When we’re working on a project but can’t make any headway, it’s as if nothing we try will work. Regardless of how many solutions we come up with, we’re still at the same roadblock, stuck on the same problems.
But after a short break from it (say a day or so), things suddenly click together. Progress is made almost effortlessly. It’s as if all the solutions have appeared out of thin air. We start to wonder why progress couldn’t be made the day before. Why was it so difficult to see the solutions that are so obvious now?
When we take a break from something, we reset our mind. That allows us to see things objectively–to spot the errors and inconsistencies in a project. When we’re in the moment and working on something, we become focused and driven to get the results we want. And when we’re trying to make progress after hours of work, the goal is to get it done, rather than to see the quality of the work itself.
But when we take a break, we’re not longer in that mode of trying to finish. Instead, we’re see the project as it stands–looking at it as if it were a finished product–and that’s when we start to spot the errors.
Fallton Havenstonne 