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I have an acquaintance who works from home. He recently told me that every time he feels like he's losing his motivation and starts to fall into negativity, he
by Raphmedia 7y ago
I have an acquaintance who works from home.
He recently told me that every time he feels like he's losing his motivation and starts to fall into negativity, he goes to the kitchen and does the dishes.
He considers this time to be part of his work day.
By the time he has washed the dishes, the sense of accomplishment is back.
What I take from this anecdote is that the brain does not distinguish that washing something is not part of building a web application. It is simply content to have cleaned multiple objects and then have completed a complex task.
- dbcurtis 7y agoI love that story. I vaguely recall from some psych class long ago something about the psychology of "task completion". Your take-away is spot on.
- klenwell 7y agoThis is what I learned/intuited/assumed (?) to be the practical value of raking the gravel in a zen garden. It's not the effect, it's the process. I've also assumed that this was the moral of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance though I've never read it. (I have my own rituals.) [0] Not mentioned on the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_rock_garden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_rock_garden
- noir_lord 7y agoFor me it's tidying my office at work. When I'm at the point of defenestrating the computer, I tidy up the flotsam and jetsam that accumulates in any workspace, once everything is back in order I grab a coffee and carry on. Never ceases to amaze me how often a simple solution to a frustrating problem occurs midway down the stairs with a box of empty amazon packaging or whatever.