# When do you do your best thinking?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-do-your-best-thinking/327774>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 25, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-do-your-best-thinking/327774 "2005-10-25T04:38:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-do-your-best-thinking/327774/21 "2005-10-27T20:26:57Z")

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While falling asleep I brood over questions and issues and don’t really resolve them but get a list going in my head of things to remember to work on.

Then in the shower the next morning a lot of things resolve themselves.

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**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-do-your-best-thinking/327774/22 "2005-10-27T20:32:17Z")

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> [@Shirley Ujest](#):
>
> On the Toilet.

Heh. So I’m not the only one.

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**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-do-your-best-thinking/327774/23 "2005-10-27T20:33:21Z")

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In the car, or late at night, if I stay up past my bedtime. I also talk more late at night. