Stuck on a Project? Step Away.
Banging your head against the wall? Step away for a while.
The lock on the bathroom door just wasn’t working quite right. Two of us spent a good hour taking it apart and analyzing it. We tried three possible solutions and they … almost worked. Our best solution was to … go to the lake.
I can’t get projects out of my mind until I solve them. Maybe it’s the mathematician in me, but I just want to solve it. But if you’re not making any progress, it might be time to not throw in the towel, but to put your mind onto something else. Walk completely away from the project, do something else, put your mind at ease–if possible.
Are you a hamster or a rat?
When you step away, your mind stops churning like the hamster on the wheel–in case you didn’t notice, the hamster doesn’t get very far. But the rat, the rat keeps going until they find the end of the maze. But the rat might take a break, the rat might sit in the corner for a while. OK, I’m no rat psychologist, but I wonder if they’re thinking of the solution or of something else. Maybe they put their mind off of the maze and onto, I don’t know, cheese, but then their subconscious silently keeps thinking about the solution to the maze. But they needed a break, they need to stop focusing on it and make their mind do other things.
Sit in the corner, take a walk, go to the lake, work on another project, but give yourself some breathing room from the project that’s challenging you. The fresh perspective will give you … a fresh perspective.
Stuck on a project? Step away.
