4 ms·
The three times I have my best ideas are: walking, showering, or that state when I'm drifting between awake/asleep.
by Ozzie_osman 5y ago
The three times I have my best ideas are: walking, showering, or that state when I'm drifting between awake/asleep.
- mtgx 5y agoI think all of these might have to do with the brain's alpha waves. You get into a "relaxed" mode where much of your brain activity is suppressed, which I guess means your brain's resources can be focused on the thing you need to solve most at the time.
- slothtrop 5y agoI also get ideas reading. Which, really, makes me a bad reader because I get distracted.
- arrow7000 5y agoYes! I get this too. It can make reading books quite difficult. I imagine it's because reading is a much "quieter" brain activity than what I do the rest of the time, which is spending time on dynamic, interactive systems: i.e. my phone and computer, so the background "noise" has a chance to surface without being dismissed by something more dynamic and interesting.
- e40 5y agoI agree with the first two, but for me the latter doesn't produce much. I will literally get a shower if I'm working on a hard problem (and a walk is not convenient). So many times I solve the problem, sometimes after having sat at the computer for hours trying to solve it.