There isn't any punch line here. It's a true story. He was dead serious about downloading the game package for me, and he was right about it being a good one. I played it avidly for years.

There is a lesson in the story though: understanding the all-too-human needs of your direct reports is critical to good management.

Bill understood the need for occasional breaks. Everyone needs them. But all too often we fail to take them when we need to. Out of fearing to look inefficient or less-than-dedicated or just plain lazy, many people choose to stay at their post--be it a computer, a loading dock, or a cash register--rather than take the breaks they need to stay fresh and productive all day long.

Worse still, many corporate policies actually demand that people make this unfortunate choice, considerably undermining the effectiveness of their own workforce.

It may seem "natural" to expect higher productivity to come with more work time, but in fact this way of thinking ignores a profound truth about human nature: the human mind and body can only do the same thing for so long before it starts to shut down.

This natural drop off in repetitive ability can manifest in a thousand different ways, from mental symptoms such as stress, irritation and daydreaming to physical symptoms such as chronic back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome. I personally experience the need for breaks as a rising sensation of "squidginess."

When I'm no longer functioning at optimum capacity, I can feel the difference, both mentally and physically. I sum these symptoms up by saying I feel "squidgy," but the word represents an entire group of sensations all bundled together for convenience.

Mentally I start to have a harder time focusing. My mind begins to wander and I have trouble keeping track of where I am in the larger work plan. I begin to miss details and to forget one or two of the six or seven next steps that I usually keep in my head.

Physically I find that I begin to squirm and fidget at my desk. I start to notice physical discomforts--eye fatigue, muscle stiffness, and general restlessness. I start to stretch, to rub my eyes, to scratch at imaginary itches, and to shift position frequently. I find myself thinking about getting up for another cup of tea or coffee or maybe getting a snack.

What I've learned is that I don't really need a snack or a caffeine boost; these are just excuses my mind is creating to try to get me to take the break I so desperately need.

Lest anyone should think that I suffer from ADD, I don't. These symptoms don't come on quickly. They arrive after forty-five minutes to two hours of intense concentration, depending on what I'm doing. With all the recent focus on ADD, many people have lost track of the fact that a human mind which is functioning perfectly still has a limited attention span.

Studies performed on successful college students have proven that forty-five minutes is about the average limit for the amount of time that human beings can focus meaningfully on a given task. After that we're just staring into space or reading the same lines over and over again, failing to take much of anything in.

People who specialize in academic success teach students to physically get up and walk around when they start to feel their attention waning, and the same applies to corporate environments. The mind needs a beak in order to regain its focus.

But studies on ADD have also proven this mind-body connection: children suffering from ADD who engage in certain physical exercises on a regular basis actually show marked improvement in general attentiveness and prolonged task focus. (See Exercising a Longer Attention Span, published in May by The Boston Globe.) And neurological studies on other primates have shown that without a variety of stimulation the brain actually begins to lose its ability to generate new connections.

The implications to the corporate world are revolutionary. In short, employees need to be encouraged to take frequent breaks. People don't need to leave the building for an hour at a time, but they do need to go do something else once in a while.

In an office environment, people need to be able to get up and walk around when they need to--and the office culture needs to encourage this behavior. In retail, tasks such as working the cash registers, greeting customers, and restocking shelves should be rotated frequently, with occasional breaks away from the public eye. And the principles apply equally to physical labor. Both mind and body need frequent breaks from repetitive activity.

The idea of frequent breaks may raise some eyebrows, but it is the only way to maintain true efficiency. Trying to keep working when you're feeling "squidgy" significantly reduces your overall productivity, which will continue to deteriorate until the mind gets the break it needs.

So it turns out that Bill was right to encourage me in my solitaire habit. We stuck to our forty-hour weeks, we went out of the office for lunch, we took breaks whenever we needed to, and our team managed to bring our three-year project to fruition both on time and under budget, a feat virtually unheard of in the industry.

The beauty of having a manager who understands the need for varied activity is that when you need a break you can get up and take a real one, which then allows you to start back fresh.

The constant interruptions people currently suffer in the workplace tend to stem from this unfulfilled need. When a human being can't take genuine breaks, the mind will innocently manufacture fake ones in the form of e-mails, phone calls and unnecessary "consultations" with colleagues. (See, e.g., "Workers Interrupted Every 11 Minutes" posted early this year on the Management-Issues site).

This kind of fake "busy-work" doesn't serve to give the mind a real rest and results in a genuine loss of productivity, estimated to cost the economy over half a trillion dollars every year in the United States alone.

And if that doesn't convince you of the importance of taking a break when you need one, I'll leave you with this short list of highly influential and productive people who took the principle to a whole new level, swearing by frequent naps as a critical productivity tool (as reported by "Get More Work Done in Less Time" on AskMen.com):

• U.S. President John F. Kennedy often took 15 minute naps by leaning back and putting his forearm over his face.
  
• Winston Churchill planned his strategic meetings around his nap time.
  
• Albert Einstein took afternoon naps to recuperate and increase his productivity.
  
• Thomas Edison took frequent naps throughout the day instead of sleeping at night.

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This article topic was inspired by:

• Chris Bailey's "Take a Break or Break Down" on The Alchemy of Soulful Work

Related Mind Unbound posts:

• Motivation and Rewards: You Can't Buy Trust, published July 17, 2006

Cited articles from other sources:

• Exercising a Longer Attention Span, published by The Boston Globe
• Workers Interrupted Every 11 Minutes, published by Management-Issues
• Get More Work Done in Less Time, published by AskMen.com