I’m usually pretty serious when it comes to my time and effort. I don’t often put in time to things just for fun, or for the hell of it without a specific goal attached. But I’m finding that, the harder I work, the worse of an idea it is to only focus at drilling down on things with a huge ROI.
Sometimes you do just need to go have fun.
If you’re feeling run down, over-tired, over-worked you should take a minute to breathe.
For me it’s super hard because a lot of my work is from self-induced ideas.
But you need to take time to turn off.
I’ve found my process for immediate decisions and goal-setting to be beneficial for this process. If you need – make a list of all the things you can think of that are fun, mindless activities that you don’t normally allow yourself to go partake in. Keep in mind, this may legitimately be hard if you’re so focused on working that you’ve got incredible tunnel vision.
Once you’ve got your list, turn off your brain and pick one.
Here’s some of what mine looks like right now:
- Watch Agents of Shield (seriously – it’s so wonderfully mindless)
- Play through a game with my wife
- Read fiction
Sometimes it’s good to throw in a hobby project related to the things you normally work on. For example, I’m still plucking away at learning JUCE. Shortly I’m going to set to working on a “noise generator” plugin – except instead of being generated, the noise will be supplied by hisses from my friend Matt. Why? Because a joke went way too far, and now we need to make it real. It’s something I get to laugh at while also learning something I’m interested in on the side! Is it going to be mindblowing for the rest of the world? No – but that’s also not really the point.
So if you’re feeling a little beat down, plan to go home tonight and give yourself permission not to do anything. Start there, and then make yourself a list of what you’d do just to recharge or put a smile on your face.
You’ve got my permission to be a little lazy, you’ll get back to work shortly and work with more energy because of it!
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