When I was in school studying, I had a bad habit of trying to get through material even if I was mentally tired and frustrated. I thought if I read the material that I would remember and understand it to some degree. But it was not the case…
I learned once I hit this mental exhaustion point, I didn’t really learn or retain any of the information. It was like I filled my gas tank and all the extra info would just overflow from my mind.
Once I learned this about myself, I would take a break once I hit my mental exhaustion since any time spent study would be a waste of time. The length of the break is not the same every time.
When I am coding and it frustrates me like no other (I want to delete all the code! haha), my break is for the rest of the day. I don’t touch the coding issue I am having until the next day because when I reach my mental exhaustion point, I have tried (well, I think I tried) all the solutions I could to solve the coding issue.
But when I code the next day, I am not frustrated anymore, have a clear mind, and excited to solve the issue. And guess what… I find the issue with this new mindset and thought of the new idea I couldn’t figure out the day before.
Other times my break is like 20 minutes just so I can reset and reevaluate where I am and what I am trying to do. The break itself doesn’t have to be just resting or recovering. You can work on other things like organizing the things you have to study or working on some other projects.
Now this doesn’t mean you should jump from one complex task to another. For example if you are studying biology and have reached your mental exhaustion, you shouldn’t take a break from biology to start studying physics. Those two topics are the same in complexity.
How complex the material you are trying to learn should be consider when taking your break and what you should be doing with your break. It is totally fine if you spend the rest of the day relaxing if that will help you rest your mind.
I get the urge to try to finish material and say you did it, but the amount of time and energy you will waste is not worth it. Do something beneficial for yourself.
So just take a break!
