this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023
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I find I can leverage this sometimes.
Years ago in college, I lamented to a classmate of mine that I feel like i was doing so much thinking all weekend but had nothing to show for it. He simply responded "That's called research, and that counts".
Now, although i'm far from efficient, I try to use that rapid thinking time to sort out all the loose strings in my mind, essentially polishing ideas over and over again until my "what-ifs" are paired down and in the last hour of work I can sometimes get myself into a hyperfocus and accomplish what I was thinking about all day.
Totally not a blanket solution but I hope it helps someone reframe their thoughts a bit, maybe help them feel less guilty about holding all this in their head.
Also TAKE NOTES. Obsidian is great, you can link your ideas together, extra pages are free, the canvas tool is great to just tie ideas together.
Man, I wish my high school teachers would have framed it this way instead of shaming me for procrastination. I'd do a similar thing for my English papers - I'd start thinking about the topic I was gonna write about as soon as it was assigned, mulling things over, getting things mentally organized, but I wouldn't type anything up until the night before it was due. I usually had a pretty good idea of what I was gonna write by that time though, so I could reliably crank out something in a few hours. And I always ended up with good grades on those papers, so I guess it worked for me.
Absolutely the same experience as you. I'd spend weeks (or months, in the case of my final dissertation) mulling things over without being able to write anything, then the night before it'd just click into place and I'd write it all out. I'd end up with good grades as well, but the stress at the time from my frustration at not being able to just "get things done sooner" wasn't fun!