No, no, no…I’m not talking about what I use to do when I was a dumb 20-year-old Lance Corporal in the US Marines. Our Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO) would say, “Hey there Hard Chargers, we are gonna take a 10-minute break. You can go out and smoke em’ if you got em’ but be back here with butts in seats by 1400!”

Let’s talk about how better to occupy your well-deserved (and not to mention legally required) 15-minute break from work. I actually tried to find some research or poll of what people do during their break time, but was pretty unsuccessful in locating such data. Before sitting was the new smoking, SMOKING was the new smoking! Smoking use to be glamorized by television, film, and other forms of media back in the day.. Once we wised up and realized the dangers of tobacco use, we use the same media platforms to influence to change the hearts and minds of impressionable people. As a matter of fact, the media has been attacking big tobacco companies since 1967.

For me, I use to smoke as a time kill. Plus, the “smoke pit” was where all of my buddies were. It’s probably the same at the office where you work. We have all seen it, a huddle of people by the container where smokers are SUPPOSED to thrown their butts. You might have actually busted the closet smoker jetting off to the car to burn one, then coming back into the office smelling like a Nordstrom’s cosmetic cabinet and the freshest breath you probably never wanted to privilege to smell!

By no means is this meant to throw shade or shame to anyone with an addiction. We all have our vises for sure. I can empathize with them. As I said, I was one of them. Instead, I will simply offer the methods I used to kick the habit…Marine Corps style!

1. EPD- and no, I’m not talking about these guys (IYKYK).EPD refers to Extra Punitive Duty, which are additional tasked assigned to you because you f***ed up! It usually involved “s*** detail” (sometimes literally, but that is a story for another post down the road). These duties could range from cleaning the barracks, squad bay, or your 1st Sgt’s office to doing meaningless work during your own liberty or free time. I can see your 1st Sgt’s face now as he drops that little gem on you before a long holiday weekend. So, how does EPD stop you from going to go burn one? Let’s spin this nuisance into a proactive and positive experience for you and your body. Instead of being volun-told what to do, you could show some initiative and do the little tasks that need to be done around the office before it’s a mandatory occurrence. It could be things like restocking the shelves, grabbing some papers from the printer, or taking out the garbage. Anything to take your mind off of the scuttlebutt going on amongst cancerous situations. FOMO (fear of missing out) is way easier to manage when your mind is distracted with something else.
2. Speaking of distracting your mind, another approach is to get your creative juices pumping. By this, I mean use your time to work on something YOU want to work on. Sure, we all have tasks that are assigned to us by the boss, but how often do you get to work on something that strikes your creative genius at work? This could be something like a sketch you have been meaning to finish, a letter to a friend, a social media post that needs careful attention, or trying your hand in screen play writing. For this to work, it has to be something that you enjoy that comes from intrinsic motivation (more on this subject another time). A friend of mine has two phones because the older one is simply there to play a music recognition game to get double the points from two separate account! No one makes her do it, but she does it out of the love of music. Getting into a state of flow (coined by the Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi) means that you are fully engulfed in a task that keeps you hyperfocused to the task, process, or enjoyment. Be careful though, you might loose track of time. Give it a try, but don’t be late getting your butt back in the seat by 1400!
3. Chances are, you are not the only one biting your nails, tapping your foot, or thinking for something else to do besides smoking a jack. Chances are, your cubical buddy is jonesing right along with you! How about you make a friend and hold each other accountable! Battle buddies are a great way to have someone watch your back and check you when you feel like backsliding. My NCOs would always tell us that when two Marines go out, one is always in charge. This situation is no different. If you do feel the urge to step outside for some *cough *cough…fresh air, take your sobriety buddy with you! Remember, one of you is responsible for the other not doing the bad thing. You could even alternate days that you’re in charge so that your will power doesn’t go up in smoke with the carcinogens. Maybe they can tell you everything there is to know about the shrimpin business!