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Catch yourself before you get swept away by responsibilities and find rewards in rest.
TEXT: MORGAN AWYONG
IMAGES: SHUTTERSTOCK
In fast-paced cities like Singapore, there’s no letting up. It’s all too easy to get swept away by one’s perceived duties or by getting caught up in the rat race, leaving one little room to have a true breather. And if you’ve been working from home, you know those lines are blurring more than ever before.
And have you noticed how those around you are dropping the word “busy” like a verbal badge of pride in conversations? Giving yourself time to decompress can come across as indulgent, but the truth is that it is essential to maintain healthy productivity and a much happier and motivated self.
The experts call it: The power of the pause.
THE MIDNIGHT OIL BURNT
We frequently talk about burnout, but what is it really? Some people think it occurs unexpectedly, but more often than not, it creeps in insidiously. One minute you’re restless and always finding it difficult to concentrate; the next you’re incapable of performing the smallest task even if it’s something you used to enjoy.
Unlike stress which makes one anxious, burnout saps motivation and energy. Psychologists Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North outlined 12 phases, which starts with excessive drive and sustained workaholism, but transforms later into depersonalisation, depression, and eventually, full mental or body exhaustion. And in Singapore, it’s a very real problem. Microsoft’s 2020 Work Trend Report shows our country coming up top in the Asia Pacific with 37 per cent of respondents feeling burnt-out.
Some of the best ways to combat impending burnout are regular exercise, maintaining a healthy sleep schedule, and reframing work as one’s priority and validation.
REFUELLING THE TANK
Having those coffee breaks matter. If you still find them indulgent, know that these brief periods of rest have been proven to increase productivity through better focus, improved mental health, and boosted creativity.
For example, stepping away from work can help with decision fatigue, as researchers Danziger, Levav and Avnaim-Pesso discovered. They saw how judges were less likely to give criminals a chance for parole later in the day by making increasingly simplistic calls as time wore on without breaks.
On the flip side, sipping on that cuppa has been found to improve memory, and resting led to inspiration, as explained by essayist Tim Kreider. He wrote, “The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration – it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.”
Start with microbreaks – anything from a few seconds to indulge in a game on the phone or a few minutes staring out of the window – they work just as well.
IT’S TIME TO SIT BACK
With hybrid working now the norm, boundaries are blurring as work routines become increasingly mixed with home tasks. While invites from colleagues used to have you joining them for a coffee run, your reminders for a break may not be as obvious now.
But how do you determine your body and mind need a break? Physical symptoms are your best bet. If your neck is hurting or your eyes are tired, use that as a sign to stretch and move a little, even if it’s just to the living room. Always have regular mealtimes, then just let yourself sit back and enjoy the scenery. Better yet, go outside for a walk.
Scheduling in short breaks after a block of set time for work is a healthy habit to adopt. There’s even a name for it – the Pomodoro Technique.
NO CHEATING
Recall how you often postponed picking up a hobby, or putting off a task for far too long? The effects of burning out means you won’t even touch those during your down time, so it’s best to prioritise them into your breaks to jumpstart that engagement.
Apart from micro breaks mentioned earlier, take deep breaks that remove you from your work scope. For example, if you’re an accountant, you could practise drawing in your sketchbook for 30 minutes. Departing from your routine is a real mind spa.
Active breaks also rejuvenate. For instance, simply walking about can fire off powerful creative inspiration. And if you’re feeling up for it, a light 30-minute workout can have uplifting effects that last through the day.
Scene-changing breaks suggest that taking in a different visual setting – like going to a park instead of staying in your apartment – can make for a stimulating break. Thankfully, there are always pockets of green even in the concrete jungle that is Singapore’s business district.
Social breaks involve contacting your friends and loved ones just to catch up. It’s a great way to maintain mental health and feel connected to the bigger things in life. Instead of working from home, you could also try a coworking space. The alternate setting and organic community may be just what you need from falling into a rut.
Take a breather and keep up these good work habits to let yourself decompress and stay refreshed and motivated. After all the lifestyle and professional changes of the past one-and-half-years, you’ve definitely earned it.
Keeping fit is all in a day’s work for SSSGT (NS) Heiryl Ilham.
