Also, try to keep that day job.

[hannah]

Day 14

In your own space, create your own challenge. Whatever your challenge is, and have fun with it! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

My challenge to everyone:

Know when to stop.

Recognize when you've hit the point where you can't get any more done on that paper or that vid, call it a night and go to bed, and start again in the morning. Step away from that show you don't enjoy anymore. Figure out when you've hit the points of diminishing returns and sunk costs and accept the losses without getting in deeper.

The corollary aspects of knowing when to stop are knowing when to keep going, or start over. Something might take a long time or a lot of work, and it's up to you to figure out if you need to stop long enough to get a decent night's sleep, a brief break for perspective, or to stop entirely. Maybe you do need to keep working on it because you've hit the momentum you need to finish the project, or at least get it to a decent place before you can step away. Sometimes you need to keep going. But still - being able to stop is a good thing. Just to know you have that capacity.

Know when to stop.

Comments

[akamarykate]

Oh, this is so important. I get to a point, especially with sewing for some reason, where I hit a wall and know to stop, no matter where I am in a project. Stop, put it down, walk away, get a glass of water, and do something else. If I push past that point, it ends in cussing and tears.

[jadesfire]

Oh gosh, this is so important. That balance of "need to work hard" and "need to rest to work better" is really tricky to get right. Taking the time to work out which is which is a really great challenge, thank you!

[spikedluv]

Such good advice!

[oldtoadwoman]

Excellent challenge!

I'm pretty good at knowing when to stop the actual project, but I need to work at knowing when to stop when it comes to goals and to-do lists and promises to myself so that when I hit the point when I have to stop I don't feel like an utter failure for "only" doing as much as I could.

[silveradept]

Indeed. It can feel like failure to stop when you need to, but I've found many a problem gets solutions after I've slept on them and done something else for a while.