Conversation

I've noticed that consciousness recedes when I'm deep in a coding phase, many back-to-back days in flow. My mind narrows to tunnel-vision, fixated on the software and its issues. My sense of self shrinks; non-code ideas cease to arise; I get less curious; writing yields little.

108

933

Divij Vaidya

@divijvaidya

Oct 18, 2020

Ditto! I feel the same when I have an unresolved bug at the end of my office hours. My mind reset strategy -> play a game of DoTA. I am curious to hear what works for you.

Andy Matuschak

@andy_matuschak

Replying to

@divijvaidya

I find I can recover from brief periods of intense flow (a few hours) with an hour of walking, listening to music, playing a game, etc. Recovering from weeks of intense flow seems to require a week or more away. Natural environments seem to help.

3:05 PM · Oct 18, 2020TweetDeck

Replying to

and

> Natural environments seem to help. I've found this effect true as well. A walk in the mountains, a run along the beach. These experiences seem to force the "reset" faster.