For me, once I know that a problem exists and the constraints around, my brain starts working on it in its downtime. I've always felt like most clean code idea

For me, once I know that a problem exists and the constraints around, my brain starts working on it in its downtime. I've always felt like most clean code ideas I come up with come from marinating. Perhaps it' my brain arriving at the first solution, then seeking more elegance. For me, this results in committing a cleaner solution on paper at deadline time, even if I spend the same amount of hours of "active" mental energy on it by not starting until the day before it was due, etc.