About 85% of the tech support calls I take start with a reboot. In fact, in IT Crowd, a British comedy, they answer the phone, “Hello IT – did you reboot?”. I know it sounds cliche, but it is true. Why is that, you ask? Simple. When a computer runs, it passes code through the processor, memory, etc. over and over and over. In a system like that things can get hung up and left behind just like for a person. A reboot clears the memory and refreshes the computer. So when you then go to troubleshoot, you are starting from a clean slate.
In the Harvard Business Review this month, they talk about companies allowing people to take naps and forced time off. Having caught an employee napping on the job once I must confess I’m not in favor of it, but I have certainly made people take time off to refresh and bring clarity to their thinking. Kind of a “reboot” for a person. You give yourself a chance to empty out anything that’s stuck or left over and come back refreshed and ready to dive in again.
So, when was the last time you rebooted?
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