A reminder about the wisdom of giving up

The other day, I started working on an email series for a client.

For the first three hours, I was in the zone, baby! No shortage of creative ideas. No problems lassoing good words and herding them into smart, effective sentences.

But then my progress slowed. As the morning wore on, my brain wore out.

So much so that I spent from 11 to noon daydreaming and doomscrolling.

After a brief lunch break, I was productive again! But only for about 30 minutes. After that, trying to find the right words was like hunting for Sasquatch.

Undaunted, I stayed at my post. Typing. Deleting. Grumbling under my breath. Retyping and re-deleting whole paragraphs of unusable drivel.

By 3 p.m., I was reduced to staring drowsily out my office window...a gorgeous blue sky partially obscured by a scraggly crepe myrtle.

That's when I gave up.

Marching out to my shed, I grabbed my ladder and my loppers.

For the next two hours, I trimmed crepe myrtles.

This is the height of irresponsibility, right? What successful small business owner does YARD WORK in the middle of a work day?

Actually, what else could I do? 

When you’re not making progress, doesn't it make sense to give your brain a break? Go do something else—you can always come back tomorrow.

Historians say that Teddy Roosevelt paused his presidential duties for two hours every day. He’d swim, box, or go hiking in Rock Creek Park. He insisted these vigorous breaks were the fuel he needed to stay mentally sharp.

Here’s what I can tell you: Standing on a ladder in the bright sunshine, nothing to think about but “where should I snip that branch?” was oddly replenishing.

The next day, my creative juices were flowing again. I finished the emails. The client’s response was “Great…love it!”

A good reminder that sometimes, in order to win, we first have to wave the white flag.