Wed, June 23, 2010 - 9:37:22

Take Back Your Lunch and Increase Your Productivity

Have a bag of peanut M&Ms and a can of Diet Coke snagged from the vending machine become your daily scarf-down-at-your-desk lunch habit? While that “all stress diet” might be necessary from time to time when you’re trying to meet a looming deadline, making it a routine probably isn’t the best thing for you: both health-wise and career-wise.

In fact, even if you only have 15 minutes to spare, giving yourself a brief time away from your desk and outside of the office can be just the SMALL thing you need to reinvigorate yourself and kick-start your productivity. And that’s why, as Tony Schwartz writes on The Harvard Business Review’s blog, The Conversation, the Energy Project is launching a new initiative called, “Take Back Your Lunch.”

And it starts today.

The premise of Schwartz and his organization’s movement is simple: get people away from their desks every day for a quick lunch, either alone, with friends, or with coworkers—and then let them enjoy the benefits.

The American Dietetic Association has stated that eating lunch at your desk often leads to unhealthy food choices and mindless eating—not to mention spurs the growth of potentially harmful bacteria across your keyboard and desk surface. But, that’s not all.  Contrary to what you might think, habitually eating lunch at your desk doesn’t necessarily make you more productive; in fact, it can actually hinder your on-the-job performance.

Why? Because sitting at a desk for hours at a time reduces blood flow throughout your body, which can cause fatigue.  But, just by getting up and walking around the corner to pick up a sandwich at the nearest deli, you can give yourself the natural energy boost needed not only to make it until the end of the day, but to power your way through.

So—as hard as it might seem—this week pledge to pry yourself away from your desk and enjoy a quick bite out of the office.  You just might find that taking a few minutes away from your work has you getting things done even faster.

Posted by Linda and Robin