Sometimes lunch too
Whenever I am stymied at a client site, or need to solve an intractable problem, go to the local diner (as road consultants we know where the good ones are) and sit down. Have a sandwich, coffee, read a paper. Anything to take the mind OFF of the hell it is working on and, very often, an IDEA will surface during the break time. I also have thought up solutions while sleeping. 2am can be a time when the mind suddenly works and solves a problem overnight and I wake up refreshed and EAGER to try out my idea. Even in corporate, when I was with Aon Group, we would take a coffee break. That alone probably saved my life when I was in the World Trade Center and we would also go down to the lobby where the food court was and have something to eat. So it was no big deal to go down there during the day and chow down, no big deal on September 11 either. See, it does work.
