Everyone Needs a Reset Now and Then

I use my computers day in, day out, each and every day. And if there’s one thing I don’t like doing, it’s sitting around wasting time. However, I also still do some amount of technical support off and on, and I have years of experience in that area in the past. And if there’s one thing I know when it comes to tech support (and you probably know it too), the first thing to always try before you get too frustrated with anything that plugs in is to . . . try turning it off and on again.

Just today, I was trying to get something done on my work laptop (a Mac). Things were dragging. The colorful spinning wheel was popping up left and right, and it was seriously impacting my ability to get things done. I knew what I needed to do: it had been a couple of weeks since I rebooted the computer. (I usually just put it to sleep and wake it up.) I didn’t want to reboot it, though, because I knew doing that would mean I’d have to wait around for a few minutes doing nothing while it got itself back in order.

Eventually, however, enough was enough. Five minutes later, the computer was back in business, with nary a colorful spinning wheel to be seen. The best thing I could have done for my productivity was taking that time to reset the computer, and I should have done it much sooner.

The thing is, I firmly believe the same thing can be said for me as a person. If I don’t have the time to reset myself on a regular basis, my operating system just starts to behave strangely. It takes me longer to get work done than it should. I get frustrated more easily. I get distracted. I feel overwhelmed. In the grand scheme of things. taking an hour or two off each day isn’t a big bite out of my productivity, though sometimes it can feel like if I don’t take that time, I could get so much more done.

It’s just not true, however.

So today, consider this your reminder to take the time you need to reset. Read a book. Play a video game. Play an instrument. Watch a movie. Play a board game. Go for a run. We each know what resets us, and we should be given the time and space to get that reset in on a regular basis.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

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