Motivation

Know When To Take Breaks

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No one can decide except for you whether you’re just being lazy and should keep pushing forward or whether you really do need to back off to recharge your psychic batteries. One thing’s for sure though, if you override the authentic voice telling you to take breaks and instead just keep going pedal to the metal then sooner or later you’re going to burn out.

From our psychological perspective less emphasis should be placed on assessing motivation levels, because they fluctuate wildly over time, and more emphasis should be placed on assessing underlying commitment. As long as you’re sure your commitment is unwavering, that you’re still 100% behind the endeavor you’re pursuing,  getting away from what you’re doing for a few days or even a few weeks isn’t much cause for concern. You’ll come back to it refreshed, with renewed vigor and maybe even a different perspective that will help you make important inroads.

But if an honest inner appraisal shows your commitment is starting to waver then this is where you’ll likely resort to the psychological rationalization that you need a break when really you don’t need a break, you just don’t feel like putting in the effort. If this is the case then you’ve reached a crossroads and it’s time to get back to the basics, to ask yourself why you’re pursuing this particular endeavor, to remember what you hoped to get out of it when you started and what you think you can still get out of it now.

If you’re all in then breaks of short or long duration aren’t only acceptable they’re absolutely necessary if you hope to keep gong over the long haul. If you’re not all in then taking breaks is really just you avoiding the task at hand because you don’t feel much like doing it, and that’s just a total waste of your precious time.

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