How to get things done efficiently when the blank page syndrome strikes.

    Have you ever had the blank page syndrome? I bet you did and it doesn't relate only to writing but to every aspect of life. This isn't related to my usual articles that I write but I just wanted to tell a little personal story.

    I am going through a busy period in my life. Working in a well established retail shop can be quite challenging and that is one of the reasons why I love my work. Apart from that I have some personal projects that require time and concentration and one of them is my blog. Take that , add the family , which requires its attentions, and you get the big pictures of a busy life. Now don't get me wrong, I love my life, it is full and rewarding.

     The last weekend my wife and son decided that they will have a short 3 days holiday and for me it was the perfect time to concentrate on my last article "Vacuum cooking of fresh meats". It is a complex mater and it requires some googling of English terms and concepts and for me that Sunday was the perfect time to finish the work.

By looking at the Murphy laws you will find one that will say that you will lose your network connection when you need it the most. To make a long story short, after fiddling for 2 hours with my modem I finally gave up and lost all my concentration.

     Why am I telling you this? Because there is a simple method to avoid similar situations. Whenever you have that brilliant idea just write it. If you are at work or too busy just write some keywords that will help you remember it. For me at least, an idea can be compared to a dream, if it is not consciously consolidated in your mind you will eventually lose it. Writing, and I mean writing by hand is one of the most efficient ways of training memory.

     Another thing that I experienced is that the famous way of telling "sleep over it" is valid even if you don't literally sleep. Recent studies have shown that our brain doesn't multi task or at least it doesn't do it in a optimal way. Just as a multi-core computer processor it divides the work load between the two or more tasks but, opposed to the way a computer works, in the process looses coherence on singular duties.

     Instead I think that our brain multi tasks brilliantly in a different way. While doing one conscious task the subconscious part of our mind work's on resolving the other problems. And that's why you sometime wake up in the morning with the solutions to your issues. Give yourself the luxury to not think about your problems to solve for some time, even though you see a solution there somewhere. You will discover that your subconscious will do all the hard work and when you least aspect it you will be given a solution.

     In conclusion this is just a quick advice from my personal experience. Give yourself a break, do your regular work and try to consolidate in mind every idea that you might have during the day. Please do not fall into the procrastination trap, but take it as actively preparing your next moves just like a chess player does. Make your subconscious part of your brain your ally. This way you will be prepared to complete your projects at the given time even though there might be distracting external factors to get in the way of your work.