I’m not very kind to my wireless/Bluetooth keyboards. In fact, I have lost track of how many times I have dropped salad dressing or cracker crumbs on my keyboard. If I look back over our tech orders for our 20+ years in business, it is probably quadruple the number of times I bought a new keyboard, given that the spills were often not catastrophic.

The reality is, I am sometimes clutzy and clumsy. I literally spilled a seltzer onto my keyboard this morning before I started typing this blog—fingers crossed that the escape key and rest of the upper left quadrant of the keyboard keep working!

But my clumsiness wasn’t what led me to reconsider eating my lunch away from my keyboard, whether standing on my treadmill desk or sitting at my traditional desk in the office. Actually, adopting our family’s first dog finally cracked the code for me about taking time to eat lunch away from my desk.

Ollie, our mini goldendoodle, is currently seven. He has served as a model for our business many times over the years. (How can you resist his little red bow tie? It’s so on brand!)

He deserves credit for making me rethink a break away from the desk, sometime around midday, so that he can stretch his legs and say hello to the other neighborhood dogs also out for a midday stroll. After we had the habit of midday walks most days (sometimes work or weather kept us inside), I realized that I was already walking through the kitchen to put my sneakers on and grab his leash. Why not pause to make and eat my salad there before heading out for a quick walk with Ollie, versus walking to the kitchen, making a salad, walking back to the office to poke away at an email or two, and then walking back through the kitchen to head on the walk?

Yes, this change was another of my small efficiency gains, which I’m always happy with; but as I tested this new “efficiency hack,” I discovered more. Rather than cramming in an email or two while risking the well-being of my keyboard, by giving my eyes a break from the screen, not just for the 10-minute walk with Ollie, but also for my approximately 10-minute lunch before, I was also letting my brain process everything that had happened so far that day. As a result, I was able to think about pivots that I might need to make, as if I were to “Respond to Change OVER Following a Plan” like our Agile in Nonprofits team is always discussing.

Some days, I go back to old habits (hence, the more recent keyboard replacements), but for the most part, thanks to Ollie, when I’m working from my main home office, lunch tends to be away from the screen. Ultimately, that habit has been a better way to recharge my brain for the rest of the day than the second cup of coffee I used* to reach for in the afternoon.

Now, I’m not saying my approach is for everyone…but I’m curious to know how you handle your own lunch. Take a break? Eat over the keyboard and hope not to make a mess? I’d love to hear—let me know in the comments below.

ICYMI: This post is part of the larger series I’m writing this year, expanding on the 20 lessons learned in my 20 years in business. Check out the original post, which links to each of the individual lessons here.