How to kill it in the office (breaks/lunches, dating at work) part 5 of 5
#1 What to do on breaks and lunches
Breaks and lunches are often a overlooked part of a work day. If you are driven, you can excel your personal and work life (life in general) by doing productive things during these stretches of time.
You essentially get two 15-minute breaks and a 30 minute to an hour a lunch every day.
This equates to at least an hour or an hour an a half every day that you can do something meaningful with your day.
Here are some examples:
What I do (most of the time) is some form of exercise during one of these breaks. I can walk at least a mile a day. If you have a gym at work, all the better for you!
You can hit a few sets, get your heart rate up, hit a nice jump rope session. It’s all up to you, but you can increase your fitness for sure one way or another.
You can also use this time to make a short errand call or catch up with a friend on your cell phone.
Take a power nap if you are feeling drowsy. You may be able to stay up an extra hour or get up an hour early if you know you can power nap at lunch.
You can meet up with a co worker or anybody at lunch time.
In general, you want to use your breaks and lunches to do something productive and meaningful to your life.
Do the math and you could essentially save yourself a few hours a week by using them effectively! This can free up more time before or after work to pursue your passions or interests, or even just more time to do anything you want.
#2 Dating at work
Dating at work can be a hairy thing to get yourself involved with. Be careful if things fall out, especially. The romance can be good, but things may not work out. If they do, what happens?
I know, it is difficult to deny that hunk or babe sitting in close proximity to you. Maybe you are working 12 hours a day and Cupid has hit the arrow on the mark for both of you.
So you both start talking, work your way up to a lunch together, work your way up to dinner.
Then you have a drink, which leads to a relationship. All is well, until you notice other men talking to your lady. It stirs up jealousy. All of a sudden, you are broken up and that guy is still paying visits to your ex, and this guy happens to be one of your buddies.
The above example is just one of many different situations that can happen in the work place. This can lead to bad behavior from someone who feels burned.
It happens quite too often. The bottom line is it affects your attitude at work.
Therefore, I personally, have always made it a point to leave romance out of the work environment (especially the office).
Now sometimes it works out to your advantage. There are plenty of examples of things “working out” with romance in the office. However, I have witnessed many more awkward and bad situations in the office that concluded me to always keep work and dating separate.
To be more positive, I think it is healthy and good to develop a “life” outside of work. You can do this by keeping yourself busy with “to-do’s,” setting up dates with your online dating membership, joining social leagues or just something to be around the opposite sex.
Many of us have kids or significant others, so this article may not apply. But for those who are single, heed caution with dating your coworkers.
Some other things to consider are not only your own emotions, but the office gossip and drama with others. Things get awkward after an office breakup. Some people may even “take sides” with their friend and make things more weird (especially if things ended on a bad note).
You must also consider harassment issues. These allegations can carry over long term and short term; have you been following the news? Things are kind of scary,
