You
might not be able to always stay in touch with all your work. I mean the work
that involves psychological commitment/labor. For some time you might feel like
you have a good grip of everything in your life and sometime later you’ll feel
like you have lost the touch. You might feel like you had it all figured out
and on your way to completion. But you can be easily thrown off the track by
some illness, work, travel, parties, sex, games or whatever. These things
happen and it’s OK…… as long as you don’t go backwards.
When
you have to dig miles deep for a treasure, it’s alright to stop digging for a
while. A huge shift in your way of life is difficult and everyone has their own
pace. Some might be all enlightened in one step and some might do it in
thousand or even a 100 000 steps. What
you must not do is taking a step back. You can stop the digging and
take some time off. But never bury what you dug; not even a little bit.
Always know
where you are in your work. Know how much you have created. Know how much you
have understood. Then, if you went out of the track you know where you have to
start from. After staying some time off the track you might think that you’ll
have to start from the bottom or some lower place. It’s a complete delusion
stuck in your mind. When proving a mathematical theorem, mathematicians use all
the previously proven theorems right away instead of going back from the basics
or somewhere between where you are and the basics.
Take
a field which needs a great deal of human insight like Quantum Mechanics. Not many
people can swallow it at once. You can learn QM little by little, taking small
breaks. When you come back after a break, remember where you were at last and
start off from there. You may feel like you’ll have to go back and slowly get
into the subject. This will slow you down immensely. All the things you have
learnt are stored in your memory. You have experienced them all. Just put
yourself on the edge of what you have learned and push yourself forward. This will
make you let go of your need to go backtracking and what’s already in your mind
will come out. Think you are tired and can’t run really fast. The truth is you
just don’t want to run. Put yourself in front of a mad dog and you’ll not only
run fast, but also be very smart and tactical.
If
you are involved in creative work and had to engage in some work that gets you
out of the mood, I recommend going for an idea
sprint. When you are not learning but creating, this is the best way to get
into the flow. After some time you’ll realize that getting out of the “zone” or
natural flow is just like pausing a game or a video. You can start off from
where you left. So remember to save frequently and use bookmarks so that you
wouldn’t be bewildered when you come back.
Here is an extra tip:
If you still feel difficult to get back into the flaw and start off from where
you left go for something related. It’s completely inefficient to start off
from a lower level instead of resuming your work. Think you are stuck with a vital
part of a short story. Then start another story that is a bit related to what
you were writing and after some time you’ll have created something to fill the
vital part. If you are stuck with some QM notes, watch a documentary on QM. If
you are stuck with a difficult question, try answering some other questions for
some time. This will engage yourself in going ahead in some other work while
getting you into the flow of what you originally wanted to engage in. Good luck
with whatever you are doing! Always remember to be efficient; not hard or “slow
and steady”.
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