Getting Stuck

One thing I need to remind myself of is to take a break when stuck.

It’s a simple hack that’s super easy to forget when I’m a couple of hours into a coding session. I’m consistently guilty of ignoring my own advice and I’m thankful to have a wife who reminds me when she senses I’m getting frustrated.

Coding like many cognitively complex tasks requires you to build up a sort of mental scaffolding. There are many simultaneous pathways going on in your head before your solution is realized in your editor. To outsiders, this may help explain our penchant for ambient lighting, house beats and empty coke cans.

I always feel compelled to continue despite diminishing returns so I can avoid rebuilding the mental model later. The problem is our brains don’t work that way. Our ideas don’t just disappear. They are digested and refined for future access. I can’t count the number of times I’ve struggled with something late into the night only to have the answer miraculously come to me the next morning.

Good things need time to breathe and all the most awesome people know this.

Bill Gates famously takes think weeks. Abraham Lincoln would escape the noise of the capitol for quiet contemplation in his cabin. Einstein did his best work while going for walks. Winston Churchill wouldn’t get his day started with out a long bath and a stogie!

So, after a long night of being stuck I remind myself once again to take a break.