Are You Looped?

I was for about two weeks – circling, muttering, blurry-eyed, and stumbling around.  I was working on a project and simply could not come to terms with an issue. Every morning I would sit down at my computer and say to myself, “Okay, this is it; today we make some headway.”  It didn’t happen – same ideas, same answers, same mumbling, same tension in my temples at the end of the day.  Maddening.  And absurdly, I kept taking the same approach each day, under the guise of being disciplined, and probably somewhat desperate.
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Before I continue, here’s TechTarget.com’s simple definition. “In computer programming, a loop is a sequence of instruction that is continually repeated until a certain condition is reached.”  The certain condition I was about to reach if I didn’t come up with an idea was not a good one.  The definition continues with several examples and then ends with, “A loop is a fundamental programming idea that is commonly used in writing programs.”

I finally put the project to the side, took a long hike, and didn’t look at it for several days - broke my routine and the loop. Nothing genius here, people do this all the time and it works. It’s called a vacation, personal time, holiday, escape, time away, retreat, and in computer terms it’s called Logging off!  I eventually put a couple of ideas together making an interesting new option, and went with it. Condition met.

However, in thinking about this further, I believe we have more fundamental programming ideas that are looping in our minds than we would like to consider. Think about it – fundamental is a significant word. Right, wrong. From whose perspective? Truth. Is there one? Justice. Can it be bought? What’s the condition to be met? Obviously these are weighty issues. Speaking of weighty, and other such subjects – beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or is it the IT marketing programmer. And how many mobile devices do you own? Wonder who’s behind that loop?

All of this to say, we simply need to take time to consider what’s playing in our heads and hearts, so we’re not on an infinite loop cycle. FYI, TechTargets’ definition for infinite loop is “one that lacks a functioning exist routine.”

The Search is always on, no loop. Join me.