Getting over yourself

Creative block? Can't come up with a solution for a problem you need to take care of? Sounds like you need to step back. This is a very common situation we must know how to deal with whenever it arises. Take me, for example. I stopped writing posts completely for the last two days. I was exhausted. But today, the first thing I did when I woke up was write this post. You can probably afford a little time out too, specially if it makes you a lot more productive in the coming days.

So that's the solution! Step back. Take your time to relax. Simple, isn't it? But there is science behind it. The truth is, our brains have an "organization mode", but it doesn't ever turn this setting on unless we are not focused on any particular task. Have you ever defragmented your computer? You have to get away from the computer, letting it sit idle, or the defragmenter program will have a very hard time reorganizing files unless you stop messing with them. The brain works in the same way.

When you work from home like me, being your own boss as a freelancer, it is very difficult to schedule something for ourselves on a daily basis. We have no one to check on us. Taking this evaluation duty upon ourselves doubles our burden. I've learned how healthy and productive it is when I take a few hours a day every day away from the computer, and so should you.

If you don't work from home, it's less likely you run into this problem, because you're not taught in many countries to take your workload home with you. But be careful either way, because you need "me time". Even if you're a workaholic! You might not burden out as much, but you will be more productive if you don't ignore this advice. Otherwise, you might miss something important in the big picture.

Sources: image 1, image 2, image 3