Categorizing tasks around a break reduces rumination and improves task performance

People often take short breaks from goal-related activities (e.g., at work, during exercise) to stay motivated and prevent burnout. The current research examines a novel factor influencing break effectiveness: task categorization. We suggest that the way people construe tasks around breaks influences their rumination about the task during the break, with consequences for postbreak performance. We test these predictions in a pilot study and five experiments. We find that when people frame a break as falling between two tasks rather than occurring in the middle of a single task, they are less likely to have negative ruminative thoughts about the task during the break (Experiments 1-3). We further examine a consequence of reducing this type of rumination: improved task performance. Using mediation (Experiment 4) and moderation (Experiment 5) approaches, we find that by reducing negative, ruminative thoughts, task categorization can improve postbreak task performance. Together, this research contributes to the literature on categorization, goal pursuit, performance, and breaks, with practical implications for reducing negative rumination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).