Coffee Break咖啡休息時間
聽朋友說，在義大利喝咖啡，就像喝水一樣，早餐來一杯，中餐飯後一杯，晚餐吃飽，再來一杯。在米蘭的餐廳裡，就連吃中式、日式、韓式、泰式，甚至巴西烤肉等，各式異國料理，餐後，侍者都會很有禮貌地詢問，要不要來份甜點，或一杯咖啡？大部分的義大利人，真的三餐飯後，都會來一杯咖啡，他們不怕喝太多，或者喝太晚睡不著，他們在飯後喝咖啡，就像我們吃完飯配水果一樣。「咖啡休息時間 (coffee break)」大約10-15分鐘，義大利人通常在早上和下午，各有一次，讓大家暫時放下手邊的工作，一起喝杯咖啡閒聊，放鬆休息一下。而在日常生活中，義大利人也不管是逛街、血拚，或是看表演、展覽，只要正事結束，他們一定會問：「要不要一起喝杯咖啡？」「咖啡休息時間 (coffee break)」就是他們最自然與最真實的生活方式了。在台灣，我也發現愈來愈多人喝咖啡了。其實，一起喝咖啡，就是聚一聚、說說話，互相分享生活中的大小事，喝咖啡只是藉口罷了！
Have a break, have a … coffee! Is there anything that we can get together to have a cup of coffee and take a break at the same time? I guess that, nowadays, coffee break has become a part of our daily lives. Actually, a coffee break serves as the perfect time for most of us to enjoy the drink, take a rest and regain the focus as well. Essentially, taking a brief pause during our workdays to enjoy a cup of coffee really helps us revitalize both our minds and bodies. All humans need breaks. It’s simply biology. Our nervous systems are much easier to burnout. And our brains and bodies are more attuned and responsive to our busy surroundings. We tend to have lots of ideas for things that we want to do all the time without stop. It seems that we don’t have excuses to end our works. However, we should have to take a break in order to go further. In our society, stopping seems like the exact wrong thing to do when there’s so much to be done. But, it turns out that those of us who take that extra time for ourselves may achieve something. We must remind ourselves that life is a marathon, not a sprint (短跑). Therefore, having a cup of coffee is necessary and very important. Breaks are acceptable and encouraged. There will be times to speed up, just as there are times to slow down.
Moreover, taking a coffee break helps us at work. In fact, coffee breaks also play a crucial role in fostering social interaction among team members in companies. The informal setting of a break room or coffee area in the office provides a space for employees and colleagues to connect on a personal level, share ideas, and build relationships and networks. These casual interactions of coffee breaks, indeed, shape a cohesive and collaborative work environment effortlessly. In other words, team cohesion is vital for effective communication and collaboration, and coffee breaks exactly offer a platform for team members to discuss projects, exchange insights, and brainstorm perspectives. These spontaneous discussions during coffee breaks, in effect, become a good way for innovation and problem-solving in the workplaces.
Additionally, without others, the change of environment during a coffee break even provides a mental break only for ourselves along to rethink and explore new ideas while doing something simple and rewarding. Enjoying a cup of coffee just by ourselves is so great in terms of personal privacy. It lets us escape temporarily from our work environment, and encourages us produce fresh outlooks. We, then, can return to our workday tasks with a heightened sense of creativity, ready to approach challenges with a novel mindset.
Truly, the humble coffee break holds massive potential as a tool for enhancing productivity and fostering creativity both on a personal level and as a team. Just a simple coffee break does allow us having the opportunity to step away from our works, so that we can have clear minds to calm down and create new thinking. Furthermore, if we have regular coffee breaks, they also bring employees together to have strong relationships, interactions and cross-department collaborations. Coffee breaks offer moments of relaxation. Such a positive atmosphere leads us to creative breakthroughs, innovative ideas, new insights and novel approaches. Specifically, for the team work, taking a short break stimulates employees’ imagination and productivity constantly. All in all, coffee breaks not only let us feel more energized and focused, experience greater satisfaction and fulfillment in our personal lives, but also permit employees seizing the opportunity to promote cohesion, become more manageable and boost business profits.
Now, let’s have a cup of coffee and take a break!