Bill Taylor's Commentary on " 5 Unusual Ways to Start Working Smarter, Not Harder," by Belle Beth Cooper

In talking to my friends about the ideas of this article - 5 Unusual Ways to Start Working Smarter, Not Harder by Belle Beth Cooper (i.e. take naps, take more breaks, change locations during the day, etc), I was most surprised by their surprise.   Apparently, many people have not learned there is a point of “diminishing returns”.  An underlying fear is: “If I stop, I’ll never start again.”  The ideas of this article are very old.  It is the “Yin & Yang”.  Gestalt Psychologists call it “Figure/Ground”.   If you look at an object, the background becomes fuzzy, and if you look at the background to a figure, the figure becomes fuzzy. Shifting from one to the other allows you to est see both.  Staying with just one causes fatigue and dullness.  I heard a professor once say: “Changing the subject is as good as a nap.”  The old saying, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, applies equally to a workday as it does to a lifestyle.