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It's a pretty routine experience for me that when I am working on a problem at work, the answer comes to me while I am walking around at lunchtime. It's like yo

It's a pretty routine experience for me that when I am working on a problem at work, the answer comes to me while I am walking around at lunchtime. It's like you can't force it at the desk--it just has to bubble up on its own.

stronglikedan 9y ago
Back when I smoked cigarettes, it seemed like nicotine was the solution to any problem. Almost every puzzle was solved on a cig break.
- rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
  Same here, except replace cigarettes with guzzling water while walking up and down a dozen flight of stairs, and there's no problem that this method cannot solve.
  - SketchySeaBeast 9y ago
    I take water and coffee breaks to try and think, but for some reason most of my inspirations occur at a urinal.
    - owensims1 9y ago
      But the coffee is likely the inspiration for the urinal so it still counts.
lfowles 9y ago
My preferred method is to work through puzzles in one of those cheap logic magazines[0] while I'm busy with a problem that needs a creative solution. I feel (though this may have no bearing on reality) that the puzzles occupy logic-loving part of my brain while the creative part of my brain can stew on the actual work problem. [0]: https://www.pennydellpuzzles.com/product.aspx?c=LogicMathValuePacks&p=LDPK14 https://www.pennydellpuzzles.com/product.aspx?c=LogicMathVal...
- Jtsummers 9y ago
  If you're talking about the puzzles that can be almost mechanically solved (sudoku, cross numbers or whatever it's called, battleship, etc.), for me they're verging on meditative. It's not that they're easy, but I've done them enough I know what to do. It's the same for when I run (especially over the same route I've run many times before). There's nothing new in the activity, but it occupies enough of my mind that I get into a "zone". In that headspace, a great deal of other creative and free-associative thought seems to occur.
joshontheweb 9y ago
For me it happens in the shower, the moments just before I fall asleep, or upon waking from a nap. I can't count the number of times I wasted hours up late at night trying to force a solution only to give up and have the solution come to me clear as day the next morning.

stronglikedan 9y ago

Back when I smoked cigarettes, it seemed like nicotine was the solution to any problem. Almost every puzzle was solved on a cig break.

rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
Same here, except replace cigarettes with guzzling water while walking up and down a dozen flight of stairs, and there's no problem that this method cannot solve.
- SketchySeaBeast 9y ago
  I take water and coffee breaks to try and think, but for some reason most of my inspirations occur at a urinal.
  - owensims1 9y ago
    But the coffee is likely the inspiration for the urinal so it still counts.

lfowles 9y ago

My preferred method is to work through puzzles in one of those cheap logic magazines[0] while I'm busy with a problem that needs a creative solution. I feel (though this may have no bearing on reality) that the puzzles occupy logic-loving part of my brain while the creative part of my brain can stew on the actual work problem. [0]: https://www.pennydellpuzzles.com/product.aspx?c=LogicMathValuePacks&p=LDPK14 https://www.pennydellpuzzles.com/product.aspx?c=LogicMathVal...

Jtsummers 9y ago
If you're talking about the puzzles that can be almost mechanically solved (sudoku, cross numbers or whatever it's called, battleship, etc.), for me they're verging on meditative. It's not that they're easy, but I've done them enough I know what to do. It's the same for when I run (especially over the same route I've run many times before). There's nothing new in the activity, but it occupies enough of my mind that I get into a "zone". In that headspace, a great deal of other creative and free-associative thought seems to occur.

joshontheweb 9y ago

For me it happens in the shower, the moments just before I fall asleep, or upon waking from a nap. I can't count the number of times I wasted hours up late at night trying to force a solution only to give up and have the solution come to me clear as day the next morning.