TEXT: KEENAN PEREIRA
PHOTOS: SSSGT (NS) HEIRYL ILHAM
SSSGT (NS) Heiryl Ilham values fitness so much that for a period of time, he was downing 20 egg whites every day, just to up his daily protein intake (protein benefits the body in several ways, like helping to build lean muscle and speeding up post-exercise recovery). And without the soy sauce or pepper that many of us would add, mind you. “Just straight-up whites — 10 in the morning and 10 at night,” the 29-year-old says matter-of-factly.
His commitment to a healthy lifestyle started during his teenage years, when he would consistently fail his National Physical Fitness Award (NAPFA) test at school. “I did well for every station except my 2.4 km, which I was completing in about 15 minutes,” SSSGT (NS) Heiryl recalls.
Keen to turn this aspect of his life around, he turned to YouTube to learn more about fitness — and the rest is history. These days, he clocks in at under 10 minutes for his 2.4km runs — a result of training on the treadmill, which he finds highly effective in learning to run faster. This, combined with interval training, has helped SSSGT (NS) Heiryl shed around 27kg (he currently weighs in at a lean 62kg).
FITNESS TOGETHER
Between December 2016 and May 2017, SSSGT (NS) Heiryl Ilham set out to transform himself, losing about 27kg and going from 28 per cent body fat to 8 per cent body fat.
“Be the best that you can be”: This is a tip SSSGT (NS) Heiryl readily shares with his clients at Sport Singapore, where he is a fitness instructor. He also supports his fellow Home Team NSmen through the Virtual Fitness Training (VFT) initiative, which was launched last December.
Every Saturday, SSSGT (NS) Heiryl leads about 40 NSmen in a vigorous High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workout that he designed, which comprises an energetic mix of core training, as well as upper and lower body workouts. This complements his NSman role as Officer-in-Charge (OC) Fitness at Clementi Division, where he supervises Remedial Trainings (RT) and oversees the division’s Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) training sessions. In addition, SSSGT (NS) Heiryl serves as a Police Contact Tactical Trainer and IPPT Trainer, training fellow NSmen in a modified self-defence form that combines elements from Wing Chun and judo.
SSSGT (NS) Heiryl is passionate about helping NSmen up their fitness game, especially since many of them support crucial operational work during their reservist cycles — and it’s an experience he knows well.
While on patrol during his first reservist cycle, he and his partner were alerted to an incident of public nuisance. A drunken man was causing a scene outside VivoCity and when the pair approached him, the person refused to cooperate and even tried to attack them. SSSGT (NS) Heiryl acted swiftly to pin him down and arrest him. “Anything can happen in situations like this. That is why we need to be on our best form, even as NSmen,” he shares.
FITTER TOGETHER
Fitness isn’t just an occupation for SSSGT (NS) Heiryl; it’s also a means of bonding with his wife, whom he had met when he was a trainer at a private gym. “She is just as passionate as I am about fitness. We love working out as a couple,” he says.
SSSGT (NS) Heiryl and his wife tied the knot last December. “We had a COVID-19 wedding,” he explains, referring to the smaller and more intimate nuptials that are now the norm because of the pandemic. This meant that the ceremony cost less than one-third what it normally would — money that is going towards their first home in the upcoming Tengah Forest Town development which will be ready in 2024.
For now, the couple is living at home with SSSGT (NS) Heiryl’s family, where they enjoy his mother’s scrumptious cooking. He admits that he does not really watch what he eats and he is more concerned about when he eats. “That’s because I am very disciplined with my workouts. I may start the day with a packet of nasi lemak but I know for a fact that I will work out hard enough to burn off those calories.”
For most of us who don’t have that kind of determination, he suggests using a simple calorie tracking app to avoid eating excessively. “But there’s no need to go overboard with calculating everything that you eat. That may be too tedious and is not sustainable in the long run,” he adds.
From failing his NAPFA test as a teen to training fellow NSmen to pass their physical fitness tests and helping his fitness clients lead healthier lives, SSSGT (NS) Heiryl has come a long way on his fitness journey. Not only has he come to embody physical fitness, he’s doing his best to help others transform their lifestyles, one rep at a time.
