The entire Orange Line of the Boston subway was shut down for a month to allow for necessary repairs. In a city that relies heavily on public transit, this caused a great inconvenience to those who now had to take shuttle busses to arrive at their destination, but it allowed for years’ worth of maintenance to be completed in a condensed period.
I thought about the subway this week when I was feeling the side effects of a Shingles vaccination. This shot kicked my butt. I tried to minimize my activity and even took a little siesta in the sun, but the only thing that really made a difference was when I fully shut down and slept for 10 hours. Trying to do “repairs” while remaining “operational” wasn’t working.
The same principle is true for many other settings. Taking a vacation, but still checking email isn’t as refreshing as a full disconnection. Trying to renovate a room in your home while still trying to use it causes more disruption than just sealing off that area. Implementing a new procedure gradually can create more confusion than stopping the old way and making a clean switch.
The next time you really need to see a major improvement, shut down completely instead of making the change piecemeal. You’ll reap maximum impact in minimum time.
