TAKING BREAKS
Contents:
“Taking a break” from a pursuit means disengaging from it temporarily, i.e. refraining from applying your focus to this pursuit for a period of time. This may mean either a form of rest or a change in your focus to some restorative (i.e. relaxing or rejuvenating) pursuit. Some examples are: giving a pause to your work, taking a walk, studying or working on something else that may be more interesting, shifting your focus to leisure, etc.
An essential characteristic of taking a break is its restorativeness, i.e. its capacity to stem the drain of energy and motivation and replenish at least some energy or motivation. Thus, it has two key purposes: (1) preventing and correcting for cognitive and/or motivational overload (for more on overload, see: “Overload” from Sources of Inefficacy from Philosophy in Practice from Philosophy), and (2) providing you more energy and patience to engage in fresh attempts or new directions.
Overload of a system happens when a system is trying to work beyond its capacity. For example, a pulley is overloaded when it holds more weight than the rope and/or mechanism can bear, a computer’s CPU is overloaded when its processors are given more data than they are built to process, and a mechanic may be overloaded when the problems with a machine far exceed his ability to fix them one at a time. When a system tries to work beyond its capacity, it can suffer damage, break down, stop working properly, and/or fail to achieve its tasks altogether. Now, let us turn to cogntive and motivation overload, which have the same broader causes and effects.
Cognitive overload happens when your mind is trying to hold its focus on more mental units than its capacity permits. Note that a mental unit can refer to a fact, a concept, a decision point, or any piece of information that needs a conscious effort to process. For example, trying to solve a system of equations mentally leads to cognitive overload for most people, because the many variables, constants and operations involved in solving such a system leads to an excess of mental units. Other examples are: (1) trying to program a complex software (e.g. an role-playing video game, a robotics simulation, an image analysis model, etc.) by trying to code every feature and functionality together from the start, (2) trying to plan a long-term journey by making decisions as per whatever consideration comes to mind, (3) trying to study a subject by merely accumulating information about it, etc. It is clear both from the nature of overload and from the given examples that cognitive overload can result in mental fatigue, poor concentration, poor decision-making and a sense of being stuck or overwhelmed. When in cognitive overload, you are — literally — unable to think clearly.
NOTE: The nature of mental units, and thus the cause of cognitive overload, can vary based on the task — some tasks may involve complex concepts that need deeper understanding, without which you face overload, while others may involve simple facts or decisions that accumulate to create overload.
Motivational overload, on the other hand, happens when you try to put more time and effort into a pursuit than what is justified by the concrete (i.e. tangible) value you gain from a pursuit, at least for some point or period of time. To clarity, “concrete” refers to particulars as they exist, i.e. the immediate perceptual-level facts of reality. Hence, a concrete value is a gain or reward that has immediate effect directly on particulars, e.g. a gain in energy or strength, an observable rise in convenience, the physical realisation of a plan, and the perceptual rewards of a long-term pursuit (e.g. food from agriculture, health from hygiene, strength from habitual exercise, etc.).
Ultimately, only particulars, i.e. only concretes, exist; abstractions are not arbitrary constructs, but rather, a means to selectively focus on concretes. Hence, any value, even a broad one grasped through abstractions such as "life", "self-esteem" or "freedom", is and must ultimately be realised concretely, because without a connection to concretes, an abstraction becomes floating, i.e. detached from reality and thus meaningless. Hence, experiencing concrete value is essential to experiencing any sense of purpose toward pursuing values, because why would you pursue anything if, to you, it is unreal or non-existent? Motivational overload is due to the loss of your sense of purpose, which is due to the loss of concrete value, and since nothing in reality can happen causelessly, you cannot keep pushing purposefully toward something for which you see no purpose.
Note that facing motivational overload is not the same thing as being insufficiently motivated. While being insufficiently motivated may lead to less or no effort toward a pursuit, facing motivational overload is being insufficiently motivated for the effort applied, which means being excessively engaged rather than less engaged or unengaged. Hence, insufficient motivaiton is not necessarily detrimental (since not everything has the same worth to you in terms of time and effort), but motivational overload is detrimental because it goes against the root of purpose, i.e. the experience of concrete value.
Examples of motivational overload are not hard to come by. Trying hard to study a subject for which you have no interest (resulting in mental exhaustion and hopelessness), trying hard to commit to a relationship with a person you feel little to no love for (resulting in emotional drain and frustration), putting more hours into your work than its rewards justify (resulting in fatigue and listlessness), etc.
NOTE: Cognitive overload can contribute to motivational overload. When cognitive resources are taxed by trying to process too many variables or tasks at once, the value of continuing the pursuit may seem even less tangible, or the pursuit may even feel hopeless or detrimental to your well-being, further diminishing motivation.
Now, note that facing motivational overload is not necessarily a sign that a pursuit is not worth doing, but rather that it is not worth doing in the way and/or to the extent to which you are doing it. For example, a relationship may be worth committing to, but with less time and energy invested from your side. Likewise, a job may be worth doing for the sake of your livelihood, but with less intensity and perhaps with more focus on other pursuits (e.g. upskilling to get a more fulfilling job). In other words, when you face motivational overload, you are faced with the need to re-evaluate your priorities and your approach.
For more on identifying cognitive and motivational overload, see: “Overload” from Sources of Inefficacy from Philosophy in Practice from Philosophy.
We can now come to the topic at hand, namely taking breaks. Taking a break is a key method in overcoming cognitive overload, since it lets you clear your mind, give yourself some rest to recover from the strain and replenish your energy before re-organising your thoughts and trying again. Likewise, taking a break is a key method in overcoming motivational overload, since it stops you from draining yourself further and lets you rest and recover your strength before either trying again or re-evaluating your priorities and approach. Here, note how cognitive and motivational overload are linked; motivational overload can drain you of the energy to think clearly, and cognitive overload can deprive you of the focus needed to re-evaluate and reprioritse. Hence, taking breaks when overloaded is key to improving your efficacy, which means the efficacy of both you mind and your spirit (i.e. the value-oriented part of your being).