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Comment by jamesfinlayson | Hacker News Reader

Strongly agree on number 2 - multiple times a week, a solution to something that has been bugging me all day suddenly appears in the shower, when getting ready for bed, when going for a walk before work etc.

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Same for me. Going out for a run is the most intellectually productive part of my day.

Same here, if I'm showering, driving, or doing some other mindless activity, I come up with all the good stuff.

True, but I find that driving requires enough attention that I cannot do any useful thinking that goes into "the zone". But with running, it's easy to get into the zone, and the miles go by that I can't even recall.

For city driving yes, but I find that long highways are basically automatic.

I run as well actually! I have found that the quality of thinking I get when walking is different enough that I try to make time for a walk as a separate thing. YMMV though, I am not super fit, perhaps my brain has a harder time with contention for oxygen than yours!

Second this. I'm not super fit either, but I have very different mental processes when running vs walking. Both positive, but distinct.

Reminds me of the routine kept by maintainer of D language (Walter Bright, if I'm not mistaken). First thing he does every day is open up his laptop and review issues that he needs to solve. Then he immediately closes his laptop and goes on a run.

(Look who you replied to)

This is certainly one of the more beautiful threads on HN.

Thank you for your comment. I would have missed that detail, and it brought me joy.

It's close, but I only use a laptop when traveling. The screen is too small, the keyboard is too cramped, it's too slow, not enough disk space, etc. I like my desktop with dual big monitors, full size keyboard, mouse, and lots of places to plug things in.

But the rest is on point :-) I almost never have a good idea while at my computer.

That's diffused thinking!

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