Stepping away from a project for a while it allows you to get a different perspective on it. When you’re working day by day and week by week it can be hard to see past the immediate work. Taking a proper break and completely getting things out of your mind for a bit allows you to see things with fresh eyes when you get back.

Work that seemed quite important before you stopped might not be when you don’t think about it for a bit. Problems that only seemed to have one solution can turn out to have more when you allow your subconsciousness to work on them while you think about literally anything else for a few days.

Most people have experienced the feeling of being stuck on a problem, sleeping on it, and having an epiphany the next morning that solves it quickly. The same principle applies when you take a longer break.

I am going to be taking the above advice and taking a break from writing emails for the next two weeks while I take time off over the holidays. Thanks for reading over the past 81 emails (!), have great holidays and see you in the new year!