Then my watch beeped. Time to move the car. (Here in San Francisco, lots of neighborhoods only have two hour parking). I took about 5 minutes to walk out into the fresh air, move the car, feel the wind on my face and get my heart pumping while I walked back up the hill to my client's apartment.
I walked back into the room and took one look in a pile that I had already checked twice. Of course, there it was. Right in front of me. Right there all along.
As someone who has a long attention span, I can work for long periods of time, but I've learned that working for long stretches is often counter-productive. I first noticed this when I had to work on a writing project and also had to get caught up on my laundry. To get all the laundry done, I was forced to get up every 45 minutes or so to throw in another load and deal with the load coming out of the dryer.
Each time the buzzer sounded on the dryer, I didn't feel like I needed a break. In fact, I felt like I was in "the zone" or on the cusp of a breakthrough and I was annoyed that I couldn't keep working; but then I started to notice something unexpected. Each time I came back from dealing with laundry, I had a burst of inspiration or suddenly saw solutions to problems that I was having with my project. Each break helped to propel me forward and I was able to accomplish an amazing amount of work.
The Pomodoro Technique is a popular time management technique that incorporates structured breaks into a cycle of work sessions. I haven't actually tried it, but I have my own system of making sure that I have to get up and take breaks: I just keep drinking lots of water. Keeps me hydrated and forces me to get up and take bio-breaks every hour or so.
Trying to work through a backlog of clutter or papers often makes us feel like we can't allow ourselves to stop until we're finished. All too often, we get stuck and decide that we're failures and incapable of doing the work, when maybe, all we need to do is to give ourselves a break. Try it!
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