We all have been stuck or blocked in a specific task, whether you are a writer, a programmer or your job simply requires creating something. These mental blocks are not easy to get rid of and can really affect our work performance and stress can get to extreme levels.
A block is a period where you are stuck in one or more tasks, ideas don’t flow and your task goals seem unreachable. Mental or programmer blocks are not easy to overcome, frustration can really affect you and cloud possible solutions, and in order to find a solution we first need to identify what is causing our block. Here are some of the main causes of programmer’s block and how to solve them.
1. Unclear goals
Sometimes we put so much effort in our task that our vision of it takes a different route, making us lose our main goal. If we are not sure of what we want to achieve, we hardly will be able to make successful progress in our pending tasks.
Programming is a creative activity, and if we don’t target our creativity and solving problems ability to a goal, it will be really hard to achieve great results.
Step back, take a deep look at what you are doing and why are you doing it, what is your goal, and the blockage will decrease or completely disappear.
2. Fear of failure
When it comes to big tasks, we might experience some sort of fears that keep growing because of the pressure of the task itself. These fears of not doing good or completely failing in the task development can cause blocks. Worst part of this is that the block is complemented with negative feelings like anxiety and severe stress, and those feelings can grow others, affecting your emotional state in terrible ways.
We all can make mistakes, but our bigger mistake is not fighting against fears, because of fear. One of the solutions that can help you with this is to talk to someone with experience in the matter. Expose your ideas, and if you are comfortable enough, talk about your fears, this person can guide you in the process or even encourage you to continue working and ease your fears.
If you don’t want to talk about it with anybody, you can also meditate, or take short breaks to clear your mind. Meditation and nature has proven to be effective when it comes to reducing anxiety and stress, and with a clear mindset you will be able to finish your tasks in the best way possible.
3. Too much work, too many tasks
It’s not easy to deal with tons of work, and tasks seem like they are not ending ever. You can also feel like you’re not making any progress because by the time you finish something, you already have more pending tasks.
One good option is to split the tasks in different parts, that way they don’t seem too heavy to work on, and motivating yourself to do them is also really helpful. The more enthusiastic you are during your work hours, the better your performance is.
Having too much work can lead to a mental block, that’s why it’s important to set some breaks so you can disconnect for a few minutes of all the stress your tasks might produce.
4. Burnout
Being extremely tired won’t ever allow you to work peacefully on a task. Work overload is a serious thing that we have to take care of. This is not physically or mentally healthy and affects everything in our lives.
If you are being a workaholic and experiencing a mental block, maybe it’s time to make some decisions about your work times and respect your rest days. Burnout will even make you hate your work, and we simply can’t do well in something we are despising, even if it’s temporary.
Organizing your times will help you organize your mind and get rid of the blockage.
Remember: Burnout is a really serious issue for your work and personal life, you may even consider changing work and it’s totally valid if you feel there’s no turning back.
Other solutions to unblock your mind are making active pauses, if you are stuck in a problem you can do some research of similar problems and their solutions or take a short walk through the office or even to the bathroom.
At Daniel Apps we care about your issues and we tell you about our experiences so you can unblock yourself and work smoothly and productively.
One Response
Great! very useful!