There’s nothing worse than losing your groove in the middle of something. Say that you’ve been working without issue for a while, when suddenly, you can’t get past a certain point. When I'm stuck on any part of my work, whether it's due to lack of ideas or just a mental block, I go on a brain break. My brain breaks include a multitude of activities, like singing at the top of my lungs (worry not for other people; I am based in my home), playing a game or doing a crossword puzzle.
You’d think the best way to give yourself a break would be to avoid anything too taxing on your brain, but I think differently. I do these things because of something called the “Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon,” where your brain is actively searching for information it has stored while it is doing other work. By switching my brain from one high-thought activity to another, I can focus on that second activity while my brain works on the first in the background. Sometimes I’ll go work on something harder just to fix the original thing I was working on.
And when I get that ‘Aha!’ moment, I’m ready to get back into whatever I was doing and continue with work. So next time you feel stuck, don’t be afraid to do a little karaoke.
I am Kelsey Cunningham and that is my perspective.
