Eric Maisel...taking a break

When you need a break from your project, Eric Maisel suggests taking a "passionate break of short duration" rather than a careless, extended break that threatens to lose all of your momentum.

He tells the story of a novelist who needed a break to solve a plot problem. Maisel writes that the novelist "knows that he needs a break but it is a break in the service of his novel. He isn’t intending to abandon his work or avoid the challenge. He is passionately interested in solving this plot problem and his brain is perfectly aware that he is passionate about this matter. So it takes a nice little break, providing ... mental rest, but it also continues working out of his conscious awareness, tackling the problem he has given it."

So, when you are stuck, frustrated, mentally exhausted or otherwise in need of a mind break, the principle to apply: Start with a small break and a splash of cold water, try other minimal interventions like a nap or a good night’s sleep, move on to a day sabbatical or a weekend vacation, and only in this incremental way proceed to a break with any real length or finality. If you are lucky, you will discover that all that you require is a passionate break of short duration.