6 ms·

My personal theory: For something really hard, you have to put in your time and think about the issue. It has to consume you. You can't hold decent conversation

by kabdib 13y ago

My personal theory: For something really hard, you have to put in your time and think about the issue. It has to consume you. You can't hold decent conversations. Eventually that janitor in the back of your head wanders up to your mental whiteboard, looks at the problem, says "Harumph!" and scribbles down an answer, and you wake up in the middle of the night with the answer so obvious and a shriek on your lips. But there aren't any shortcuts, and the janitor is not at your beck and call.

misframer 13y ago
> You have to neglect things if you intend to get what you want done. There's no question about this. —Richard Hamming http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html
- thenerdfiles 13y ago
  Humans aren't things[0]. Les choses sont contre nous. — [0]: http://synapses.co.za/report-on-resistentialism/ http://synapses.co.za/report-on-resistentialism/
  - JonnieCache 13y ago
    Is that page meant to be satire? Either way it's completely hilarious. A recommended read. I began to smell a rat when he started talking about wet sacks, but when he starts dropping the jam on the floor it becomes pretty clear. I love the ideas. I shall be sending it to all my most pretentious friends as soon as possible. Good to see that the french are still putting the work in. EDIT: it's from the 60s and written by an englishman. now it all makes sense. oh well. and I've just realised what "jean-marie ventre" is about. now I feel a fool.
6d0debc071 13y ago
The Janitor visits me far more frequently when I set a 'You've spent an hour on this, hon' timer for a difficult problem. At which point it's time for me to go take a break, talk to other people, have a cup of tea. Then come back - take a brief look at the original problem - and then, if nothing occurs, to work on a related problem before coming back to it and seeing if I can make any more progress. Maybe it's just me, but protracted work on something I don't feel I'm making progress on seems to stop me thinking.

by kabdib 13y ago

misframer 13y ago

> You have to neglect things if you intend to get what you want done. There's no question about this. —Richard Hamming http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html

thenerdfiles 13y ago
Humans aren't things[0]. Les choses sont contre nous. — [0]: http://synapses.co.za/report-on-resistentialism/ http://synapses.co.za/report-on-resistentialism/
- JonnieCache 13y ago
  Is that page meant to be satire? Either way it's completely hilarious. A recommended read. I began to smell a rat when he started talking about wet sacks, but when he starts dropping the jam on the floor it becomes pretty clear. I love the ideas. I shall be sending it to all my most pretentious friends as soon as possible. Good to see that the french are still putting the work in. EDIT: it's from the 60s and written by an englishman. now it all makes sense. oh well. and I've just realised what "jean-marie ventre" is about. now I feel a fool.

6d0debc071 13y ago

The Janitor visits me far more frequently when I set a 'You've spent an hour on this, hon' timer for a difficult problem. At which point it's time for me to go take a break, talk to other people, have a cup of tea. Then come back - take a brief look at the original problem - and then, if nothing occurs, to work on a related problem before coming back to it and seeing if I can make any more progress. Maybe it's just me, but protracted work on something I don't feel I'm making progress on seems to stop me thinking.