30 April 2007 - 18:13Does this ever happen to you?

I don’t know what it is. Somehow sitting in front of the computer interferes with my thought process. This happens to me all the time. I’ll be sitting at my desk, thinking through some programming problem. I’m not getting anywhere. Then I do something that makes me get up from the desk, like walk over to a colleague’s office or walk down the hall to the restroom. Invariably the solution I was looking for pops into my head shortly after leaving my computer. This happens subconsciously - I’m not thinking about the problem at all when the solution suggests itself.

Today it happened again. I spent the last few hours at work trying to figure something out. Finally around 5:00 I gave up in disgust (I hate leaving on that note!) and headed home. About 2 minutes after leaving my desk (I was halfway through the parking lot) the solution I was searching for hits me.

I don’t know what it is, but somehow when you’re sitting in front of a computer for extended periods of time, your brain gets in a rut. It seems like all that’s needed to break out of the rut is to get away from the computer and stop thinking about the problem, even for a very short period of time (1-2 minutes). I’ve talked with other software professionals who’ve noticed basically the same thing.

So next time you’re blocked on a problem, try to stop thinking about the problem for a little while. Take a short walk or something. Don’t stay in front of the computer - checking email or blogs doesn’t get you out of the rut. You have to physically step away from the computer and completely take your mind off of the problem.