OPTED Magazine

If you’re anything like the typical desk worker, or even if you’re not, you likely spend at least 40 hours a week at your full time job.  And that doesn’t account for commuting time.  Schedules are hectic, and spending an average of 8 or more hours a day in an office guarantees a significant chunk of your day is no longer your own.  Except your lunch break.

Most office environments allow for a one hour lunch and many people opt for eating out and socializing rather than packing a brown bag lunch.  But here are three reasons you should skip the daily (and pricey) lunch out of the office and choose to bring your lunch instead.

Maximizing the Lunch Hour

Depending on how strict your workplace is, when you clock out or announce your departure for lunch, coworkers are aware of how long you are absent, so a limitless lunch is not an option.  If you factor in the walk or drive to pick up food, the lines and serving time, plus the return to the office, before long you’ve reduced your actual dining experience by more than half!

The one hour lunch should be a cherished time of the day and considered your own personal time.  Each minute you spend socializing or traveling to and from a restaurant is time you’ve squandered on quality time for yourself.

Bringing your lunch saves untold time that can be spent on your personal to-do list.  And for many, completing personal tasks on company time is not an option outside of the lunch hour.  Why is time management so important for your lunch hour?

Weekdays make productivity in your personal life a tricky juggling act

Recently I evaluated the 24 hour day during the week and it wasn’t a pretty sight.  Spend 8 hours sleeping, 2 hours commuting, 2 hours on personal health (exercise, grooming, etc) and 8 hours in the office — and I’m left with 4 hours for everything else in my life.  For many of you, spouses, children and other after-work commitments cut even further into that time.

This is precisely why the lunch hour in the middle of the day is a perfect gift for your schedule.

Every minute you spend on keeping your life in order during your “4 hour free time window” is more time to spend with friends and family, or dare I say personal hobbies or goals we want to pursue.  Here are some examples of tasks that can easily fit into your lunch hour at your desk, freeing up extra time when you get home:

• Bill paying: just remember to bring in a stack of bills one day a week and catch up on payments, or phoning companies to haggle on fees
• Personal email: the last thing you want to do is spend time at home sitting in front of a computer screen when you’ve just done that for 8 hours at work!  Maintaining a social life and controlling your email is an important task (and also an easy one to do during a meal at your desk)
• Read and review: have a list of web articles or a queue of blog posts in your feed reader?  It’s a perfect task to complete during lunch

Another option to consider is the “split” lunch, where you commit to a combination of exercise and a post-cardio meal.  If your schedule is as hectic as mine is, your lunch break may be the only way you can get half an hour of exercise in.

Above all else: you’ll save money and improve your health

This is the most obvious reason to bring your lunch to work, but it can’t go without mentioning.  Don’t believe me?  Use this calculator and see how much money you will save on packing your lunch instead of eating out during the work week.  You’ll be amazed.

Eating in restaurants or ordering food-to-go risks enormous portions sizes you don’t need (also prompting an afternoon slump) and the chances of finding an appetizing, nutritious meal are much less than if you control your own destiny with a brown bag lunch.  And a packed lunch doesn’t have to be boring — use your imagination.

The habit of bringing a brown bag lunch to work each day is all about YOU.  Think about it — you may be lucky enough to have your dream job (and if so, congrats!) but many of us work in our current situations for other reasons.  Boredom, apathy, and unfulfillment are staples for many people’s careers and the workplace may be a less than ideal environment, making personal time that much mroe important.  But you’re given a gift: a one hour lunch break.  Take advantage of it.

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