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GARY MASON

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Unplugging

Never Eat Lunch at Your Desk if You Can Avoid It!

Acting, Encouragement, General, Unplugging, Wisdom

Continuing the series

With this week’s topic “Never eat lunch at your desk if you can avoid it”.

But First

Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t posted a blog for three weeks.  Actually, some of you HAVE noticed because you emailed me to ask about it.  Thank you for reaching out to check on me and make sure everything is alright. Hearing from you makes me happy for a couple reasons:

  • It’s good to know that someone is actually READING what I write.
  • Some of you, at least, like it enough to notice when I don’t post. All the analytics in the world don’t mean nearly as much as hearing from you.  So thanks!

Schrodinger’s OK

You Big Bang Theory fans will get the reference.  Things are simultaneously OK and NOT OK at the same time in our household.  Let me explain.  This happened:

That’s my partner Karen.  She fell off the attic ladder while handing me empty Christmas decoration boxes to put away and broke BOTH arms.  This picture is in the emergency room, and a week later she had surgery on both arms.  Needless to say, she has not been able to do much of anything herself, so I have been her stand-in arms.

We’re OK, but not OK

No one is any danger or terribly ill, but things HAVE been a bit hectic especially with the Holidays here, so that explains why I’ve not bee doing any writing.  Or auditioning (much) or even really submitting for any roles. She’s come a long way since that photo was taken and is beginning to be able to do some small things for herself.  Luckily casts come off Thursday, so I expect things to get even better (and closer to back to normal) soon!

Not a fan

Personally, I am not a fan of decorating for Christmas.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas decorations…just not the decorating part (or the UN-decorating part).  I am a fan of heading to Belize for Christmas where it’s 80 degrees and you can snorkel on Christmas day.  I’m going to use this as an argument against decorating from now on.

Christmas 2019

Anyway…on to the real topic

Why is it important to never eat lunch at your desk if you can avoid it?  There are actually several good reasons for this, but, first, the IDEA of doing that is not really universal.  Here in the USA, it seems to be a pretty standard practice as we seem to have more than our fair share of workaholics here.  I think we think that eating lunch at our desks increases productivity.  NEWSFLASH:  It actually reduces productivity!

Lunch breaks improve productivity

As humans, we have only so much psychic energy to expend in a day.  Failing to take that lunch break continues to deplete that energy so that you wind up “burning out” earlier in the afternoon.  Getting up from your desk (and work) gives your brain a much needed rest that allows it to recharge a bit and actually INCREASES productivity throughout the afternoon.

De-stress

We all intuitively know, and many studies have proven, that stress is a killer.  Stress in our lives, while not proven to cause heart attacks and strokes, have been proven to increase that risk when other factors are involved.  No one sets out to “work themselves to death”, but that could, in fact, be what you are doing. Taking a break at lunch and changing your surroundings helps lower overall stress levels and can help you remain healthy.

Improved cognition

Lowering overall stress levels also helps to improve cognition according to a study by the University of Maryland Medical Center.  Studies indicate that regular stress can reduce glucose to your brain which reduces your brains energy source.  Stress is bad for your brain, so taking that break improves brain function (beyond fatigue).

Did you know?

Until COVID hit, it was illegal in France to eat at your desk!  Yes, failing to take a lunch break could lead to a fine.  Seems weird, but apparently the French government understands the need for a break from work mid-day.  Sadly, with the onset of COVID and many people working from home that law was rescinded.

Speaking of COVID

Now that people are working from home more often eating lunch at your desk is even MORE common. Not to mention longer hours overall, but that’s a different topic.  Some of the peripheral effects of working from home include more access to food (I mean, your refrigerator is RIGHT THERE!) which means more frequent snacking and increased health risks due to weight gain.  So, besides the mental health aspects of not taking a lunch break, eating at your desk (and snacking throughout the day) can lead to obesity and all the risks associated with that.

Gig culture

As voice artists, actors, and all types of performers, we are constantly hustling to book our next gig.  There is a fear among us that we must be constantly hustling to find and secure that next role.  Particularly people who rely on the next gig to pay bills and feed their families, the drive to just keep hustling can have us at our desks for many more hours than someone who works a 9-5 job.  What people DON’T see or realize when they turn on NETFLIX and watch a show or movie is the hours and hours of marketing and networking that went into booking that role.

Gotta hustle!

