Brainhack

19 Take a Break

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”

Plato

Five days on, two days off. That's the work routine most people are used to. And for those two days off (commonly known as “the weekend”) most off us try to switch off and not think about work.

It's vital to have time to switch off, especially if you've had a stressful week. But taking time off doesn't just have to be about switching off. It can be a great opportunity to come up with new and innovative ideas.

If we keep doing the same thing the neural pathways in our brain become neural superhighways. The more engrained they become, the harder it is to have fresh and original ideas.

But the brain is incredibly malleable, so if you can find new environments and influences, you'll soon start creating fresh neural pathways.

Working Holiday

Even highly creative people like the renowned graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister can feel like they are repeating themselves and that their work's getting stale. “Outwardly our last year with clients had been the most successful to date, we had won the most awards in our brief company history and the then booming economy had filled our coffers. But actually, I was bored. The work became repetitive,” he said.

So in 2001 he decided to close his New York studio and take a year off. In fact he decided to repeat the exercise every seven years.

For the first sabbatical he stayed in New York. He looked through his diary and found all the ...