Lots of complex carbs and protein for lunch. My really bad afternoons are on what I call “whitebread days,” when I have forgotten my lunch, get too busy, and get a “grab ‘n’ go” sandwich from the cafeteria for lunch. Whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meats: good. White bread, white rice, white pasta, fatty entrees, chips, sugary deserts: bad. Think of food as fuel. You want food that will give you consistent energy for hours, not spike your blood sugar and put you in a coma by 1:30.
Reasonable use of caffeine. Tea is better than coffee or soda, because it contains caffeine-like compounds that result in a slower-building, longer-lasting boost. Pay attention to when you really hit your afternoon slump, and plan to have some tea, coffee, or cola a half hour before that. A smart snack (like a granola bar, some peanut butter and crackers) can also give you some more energy for the afternoon.
MOVE! Get up at least once every hour and just walk around a bit. A brisk walk outside is nice, but if you can’t do that, go get a drink of water, wash your hands, check your mailbox, sharpen your pencils, whatever. At the very least, stand and have a good stretch to air out your lungs and reset your posture.
Lots of other good suggestions here, too, like making sure to get enough sleep!
So sleep nine hours. Or ten hours. Everybody needs different amounts of sleep. 8 hours is just the average that most adults need—though of course it’s a rare person who actually gets that much. I went through a stage in grad school where I needed 10 hours of sleep to make it through the day without feeling like I was about to nod off at my desk. Happily, that period of my life is over. (I think that losing weight and exercising more helped, but maybe it was just getting older.)
To see what you’ve accomplished, you could try keeping a tally of forms filled out (or whatever you do), or just keep track of how many 15 minute segments you’ve spent focused on your work. It sounds really juvenile, but it’s very helpful to be able to look back at the end of the day and have an objective way to assess whether you did a great job, or a good job, or if you did rather poorly, and maybe you need to make some changes. If you keep track of when in the day you have been getting things done, like keep your tally on a schedule of the day, that can help you plan your breaks, too.
I used to have the same problem when I switched from physical labor to a desk job. In fact, I used to do live theatre as well, both carpentry and TD work. Working regular hours required a big adjustment. Eventually, I learned to organize my day so the matters that required deep mental involvement- reading, analyzing, etc.- got accomplished in the morning, and I reserved things like phone conferences and more dynamic interactions for the afternoon. Whenever I needed to discuss something with someone in my own office or company, I would get up and go track them down. It helped get the blood moving and broke up the tedium of sitting at my desk all day.
I don’t know what your preference is, but a Big Mac or similar junky food for lunch pretty much guarantees I’ll be in a lunch coma by about 2 p.m. I try to eat more nutritious lunches, which is a big help warding off the sleepies in the afternoon.
[On preview I see that lunches aren’t your problem…]
It took me a while to re-establish my priorities and develop the ability to obtain the satisfaction of a job well done from crossing things off my to-do list, even if they were as mundane as returning calls or closing out an account or something. Not quite the same level of satisfaction as building a set piece or doing a pre-show stage prep, but that’s what I reserve my weekends for.
But seriously, folks, the mid-afternoon slump is legendary in office workers. If you’ve ever visited a large cube farm in the middle of the afternoon, it usually sounds like a ghost town - no phones ringing, no keys clicking, no paper rustling - if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of a hundred workers lightly snoring as they sleep sitting up.
What you do is you position your desk so that people come up from beside you, you position your computer screen so they can’t see what you’re looking at, you open some papers up in front of you, you get a pen in your hand, then you sleep with your head resting on your other hand. Looks like you’re just deep in thought, studying your paperwork.
If you need other tips for office work, like always walking around with a piece of paper in your hand so you look like you’re doing something other than walking around, just let me know.
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
The key is to envision yourself like a POW and try to build mental and physical endurance while it appears that you are all nice and steady on the outside.
I never thought of it this way but at my present job it shouldn’t be a problem
I know in a lot of offices this isn’t possible but if I’m doing the head bobbing thing at my desk, I go find an empty conference room, close my eyes, and rest for about 10 to 15 minutes. I can’t always get away with it, but when I do it helps tremendously.
Well I tried the thong today (in the proper configuration, I am not going down the sideways road again) and I am still squirmy, the wedgie is just adding a whole new reason to fidget.
Sigh. Oh well, I do have an excuse to get out from behind my desk for this afternoon, so that helps. And if I am super lucky I will get to go home early!!!
I have a really boring job. I tape ribbons to paper all day. Usually I try to think of my next big money-making invention.
Yesterday I was thinking about how much I like Boone’s Farm. It’s like a fruity wine cooler type drink and it comes in a big bottle. I was thinking about how much it sucks that they only make coozies for average-sized bottles of alcohol, because I like to drink Boone’s Farm straight out of the bottle
Thus, the Boone’s Farm Coozie ™ was born. I still have to figure out how to make it but dammit, it’ll be awesome when I’m done.
Also one time I invented the Fly Zapper. It’s like a bug zapper but it uses scent instead of light to attract the insects, thus you can use it in the daytime like when you’re cooking outside and flies are a bother. I actually called Invent-Tech about that one but they wanted a bunch of money and I’m pretty poor.
