Defend your Momentum

What do you do when your work momentum naturally hiccups?

When you reach a problem you can’t solve on your own…
When the solution doesn’t immediately turn up in the search results…
When you hit a particularly tedious patch...

These pauses in productivity are critical moments where you may feel the urge to take a lap around the “dopamine race track.” To check Twitter, refresh your email, cmd-T your favorite news aggregator. Feed the demon, THEN get back to the task at hand. Or at least that’s the idea...

Momentum loss from hitting a wall is normal and recoverable. Momentum loss from a 5-minute-turned-45-minute "internet break" however, puts the entire rest of your day's productivity at risk.

If you return to work at all, you return with a brain fired-up for further distraction and reinforced in its propensity to indulge.

Good luck getting over that wall now…

Momentum is precious and fragile. If you’ve got it, use it. Use every last drop. Defend it from distractions and bring the task back into focus. If you want your momentum back, you're going to have to build it yourself.