Percolating...
I've been trying to pin down exactly what bothers me so much about how when I'm living off of my todo list. Lots of people live that way, their palm is their oracle. I just generally don't. I'm an obsessive note taker, but often never refer to them... for the most part writing/typing the things down in some form helps to store them in my brain better. Go figure.
Either way, it's kinda been bugging me... and after some thought I've come up with the percolation aspect. Prolly because I've been staring at many a pot of coffee lately. One's going right now, actually (we're not going to get started on how everyone knows I like coffee, so gets me coffee, but it's always french roast, because well, everyone just seems to get french roast when they aren't sure what to get... but I hate french roast).
When I'm waking up and not exactly sure where I am and what needs to be done and turning to calendar oracle for where I need to focus my brain, I've entered mental whack-a-mole. It means I didn't go to sleep that night mulling over a problem. My brain can't percolate a solution, hence I'm not going to feel completely comfortable with anything I produce.
Most of the time I'd do the same thing after a snap judgment as compared to letting the problem have it's percolation period in the back of the brain. But there's always those times you remember, where you've gotten a bit down a certain path (technical, personal, anything) and go "Well, duh" or have some other bit of inspiration and it all falls into place, and you say to yourself "Damn, that would have sucked if I hadn't thought of that".
I hate the idea of going down the wrong mental path by missing a bit of inspiration. I especially hate the idea of the KISS answer staring me in the face once I'm down that road, taunting me. In psychology & decision-making terms, IIRC this would make me a "maximizer" instead of a "good enough". Not that being a "maximizer" doesn't have it's benefits, but I highly doubt a "good enough" type would be wasting their time writing out something like this.
It really does get to me though, but perhaps it shouldn't. Just not having that percolation time. It's like having some really important files on your drive that you haven't backed up and you know you need to even if the odds of something striking your laptop dead in between now and the next few days when you'll be running a full backup... or you're typing your commands on a 'live' file.
Mmmm. Coffee's done.
Posted by drunkenbatmanMarch 25, 2004, at 11:03 AM
