Sometimes, in your lunch break, you’re in the mood to do something way more adventurous than eating lunch at your desk or hopping to the nearest coffee shop for a vanilla latte. We’re here to shower you with ideas so you know what to do during these rare moments of enlightenment.

Here’s our list of cool, weird and extraordinary things to do during your lunch break, so you can restart your mind at midday.

#1 Visit a museum or a gallery.

#2 Go to the movies.

#3 Organize a small reunion with a college friend whom you haven’t seen for years.

#4 Challenge your liver with a wine-tasting session (only to be attempted if you have a very cool boss).

#5 Visit a festival.

#6 Go to a faraway neighborhood to have lunch at a particular restaurant.

#7 Join a free tour of your city and learn new facts about where you live.

#8 Sweat it out in the gym.

#9 Go into a shop you would never enter and take a look around. Ask the shop assistant about what they sell and delve into details. This is a tiny exercise to help you expand your world.

#10 Join an art class and create something with your own hands.

#11 Meditate in a quite place.

#12 Go to church.

#13 Go for a walk amid nature – it’ll do wonders for your mental health.

#14 Go to the beach.

#15 Ride your bike (and listen to this perfectly themed playlist of cycling songs).

#16 Take a careful look at the menu and order something you would normally skip.

#17 Volunteer.

#18 Every weekday, go to a different place to eat, but order the same meal (like, pizza Margherita or Cesar salad). Rate every dish from 1 to 10 and then go back to the place where you had the best one to congratulate the staff.

Pin it for later to tick off every completed point:

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If your morning commute includes rubbing shoulders with strangers on public transportation or sharing precious moments of grudge with other drivers in traffic jams, then maybe you need a little change. Choose a nice, sunny day and go to work on foot. The National Walk to Work Day celebrated in the USA and Australia (on different dates) is a good occasion to start but don’t stop there. Although it involves waking up earlier in the morning (ugh…), the higher energy levels when you arrive at the office may eventually convince you it’s a good idea.

When is the Walk to Work Day in the USA?

The National Walk to Work Day is celebrated on the first Friday of April in the USA. The initiative started back in 2004 and is promoted by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

When is the Walk to Work Day in Australia?

The National Walk to Work Day in Australia is an initiative of the Pedestrian Council of Australia and is supported by the Australian Government. It takes place in October or November (take a look at the upcoming dates here). In 2018, it is held on October 5, Friday. 

How to make it fun

• Use Google Maps to calculate the exact distance from your home to your office. When not in a hurry, people usually walk at a speed of 5 kph (3 mph). If you live 6 km (3 mi) from your workplace – it will take you about 70 minutes.
• Get up earlier than usual and put on comfortable shoes. You will hate this if your feet hurt.
• Plan time for a coffee or a breakfast break on the way (you can prepare breakfast at home and eat it in a nice park).
• Choose your route so that you pass through as many parks and quiet streets as possible – thus walking to work will be a genuinely refreshing and recharging experience.
• Put on your favorite music in the headphones or just listen to the sounds of the city. You can also try this experiment: put on unusual music on your phone and see how your perception of the city changes when you listen to Buddhist chanting, classical music, or Ludovico Einaudi’s piano instrumentals.
• If you walk to work anyway, change your usual route. Take different streets every day for several consecutive days, even if it means walking a bit further.
• If you live too far and walking to work is impossible, then at least take off the bus/train a couple of stops earlier or park your car a few blocks away from the office. (or you can just use digital workspace :))
• If you want to take this challenge to a whole new level, get up earlier than usual and do some sport before work. The perfect choice would be something you practice outdoors, like yoga, mountain biking or skiing (if you are lucky enough to have a nice ski slope close to the city you live in).

Read more: 18 unusual lunch break ideas to restart in a creative way

Pin this amazing idea to your self-improvement board because it’s worth trying:

The post When is the Walk to Work Day and how to make it fun? appeared first on 203Challenges.

The mere thought of sifting through a massive pile of unread emails after you return from a vacation is enough to make you want to chip away at your work while you are at the beach and supposed to be relaxing. But if you knew how harmful this stolen time is for your vacation experience, you would think twice next time you thoughtlessly reach for your laptop.

One hour working = 43% fewer memories from your vacation

Even one hour of working in your hotel room (or terrace, or beach…) tricks your brain and decreases by 43% its capacity to remember the vacation, a study by Texas University and Homeaway reveals.

Your brain when working on a vacation

Why is that?

There are two conditions required for the brain to remember an experience:

1. full engagement in what you are doing (both body and soul)

and

2. difference from your everyday life.

By working on your vacation, you break both rules, letting your brain slip into its normal schedule of email-checking instead of unwinding and being genuinely disconnected.

Leave your laptop at home

Don’t event think about taking your laptop if you want to genuinely relax on your vacation. According to the same research, people who used their laptops for working found it harder to remember their vacation than those who only used their smartphones. The reason? The laptop is so much more comfortable and makes it easier to work more, while the phone – with its inconvenient keyboard and smaller screen – is easier to throw away once you finish with your most urgent deeds.

How to use your smartphone really… smartly

It’s not necessary to leave your phone behind if you don’t feel like it. Actually, if you use it for taking photos for up to two hours a day, it can increase by 40% the amount of memories you have from your vacation.

* We know that a true workaholic would never read an article like this, so it’s your job to forward it to a friend who needs a reminder that working on their vacation doesn’t do them any good.

If you don’t know which university to choose after the vacation, you can see Specialized Administration and Management Institute of La Francophonie.

The post Working during your vacation? Here’s what happens to your brain! appeared first on 203Challenges.

There are plenty of employees who avoid using their vacation days, no matter where in the world they work and live.

In the USA alone, around 40% of the employees don’t take their time off.

Refusing to go on a vacation is often due to the fear that the company will realize that it can do perfectly fine even without the employee.

However, an in-house analysis, done by the audit company EY, has proven that those employees, who use all of their vacation days, achieve better results when their work is evaluated.

In the USA and Canada, the statistics indicate that employee performance improves by an average of 8%, per every 10 days of vacation.

It is only natural to conclude that a healthy work-life balance leads to positive results, both on a professional and a personal level. Doing better at work can also easily result in promotions.

The post You want a pay raise? It’s easy: take a vacation! appeared first on 203Challenges.