INTERVAL MATTERS
SSSGT (NS) Heiryl is a big proponent of interval training as he has seen its benefits for many clients and himself. Here’s how to start:
IMPORTANT: You should always consult your physician or other healthcare professional before starting this or any other fitness programme to determine if it is right for your needs.
We get it, working from home can sap your motivation at times. Here are some ways to speed your way through your work, chores and tasks alike – backed by science.
TEXT: MORGAN AWYONG
IMAGES: SHUTTERSTOCK
Working harder is great but working smarter is better — and looking at ways to efficiently mow through your tasks is a win-win, because you clear them faster and feel more motivated afterwards. Next thing you know, you’re done for the day.
If you’ve been finding it impossible to get past that one email, adopt some of these methods and their principles — backed by research — to kickstart your workflow mojo once again.
DEADLINES SAVE LIVES
Your manager wasn’t that far off. Setting an achievable deadline actually promotes productivity because of Parkinson’s Law, where the effort and work expands according to the timeline of the task. In other words, the more time you have for the task, the more likely you’ll waste time on it. And a lot of this has to do with flow.
It takes immense effort to achieve full concentration, and finding your flow – or being in the zone – has often been said to produce great results. By placing an over-generous marker, the general tendency is for one to run on half a tank. So if there’s a realistic deadline, then it’s actually working to power your natural motivation.
But what if it’s a huge project? The Harvard Business Review found out that breaking down larger projects into daily tasks led to better satisfaction and higher achievement rates through small wins – so really, these short-term goals help to nudge people in the right productive direction.
RHYTHM DOES IT
We each have our own ultradian rhythm, similar to our circadian cycles for sleep. By working with our natural bio-rhythm and matching our activities to the alert phases, we achieve more – even if we wake up at 9am instead of 4am.
As a guide, we generally perform well at a task until it hits about the 90-minute mark. Swedish psychologist and researcher Anders Ericsson studied high performers such as athletes and musicians, and found that those at the top of their fields practised in intense bouts. It is evident that we are most productive when hedging work into compartments, and following through with scheduled breaks.
The Pomodoro Technique for instance, recommends 25 minutes of work followed by a five-minute break. And when it comes to maximising your efficiency and enjoyment of the tasks at hand, prioritise them with the Pareto Principle, which lets you invest your best energy on the top 20 per cent in value-creation work.
SPACE OUT RIGHT
Having a conducive workspace is a fundamental element in your quest for workplace domination (or at least finishing your projects on time), although work-from-home has admittedly complicated this. So that means no more working at the dining table!
To pitch yourself at the right kind of uplifting environment for work, it’s important to pick an uncluttered space with plenty of natural light. The former creates visual distractions, while studies have shown that a sunlit work spot helps to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm for better sleep, and reduces drowsiness by 10 per cent and raises productivity by 2 per cent.
To further enhance your space, adding plants can help. They’re known to boost productivity by 15 per cent. And for a perfect soundtrack, put on some white noise (lyrical songs might prove distracting for some), classical music or even binaural music for a boost in productivity.
BREAKS ARE GOOD FOR YOU
Don’t feel bad about taking a break. As evidenced by the earlier point on our bio-rhythms, taking clear-cut scheduled pauses actually heightens motivation in the long run.
It’s important these breaks are enjoyable, so make sure that your rest period is really a departure from work. For a change, why not take up the Work-From-Villa packages at HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok? Every spacious bungalow comes with secure Wi-Fi and game consoles, which allows you to easily break for some entertainment.
Feeling drowsy? Rest assured that science has proven that a nap is beneficial for your productivity, but just make sure that you time it right.
DITCH THOSE UNHEALTHY STEREOTYPES
And finally, it’s time to reconsider what we know about work ethics and model behaviour in
the office. Multi-tasking and perfectionism may sound great at an interview, but studies are showing that these actually impair work.
Multi-taskers can experience a productivity dip of 40 per cent because of the time taken to switch between different tasks. Perfectionists burden themselves unnecessarily because they can’t delegate, have a tendency for over-delivering, and leave no room for realistic goals (which ironically leads to more delay).
Rethink your work ethics and drop the toxic ones – it’ll free you up to get the actual job done.
