….And Now for a Walk in the Black Forest

Now maybe I am showing my age a little bit but if you are a child of the seventies you may remember the Goodie. It was a BBC comedy series with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and my personal favourite, Tim Brooke-Taylor. There are so many memories from the series but for some reason one that stays with me is the episode about Pirate Radio. Now because it’s the Goodies their particular radio station only had one record, ”A walk in the black forest”, and yes I have googled it and you can hear it here.

Where is all this going, and why is a blog post from a recruitment firm talking about an obscure record from a 1970’s comedy show? Well it is a bit of a stretch but I often think of this episode before heading out on, what is the point of this article, a break from the routine of the office.

It seems like such a small thing, taking a walk away from your desk and ideally the office itself, but the benefits are remarkable. Studies have shown that human beings really can only focus for a short periods before they need to reboot. For executives and those in management recent research suggests that we have a limit as to how many decisions we can make in a day and we can actually find ourselves with decision fatigue.

Over the years I have found often I have to reboot the habit because circumstances seem to shift me away from it, that a break of about 10 minutes, outside, away from my desk can rejuvenate in a multitude of ways. Often ideas will come to you because you are not trapped in detail. Fresh air or the sun on your face enlivens the senses often neglected in your fluorescent lit, air conditioned office. At a simple level, breaking your day up and lifting your head both figuratively and in actuality gives punctuation to your day.

Although it’s a habit, I do try and take the break at varying times in the day. This helps with diary management but also taking the break can be a reward or a relief after completing a task.

Give it a try. I would love to hear your feedback in the comments below and when you do make sure you think about the Goodies and their walk in the black forest to put a smile on your face as well.