Feeling stifled? Consider getting out of your regular routine — even temporarily — to recharge, reset, and gain a fresh perspective.
With the daily stresses, responsibilities and expectations of our personal and professional lives, we all need to press the “reset” button from time to time. Sometimes, though, the usual ways of getting ourselves out of a rut or jump-starting our creativity just don’t do the trick. Sometimes, we don’t just need to pull a rabbit out of a hat — we need full-on David-Blaine-suspended-in-a-box magic to give us a fresh perspective and get back on track.
Here are three unusual — but effective — ways some companies have helped their employees increase productivity, business leaders have learned to start their days with a fresh mindset, and forward-thinking individuals have gotten out of their daily (and often dull) routines. Read on and get inspired to dream up your own happiness hack.
1. Get out of the email (in)box.
What would happen if you temporarily swore off email? Gabel, a home textile company in Italy, wanted to find out. After surveying their employees about what stressed them the most (spoiler alert: Their top answer was the daily influx of emails), they decided to cut off email for one week for internal communications. The goal? To get employees to actually talk to each other more (and no, talking to someone’s avatar doesn’t count.)