In the gig culture, we are typically either at our desks looking for gigs, corresponding with potential clients, editing/mastering audio and video for auditions or in front of the mic/camera recording those auditions.  Add to that the time it takes to study a script and come up with a character (traits and mannerisms) and rehearsing/recording/filming once the gig is booked, and you’ll realize that, just for the actor, that 30 second radio spot is the culmination of hours of preparation and for a 90-minute movie WEEKS of preparation.

It can be exhausting

Most people only see the finished product and not all the work that goes into bringing that project to life.  For independent talent, the motivation to just keep working is enormous.  It appears taking a break could mean the difference between booking a gig or not booking it.  And in some ways that can be true, but while you MAY miss one while on a break, an hour for lunch isn’t really going to make or break your ability to book gigs.  For performers it is even MORE important to take that lunch break!

Your performance

Beyond the health risks, working without a break leads to exhaustion which is going to negatively impact your ability to perform.  If you’ve ever tried to remember lines when you’re exhausted (which is typical since filming days can go 12, 14 or 16 hours), you’ll realize that the lunch break may be the difference between a mediocre performance and an Oscar winning performance.  The industry knows this as I have never been on a set that DIDN’T stop and take a real break for lunch (or dinner, or breakfast).

At the end of the day

Taking a real break to have lunch is good for your health, your mental ability, AND your performance.  So:  Never eat lunch at your desk if you can avoid it!

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Filed Under: Acting, Encouragement, General, Unplugging, Wisdom

Take a vacation of your cell phone, internet, and TV once a year

Encouragement, Unplugging, Wisdom

Continuing the series

With this week’s topic “Take a vacation of your cell phone, internet, and TV once a year”.

Well –

This one is a little easier than the last couple.  It’s something we all KNOW, but few DO.  This week we explore why you should “Take a vacation of your cell phone, internet, and TV once a year”.

The idea is an old one

Even though the idea of a cell phone, the internet or TV is relatively new we can easily see it encapsulated in a very old saying:  All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.

Believe it or not

While you may be familiar with the saying from Stephen King’s “The Shining” when Jack Torrance types it over and over again while going mad, this idiom has been around for a very long time, and no one really knows the origin.  It seems the first recorded use was in 1659 (yeah, you read that right!) when it first appeared in James Howell‘s Proverbs.

And did you know

In 1825 a second line was added, although it did not “stick” like the first one did:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.

Personally, I think that second line is as poignant as the first!

It was easier then

Way back in 1659 when we weren’t always attached and carrying our little computers around in our pockets 24/7/365, it may have been easier to accomplish “unplugging” (even the TERM wouldn’t have existed then!) from everything than it is today.  Then all you had to do was get up and go somewhere else to relax.

The beauty is

The great thing about technology, especially portable technology like a laptop or phone is that you CAN take it with you wherever you go.  No matter where you are IN THE WORLD, chances are you can make and receive calls, monitor email, and complete work.  That’s fantastic and allows people the freedom to travel without missing important deadlines and jobs.

Even as an entertainer

One of the things I love about technology is that even when I am away from home I can audition for VO and acting gigs, and sometimes even complete them entirely away from home.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog I recently set up a travel VO rig, and now routinely take my tripod/camera along if I am going to be away from my studio.  It’s great and allows me to stay connected to clients and potential clients even when I travel.

Caveat

MY caveat is I take these things with me when I am not really “vacationing”.  So, if I am going to be on location for a week of filming, or I am just going out of town to visit family for a week I take my whole rig.  No sense in missing work because I am doing work, right?

Here’s the problem

By bringing all your devices with you on vacation you are MUCH more likely to keep working.  Granted, even people who work while on vacation work a lot less, but they are not 100% on vacation nonetheless.  A survey conducted by BankMyCell in 2019 found that:

  • 85% of people went on vacation to “get away from it all”
  • 92.5% of people feel compelled to take their phones with them on vacation
  • Smart Phone users interact with their phones more than once every 10 minutes
  • 41.5% of people report they feel obligated to respond to work emails while on vacation
  • 47% regret staying “plugged in” on vacation

Confession time

Other than that fourth bullet, I am in the population the surveyors are talking about.  I suppose that much of the time I reside in that 4th bullet as well, but definitely place self-imposed limits.  You see, I am an early riser – and none of the rest of my friends/family are.  So when it comes to work emails, when on vacation anyway, I limit myself to only early morning hours when everyone else is asleep and then only to respond that I am on vacation and when I’ll return.

Of course

With today’s smart phones and the awesome cameras they provide, I take my phone pretty much everywhere, if only for taking pictures.  Of course, it also comes in handy as a translator (if in a foreign country) or a way to find that fabulous restaurant using GPS.   It is also useful to book tickets to events without driving all over town to find a box office.

Not to mention

As a small business owner and one-man band, it is nearly impossible to completely disconnect these days.  I recognize that completely disconnecting, even for a short time, can set your business back and then increase stress and workload later when you feel like you must “catch up”.

There DOES come a time

When your devices, even if they are WITH you, need to stay turned off.  In an article written by Lisa Davis of USA Today (2013), she quotes Bruce Davis, co-director of Silent Stay Retreat Home & Hermitage in California:  “The habit of checking email and text messages every few minutes has gotten us out of the habit of enjoying being where we are, who we are with and simply being in the moment”.  And sometimes just being in the moment is exactly what we need.

But here is the thing

You really don’t have to “catch up” and your work (SHOCKING) can go on without you.  I have learned this valuable lesson over time by observing what happens at work (before I retired) when people were suddenly not there anymore.  If you work as long as I did (40+ years) there are numerous times when a co-worker retires, goes on vacation or (sadly) passes away suddenly.  And here is what I observed:  fundamentally nothing changes.  Work goes on, even if they pause briefly (usually VERY briefly).  The sad truth is NO ONE is irreplaceable.

Take time for YOU

As difficult as it is, sometimes the best thing to do is to completely unplug.  The reasons are many, but what follows are 5 reasons from Aha Insurance to unplug:

  • Recharge your mental batteries: Your brain needs this downtime to recharge and repair itself
  • Better/More physical rest: Being connected adds “weight” to our lives. Remove the weight of the world occasionally
  • You can reconnect to your senses: Listen to the world, see and pay attention to the beauty around you. It decompresses you.
  • Rewire your brain: Turn off your left brain and let your right brain take over. Enjoy some new creative experiences and give the left brain a rest.
  • Drop in: Into your marriage, your relationship with your kids and your friends.  Enjoy where you are and who you are with and leave the worries behind for a few days.

There is enough

Enough stress, enough work, enough problems that need solving to go around.  Unplugging for a few days once a year allows you time to de-stress and relax.  Time to reconnect with the world around you.  Time to reconnect with your family and friends.  It allows you time to rest an recharge so that when you return to work, you won’t need a vacation to recover from your vacation! So, once a year, take a vacation of your cell phone, internet, and TV.

Now

I just need to take my own advice and do the same.

P.S.

If you should be on the hunt for your next great read, check out some of the titles in this October promo!

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Filed Under: Encouragement, Unplugging, Wisdom

Vacation

Unplugging, Wisdom

Last week

If you’re paying attention, you’ll note that there was no blog post for last week.  If you weren’t paying attention, then never mind, I guess.  Last week, Karen and I were on vacation with my sister and her family and my daughter and her husband.  We all met in Myrtle Beach for an extended Labor Day weekend and MAN did we have a great time.  I’ll be back next week with the next episode in the series I mentioned in my last post: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!

Beach

Of course, we spent a lot of time on the beach.  We managed to rent a penthouse condo right on the beach.  We were on the 18th (top) floor of the condo and had an awesome view of the beach and the Myrtle Beach coastline.

Magnificent sunrises

Needless to say, from our perch atop the 18 story condo building, us early risers were treated to some spectacular sunrises.  And when I say “us” early risers, I mean me.  For some reason I can’t understand it is impossible for me to sleep in, even on vacation, so I was up by 5AM every day.  It’s a curse, but sometimes it has its perks.

Sunrise
Sunrise

iPhone Camera

I decided my phone takes pretty good pictures too, I was able to get a picture of my family hanging at the pool over the railing on the 18th floor.  I was a little nervous about maybe dropping it, but it worked out well after all.  And check out my nephew’s shoes on the beach!  He was never very far away from them.

Family Sunbathing at pool
Just look at those shoes!

Putt Putt

If you’ve ever been to Myrtle Beach, you know there are a plethora of putt putt golf courses.  While we didn’t get any pictures we did play several rounds of putt putt with everyone, and of course on Friday morning we played 18 holes of full sized golf at the Barefoot Resort Fazio course.  Not for the weak at heart (I wish someone had told me THAT before we went!), this is a challenging course with LOTS of water to allow for maximum ball loss.  I think I lost a dozen balls that morning.

Accommodations

As I mentioned, we were in the penthouse condo and had some pretty amazing accommodations, as you can see below.  If you are traveling to Myrtle Beach I highly recommend seeing if this place, “Living the High Life” is available.  Four bedrooms with PLENTY of room, and it even has a game room complete with a billiard table and arcade games.  The owners are fantastic, very responsive, friendly, and helpful.  They actually provided a storage unit CHOCK full of things you need for the beach like chairs, umbrellas and a cooler with wheels.

A Plug for the owners

If you are planning a vacation and are considering either Hilton Head or the Gatlinburg area, check out their rentals at those locations.  Can’t go wrong with these owners and if the properties are even half as nice as their Myrtle Beach property you will enjoy the accommodations.  The pictures look amazing!  Hilton head. Pigeon Forge (Near Gatlinburg and Dollywood).  Reach out to the owners through these sites and you may be able to rent directly from them and save the VRBO fees.

Food

No vacation is complete without some pretty amazing grub.  Our condo had a kitchen, so we could make our own breakfast and lunch, but of course we managed to find some great restaurants for dinner each night.  I mean, who wants to cook dinner (and clean up!) while on vacation, right!? Believe it or not, those are foot-long chili dogs with fries and cheese sauce.  I think they enjoyed them.

Go Karts!

No Myrtle Beach vacation is complete without a day spent riding go karts!  There are a couple go kart tracks at the beach, but we chose the one with elevated tracks.  Smaller footprint, but great fun with lots of twists and turns and one had a steep(ish) hill near the end.  Great fun for the whole family!

https://www.gary-mason.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Racing.mp4
My Brother in Law Osmaan heading out!

The BIG adventure

Saturday morning we had a BIG adventure, visiting the Myrtle Beach Safari.  The owner, Doc Antle was featured in the series “Tiger King” (Confession: I did not watch Tiger King at all – so shoot me), but my son in law Ricky tells me he was portrayed as the way TO do things, versus the other guy who was portrayed as the way NOT to do things.  I don’t know, since I didn’t watch it, but from my vantage point I note that these animals were well cared for (even loved) and the trainers were professional and well informed in animal husbandry.  At least one of the trainers has a PhD in animal husbandry.

So, what is the safari all about?

First, I will recognize that some of you may fell “some kind of way” about roadside zoos and animals in captivity.  I get it…these wild animals are not in their natural habitat and that is sad.  It IS however a way for people to see and interact with them, and participate, even in a small way, in their preservation IN the wild.  At the end of the day, the safari allows people to not only see full grown big cats in action, but to personally interact with tiger cubs, wolves, hyenas, a full grown African Elephant. and several species of Monkeys.  And the organization supports preservation of wild life in their natural habitat as well.

That Monkey reached up like that without prompting by the trainer!

On top of that…

You get your picture taken with a full grown, 900-pound Liger (a cross between a male Lion and female Tiger), un-caged and sitting about 8 feet behind you.  It’s a little unnerving, but the cat seems pretty chill and is, of course, used to people parading around in front of him.  Honestly he didn’t even pay attention to us, but was focused on his trainer instead.

Pretty impressive cat!

And my next BIG trip

Will likely be a trip to a game preserve in South Africa to view some of these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat.  Myrtle Beach Safari offers a ten day African Safari with limited participation so you are not crowded in huge busses with 100 of your closest friends.  It’s a little pricey, but includes airfare, accommodations, food, and tours into the brush.  Check out their website if you’re interested.  Maybe I’ll see you there in 2023 after Karen retires!

We all need to unplug sometimes

All work and no play…as they say.  We spend a lot of time working and marketing ourselves as voice artists and actors, we work odd hours and even though we are in our own home (for voice over anyway) we spend a lot of time “away” from our families.  Just last Friday I had an acting gig that STARTED at 6:30 PM and didn’t wrap till 3:30 AM.  It was a fun gig, and I’ll share when I can, but the vacation the week before made it a lot less cumbersome this weekend.

Unplug and recharge

If you are an entrepreneur, it is important to occasionally walk away and take some time for yourself.  If you miss a gig, so be it.  Leave your computer and travel setup at home at least once a year.  Just take some time to spend with family doing something fun.  Sure, I had close to 500 emails to sort through when I got back, and I missed 2 or 3 auditions that I may have booked.  But you know what?  The downtime with my family was WELL worth that.

At the end of the day

This trip was phenomenal and was a great opportunity to unplug and recharge.  It was just a week but I came home recharged and ready to go!  Remember, your career is your career and it won’t last forever, but your family…well, that’s what is really important (and I have learned THEY don’t last forever either).  Take the time while you have them to fully devote yourself to them.  You’ll be glad you did (I am!).

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Filed Under: Unplugging, Wisdom

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