Excerpted from Harvard Business Review, The Management Tip of the Day, on October 9, 2017
To Solve a Problem, Stop Thinking About It
When you’re trying to come up with a creative solution to a problem, you might be tempted to buckle down and focus until you solve it. But recent research shows that taking breaks at regular intervals leads to better outcomes. Set a timer for a certain amount of time, say, 30 minutes. When it goes off, switch tasks: Organize your reimbursement receipts, check your email, or clean your desk, and then return to the original task. If you’re hesitant to stop because you feel that you’re on a roll, you should take a break anyway: We tend to come up with redundant ideas when we don’t take regular breaks, so ask yourself whether your latest ideas are as great as they seem. And don’t feel guilty about taking breaks. Doing so may actually be the best use of your time.
Adapted from “To Be More Creative, Schedule Your Breaks,” by Jackson G. Lu, Modupe Akinola, and Malia Mason