8 Micro-Vacations to Make Your Work Day Easier

Do you find yourself getting overwhelmed with stress during the work day? Maybe you just need a vacation. Not a long one, obviously, because you can’t just take a vacation every time you feel tired at work…or can you? Even if you don’t have time to relax at the beach or camp out under the stars, you can still give yourself a mini-reset by focusing on something that you enjoy. These enjoyable activities don’t take long, and they can make you feel a lot better about your work. So, if you are losing motivation at your job, just take one of these tiny vacations to get that motivation back. Take a Quick Walk around Your Workspace If you feel restless at work, a brief change of scenery may be all you need to get back in the zone. Also, moving your legs a little certainly won’t hurt. Find a quick excuse to take a quick walk wherever you are. Perhaps you can use the opportunity to refresh your beverage or grab a quick snack. For the best results, you should pick up the pace a little when you’re walking. A slow lumber will not refresh you as much as a quick stride. You may even want to jog a little if you have the room and aren’t worried about people watching. Listen to Your Favorite Song If you’re one of those people who can still get all their work done listening to music, you should definitely take advantage of it. Music is a great way to stay motivated and keep yourself separated from other types of distractions. However, some people just can’t enjoy music because they can’t work while listening to music at the same time. Even if you are one of these people, you can still take a 3 minute break to enjoy at least one song. Listening to your favorite song is a great way to chase away boredom and pump up your mood a little. For the best results, close your eye and block out everything until you’re done listening to your song. Do a Few Desk Exercises It will be a little harder to take a desk vacation if walking around the place or putting on headphones isn’t acceptable. However, there are plenty of things you can still do at your desk. Doing some low-intensity desk exercises may help find your center again. You can even do a whole body workout while you’re typing or making a phone call. You can start with the legs. Lift them off the ground while you are sitting in a chair. Either hold them there or move them back and forth until you feel better. With your core, you can just flex your abdominal muscles until you feel a light burn. There’s plenty to do with your arms as well. Stretch them behind your head or lock your hands and pulls them in the opposite direction. Murder a Stress Ball Sometimes you need a mini-vacation because you are completely pissed instead of just bored with your work. If that’s the case, it’s usually a good idea to find something to take some anger out on for just a little bit. If you don’t see any other good candidates, you should reach for a stress ball. If you don’t already have a stress ball, you should get one. They are usually very cheap and you can find free ones all over the place at conventions, fairs, and other social events. Once you have your stress ball in hand, just squeeze the ever-living hell out of the thing until you feel better. You might be surprised how quickly it is that you actually feel better. Enjoy Your Favorite Snack A lot of motivation problems can be traced back to hunger. Maybe you just need a light snack to get you back in the saddle. It’s all the better if you don’t have any at your desk, because the trip to go get a snack can be a tiny vacation in itself. The type of snack you decide to retrieve can also have a large impact on your mood for the rest of the day. If possible, try to get a snack that is healthy. A sugary snack may sound like a sweet mini-vacation, but it will also come with a big crash in a couple hours. That crash could make your problems even worse. A fatty snack may leave you feeling bloated and uncomfortable—which certainly isn’t conducive to doing good work. Your best bet is a healthy snack that will leave you feeling refreshed. Take 5 Minutes to Meditate If you can get a few minutes of silence wherever you are working, you should give meditation a try. Meditation isn’t some complicated set of secrets held by ancient monks. It can be as simple as you want it to be. There is an argument to be made that simplicity is the whole point of meditation in the first place. All you have to do is close your eyes, try to clear your head of thoughts, and focus on the thoughtlessness. If that doesn’t seem to be working for you, try to focus on just one thing and block everything else out. If you are surrounded by noise, you may want to try humming and focusing on the sound that you’re making. Eat Lunch Out Now we are starting to get closer to a real vacation because you’ll be leaving the workplace for at least a little while. If you have the opportunity to eat out, you absolutely should. If you’re a tight-budgeting entrepreneur, you may not want to take the risk of eating out, and that’s just fine. Simply take your packed lunch to a park or square and enjoy it there. If you do want to eat out in a restaurant, you should choose someplace that will get you out of your element for a little while. Don’t go to the chains that you always go to when you’re working. Choose a little hole in the wall you’ve never visited. Perhaps consider grabbing lunch at a pub where they’ll be music and people to talk to while you’re eating. Crash in Your Car for a few Minutes If what you need more than anything is a friendly space to be alone, just crash in your car for a few minutes. It belongs to you, and no one else can invade it, so you’ll be completely safe for some alone time. You can enjoy sitting in the silence, or you can turn some music up very loud and enjoy the sound. Enjoy Your Micro Vacation We all need more breaks than we can usually get. Hopefully, these micro vacations will help you find a little more peace and motivation in your work day.