

No - you are not supposed to take breaks - jason_shah
http://jasonshah.tumblr.com/

======
wglb
I would like to offer an alternative view.

When we were with my daughter at her first or second pediatrician visit, he
demonstrated a couple of very amazing things to me. The second was that as he
spoke to her, she would fix her eyes on his face, then briefly glance away. He
said that this is a normal part of attention, where in periods of high
stimulus, the baby would look aside, very briefly, then look back at the
person talking.

I remember an article written by an astronomer who would work in 15 minute
periods of intense thought, then take a break from it.

In my own work, I often "look away", or take breaks, as get fully engaged.
Whether or not it is giving the subconscious a chance to work on the deal, I
couldn't say.

So taking breaks is part of the deal.

~~~
petrichor
i think his post is actually in agreement with your comment. his point being
that things like: reading HN, updating twitter, deleting email, etc is not
really "taking a break". it is distracting yourself for a piece of instant
gratification.

a real break is taking a walk, or "looking away" as you say; getting away from
the screen.

~~~
jason_shah
right. to expand, i feel like these are "weak breaks". we don't have the will
or self-control (or perhaps, we are SO deeply passionate about our work) to be
OK with taking a real break. so instead we have to do things that make us
still feel like we're being productive just so we can feel justified.

for example, reading HN makes me feel like i'm taking a productive break. i'm
learning about startups, keeping up with tech news, etc. but in truth, this
sort of break rarely achieves the intended goal of a "strong break" (e.g.
taking a walk): allowing me to recharge.

thanks for the comments! my first HN post with discussion.

------
ryanbraganza
In case Jason posts something else and his tumblr updates...

[http://jasonshah.tumblr.com/post/14100621401/no-you-are-
not-...](http://jasonshah.tumblr.com/post/14100621401/no-you-are-not-supposed-
to-take-some-breaks-and)

