You Need to take More Breaks
Long time, no see! A lot of you noticed and asked me about last week's newsletter, which in case you were wondering, didn't go out. Here's what happened: I was taking a proper break (after MONTHS) on Diwali and that just reminded me how badly I needed a break. I've been working on a lot of projects (which will be launching soon by the way!) but in doing that, I just didn't stop to take a break and kind of found myself in a rut, and it just felt like so much was going on at the same time. I kind of felt stuck, so I decided to cut myself some slack and take a break for a couple more days and I'm so glad I did. And that's what I'm going to be talking about in today's newsletter!
The break that I took wasn't really a break in the sense that I didn't just waste my entire time on Netflix (I did do that in small doses though), but rather, I chose to keep moving and doing things I didn't have the time for before. I started reading a book (The Unfair Advantage, which I highly recommend reading), did a few online courses on things unrelated to my work, just for fun, journaled quite a bit, worked out, and by the end of my mini break, I felt so rejuvenated and driven to accomplish the things I had on my never ending to-do list. I also feel like I have a lot of new ideas on the things I've been working on.
This reminds me of a quote from one of my all time favourite books ‘Big Magic’ by Elizabeth Gilbert: “Any motion whatsoever beats inertia, because inspiration will always be drawn to motion”. What this means is that when you're in a rut, don't try to keep pushing because that won't accomplish anything. Just try something else instead, whether it's painting, gardening, or just regular household chores, do anything that keeps you moving. Even Einstein spoke about this; he called it ‘combinatory play’ which is the act of opening up one mental channel by dabbling in another. In other words, it is taking two unrelated things and putting them together to generate new ideas.
I think there's a huge lesson in productivity to learn from Einstein and Elizabeth Gilbert. You may think that this is just a productive way to procrastinate, but with the right intention, it's motion, and motion always beats inertia, and inspiration will always be drawn to motion. So next time you're feeling stuck at work or anything else in life, put that aside for a while and pick up a hobby that you enjoy. And I can guarantee that when you go back to doing your work, you'll be a lot more energised, full of new ideas and inspiration, and with a brand new perspective.