainly the case for me. I may step away from my computer, but if I can’t stop thinking about a deadline, my brain doesn’t actually relax.
A consistent morning routine makes it easier to “eat the frog.” Block off time at the start of your day, take care of your most important work, and then plan the rest of your day around a combination of other projects, meetings, and downtime.
My “frog time” happens as soon as my kids leave for school. I know that’s my best window, with the most energy. Downtime can wait until later.
3. Give your brain a chance to recharge with downtime
I’m not going to tell you that phone scrolling isn’t a break. It can be. You don’t have to engage and can just sit back and watch silly videos on TikTok.
But social media scrolling can also keep your brain in “consumption.” If you doomscroll, you might end up stressing yourself out — and that’s not really a break. You might also get lost in scrolling, so if you opt for this, make sure you set a timer for the end of a break.
A more substantive break includes fully stepping away from screens, including:
- Physical movement, whether that's a walk, stretching, or a few minutes outside
- Actual rest, such as a short nap
- Doing an easy chore, like laundry or dishes
- Reading a book or listening to a podcast, if they feel like a “break” and not additional cognitive load
I take a long midday break for lunch and a nap, which many people do. But I also have some downtime early in the morning. I wake up early (5am) and start writing. My kids wake up but there’s a window of time before the school bus comes. Could I squeeze in more productivity during that time? Sure. But instead, I prefer a break, like my walking pad, before the day really ramps up.
Anna Burgess Yang
4. Set boundaries to protect your downtime
Maybe your schedule is more fluid, and you can't plan on consistent Pomdoros or time blocks of downtime each day. You can do other things to protect your calendar to make sure you get breaks.
You can use calendar scheduling apps (like Calendly, TidyCal, etc.) to block off time for breaks each day. Even if your schedule is varied, you can make sure no one can schedule meetings from 10:00 - 10:30 on a Monday or 2:30 - 3:00 on a Thursday. By doing this, you can protect your calendar from unwanted meetings that interrupt your day.
If you need an ever-adjusting break, you can use Reclaim.ai [affiliate link]. With Reclaim, you can indicate that you need a break "sometime between 9:00 and 12:00" (as an example). Reclaim will automatically adjust your break time on your calendar depending on what else you have scheduled.
The impact of AI on the workday and breaks
When I first started my solo business, I only had to worry about finding downtime between client work and parenting. Now, there’s a new wrinkle that can impact a daily schedule: AI oversight.
It sounds counterintuitive because AI is supposed to save time. But some people are doing so much with AI that they no longer have any downtime in their days. A survey found that 14% of workers are experiencing mental fatigue from the amount of AI use and oversight in their days.
Your brain needs some menial, low-energy work to recover. Maybe that was updating a spreadsheet or your CRM. If you've automated away all of the small stuff, now you’re only left with brain-intensive work during the day. All the more reason to have dedicated downtime during the day.
So if you're a heavy AI user, this is a heads-up. Make sure that you’re replacing some of that freed-up time with downtime, not more work.
Take yourself out of “the zone”
No matter what you decide to do during your break, get up from your desk. Walk away from your computer. Even if you're doing something like cleaning out your email inbox, do it from a different device. You need to mentally give yourself a reprieve.
One additional thing I do is use music and scents when I'm in "work mode." At my desk, I light incense and listen to low-fi beats. I only do this when I'm working, not when I'm at my desk doing something else. It helps me delineate between work time and the rest of my life.
It can feel hard to truly step away when you work from home. The more you can do to create an environment you associate with work, the more you'll feel like you're taking a break when you step outside of that zone.
Grab my free guide to managing your time and content
across multiple platforms.
Tips for building your productive-unproductive mix
- Track your energy for a week before making changes. Note when you feel like you have the most energy and when you start to fade.
- Schedule breaks the same way you schedule meetings. Block it and treat it as non-negotiable, even if the time varies from day to day.
- Separate creative deep work from hard-but-necessary work. Give your best hours to the work you care most about.
- Give yourself permission for unproductive evenings. Rest is necessary.
FAQs
How many hours of deep work can most people realistically do per day?
Most people can sustain about two to four hours of genuinely focused work per day. Outside of that, you need to juggle meetings, other work, and downtime. Make sure that downtime is built into your day and that you're not trying to do more deep work than is possible.
Is it better to work in the morning or the evening?
It depends on your natural energy. Many people are most productive in the morning, though plenty of people do their best work later in the day. Identify your own peak hours and build the schedule around those.
How long should work breaks be?
Some research suggests spending 20 to 25% of your workday on breaks. The Pomodoro technique suggests a 5-minute break after 25 minutes of work, followed by a 30-minute break after four consecutive pomodoros. Aim to have enough downtime in your day that your brain has a chance to recharge, rather than working constantly.
