Faire Une Petite Pause- The Power of Little Breaks

Little breaks throughout our workday can help us to refocus our brains. There is a French expression, “faire une petite pause,” that emphasizes the active nature of this break and reminds us that we will return to work after just a little pause.  

I’ve written about my midday break that I enjoy with a book and afternoon coffee. But, that is not the only type of break that I take throughout the day. I find that I need to mix up my activities and put small pauses in to stay focused.  

Learning to Pause

About halfway through my weekly French class, my teacher would announce that it was time to take “une petite pause.” It was a brief time to stretch our legs, get up, walk around, and reset our brains for the next part of the class. Recently, Dave has been learning French, and his teacher has implemented “une petite pause” in his online sessions.  

When we are home all the time, managing work, school, homemaking, and chores, it can be overwhelming. There can be an internal pressure we feel to constantly be productive. The work at home never really stops. In fact, I’m writing this and noticing the dust on the entertainment unit. I really should get to dusting the house, but for now, I’ll need to add it to the list and get to in on my weekly cleaning time.  

For the last few weeks, I have been working hard on finishing the second draft of my book. It was a tight deadline, and I needed to prioritize writing time over homemaking. The home could use a good dusting, but I only had so many hours in the day.  

To get the writing completed, I needed to break the task up into distinct writing sessions. I couldn’t sit down for three hours and write. After about forty minutes, I noticed that my brain would begin to wander, and my wrists would start to hurt. It was time for me to “faire une petite pause.”  

Managing our Mindset About Breaks

I love the idea of pausing the work. I am making an active choice with my time. Pressing pause allows my brain to reset.  

The verb, faire, means “to do” or “to make.” It is an active verb, which implies our agency in this process. We are taking action to relax. It is a choice we are making to put space into our day. It is a small, or petite, space that is quite beneficial to our brains. 

In this article, Meg Selig writes that taking breaks at work, especially when we are doing thinking work, helps give the prefrontal cortex a break. This is the active part of our brain that is engaged when writing, studying, or reading. It can be challenging to maintain concentration with these high-effort tasks without giving ourselves a pause.  

Benefits of a Petite Pause

There are days when we are more fatigued. Perhaps we have had a rough night of sleep or are fatigued from medical treatment. Those are the days when taking little breaks will help maintain our energy reserves. Research has been done proving that taking a short 5-minute break can help workers stave off mental fatigue, especially when they show up to work tired.

Sometimes, just a few minutes of getting up and walking around are enough to reset my brain. I have my AppleWatch set to give me stand reminders. If I have been sitting at my computer and not gotten up in the last hour, my watch will tap me and remind me to get up and walk around. I need to do more than stand up and wave my arms. To get the stand credit, I typically need to get up, walk to my front door, walk back to the kitchen and then do a lap or two around my kitchen island. Those few minutes of walking help me to think better and feel less fatigued when I sit back down at the computer.

When to Pause

I know it is time to take a petite pause when I’m staring at the blank computer screen and have no words to type. Rather than giving myself a hard time, I will get up and do something else. I try to make the next task more physical. I’ll walk around the house, do a few dishes, step outside and listen to the birds, or change the laundry over. Just a slight pause helps me to get the ideas flowing again.

Some ideas for a “petite pause”

• Take a short walk (inside or outside)
• Get a drink and eat a healthy snack
• Go outdoors for a few minutes and listen to the birds (or the city sounds)
• Do a meditation
• Have a quick chat with a coworker or family member
• Do some stretching
• Do a quick chore
• Pull a few weeds
• Pick some flowers
• Get the mail 

Ideally, this petite pause would be active if the activity you are taking a break from is sedentary. Alternatively, if you were doing a physical task, then the break could be something more relaxing. 

I like to think of sprinkling these small breaks throughout the day. They mix up our activities just enough so that we don’t get too tired staring at the screen all day. 

Throughout the day, I watch my family take their petite pauses in their unique ways. I’ll hear Dan play his guitar up in his room. Ken will get up from his computer and get a glass of water and stretch his legs. Dave will emerge from his office and walk to the front door to get his stand credit for the hour. I’ll get up from writing and do a little homemaking. There’s a rhythm to our day as we pause for a bit, then return to our work.

How will you “faire une petite pause” today?