I’ve just gotten back from a lovely vacation, spending some time relaxing and away from the pressures and day-to-day of work. While the vacation glow persists for another day or two, it got me to thinking about the tremendous value of just stepping back for a bit.
It is a truism that we often miss the forest for the trees; that is, we get so enmeshed in the detail of things that we can miss large-scale trends or broader context. That’s not to say the details aren’t important — in fact, in terms of execution, they’re incredibly important — but in isolation, they can be crippling.
Getting even just a few days away from the current project can be helpful to come back to it with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective. New approaches are more obvious, as are (more importantly) new questions: Why are we doing it this way? Are we really on track to meet the intended needs? Does this all still make sense?
The tech world mythologizes the start-up work environment where everybody works 20 hours a day and sleeps in their cubicle (or works around the clock from their bedroom). There are times when that may be necessary or desirable. But I’d submit they are pretty few, and if they’re not interspersed with time for recharging and replenishing both cognitively and emotionally, you may end up confusing motion with progress.