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Ask HN: What do you do in a moment when you're stumped?

5 points by impendia ↗ HN
In my work (academic research), I will often get momentarily stumped and not see a good way to proceed. Sometimes this is over something big, but quite often it's over something small which I figure out soon afterwards.

In these moments I've increasingly found myself checking my email, looking at an unrelated website, etc. I don't really need to be checking my email every ten minutes.

Has anyone hit upon a good way to curb this habit in their own work?

7 comments

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retrac
I'm not sure that it is a bad habit. When you truly get stumped, the solution is often a short break or distraction. When that doesn't work, sleep on it. When coding, I regularly awake with an excellent and should-have-been-obvious solution in my mind, to the last problem I couldn't solve the evening before.

Just don't switch to a time-waster in the meantime.

mindcrime
I don't see the problem. I usually find that when I'm stumped the best thing to do is to switch gears away from the subject at hand and then come back later. I might do anything from just getting up, grab a soda from the fridge, and watch some Youtube videos for a 10-15 minutes, to taking a hot bath, taking a walk, or even just going to bed and forgetting it until the next day. Depends on how long I've been grinding on $WHATEVER and just how stumped I feel, etc.

OTOH, there is sometimes value in just grinding and grinding and being super persistent. It's a judgment call on any given situation whether to grind or do the "seek a distraction" thing.

cc101
Try a written question and answer session with yourself. Begin with questions like: "What is the problem" and "Why is that a problem." Keep asking questions about your answers and writing out your answers in full. Writing this out is essential. When you reach some conclusion, write it out too. I find this clarifies my thinking and leads to useful conclusions. Good luck.
shahbaby
Step 1. Put your thoughts into writing

Step 2. Go for a walk

Step 3. ???

Step 4. Profit

malux85
Minecraft. I try and get to the nether. It's enough of a distraction for my consciousness to take my immediate attention off the problem, but while I am playing I find I'm having dialogs with myself fleshing out the problem.

I find minecraft to be at that very sweet spot of just complex enough to divert my attention, but simple enough for me to think about other tasks while I'm playing

sinenomine
I go outside and bike in the park, and touch grass to feel myself more at ease. Natural environments give me something dense bricky city simply can't, the feeling of primordial meaning perhaps.
ffhhj
Explain it to someone else.