Definition: Deliberately interrupting your current unproductive state by physically or mentally changing environments to trick your brain into sharp focus. Common tactics include switching rooms, taking solitary walks, or blocking draining social interactions to escape inertia.
This forces a mental refresh, like rebooting a laggy system. Examples: fleeing pre-test chatter for hallway stretches, moving from bed to kitchen for “new job” energy, or even resisting Reddit by slamming the laptop shut mid-scroll. It’s a hard reboot for your attention span.
Example:
Feeling overwhelmed by emails, he slammed his laptop shut and walked outside for five minutes, forcing a mental refresh before tackling his report.
Stuck scrolling endlessly, she abruptly closed the social media tab, stood up, and moved to the kitchen table for a hard reboot on her focus.