There’s a wonderful old-time radio show, which was broadcast from 1947 for seven years. Each episode opened with the following, or a variation of this:
“Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you… Escape!”
Anyone plagued with stress, particularly work-based stress, will be able to relate to this I am absolutely sure.
Hardly any people reading will have gone into work every day without ever wishing they were somewhere else. Yes, the vast majority of us, we don’t have such negative thoughts each working week day, but we just can’t deny that we never have them.
Plenty of techniques can be used to reduce this kind of work related stress including such things as introducing a health regime, improving our daily intake of food, relaxation techniques, and possibly some form of counseling, but last year I was introduced to a pretty unique technique that was a huge success not only for one person, but for the whole office in which they worked.
Amazingly the story I’m about to share involves shows from the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
Carol (not her real name as I promised to keep that a secret) was working extra long days in her job as a programmer. It was the start of a new year and everything was getting pretty tense in the office where they worked.
People started to notice that when she returned from her mid-day break she was like a totally different person from the one who had walked out only 30 minutes earlier. Eventually, one of her colleagues decided to ask Carol what she was doing differently. Was it some kind of Zen meditation technique? Was she taking dubious substances that were not exactly legal.
When she told them they were shocked.
Carol was simply going out for a 30 minute walk every day. To prevent her brain mulling over work problems she was listening old-time radio shows on her MP3 player. Each old time show lasted approximately 30 minutes which meant her walk and the show she was listening to her started at ended at the same time – like clock work.
This technique was doing 3 crucial things.
1. It was taking her mind off of her work.
2. It was making sure that at least once a day she was having a good stretch.
3. It was getting her heart pumping.
For someone working in an active, and often stressful office, these 3 things were crucial.
Over the coming weeks other staff in the office followed the same 3 techniques as Carol and the atmosphere in the office was transformed beyond all recognition, and the overall productivity saw quite an uplift.
And all this started from Carol’s passion for 30 minute .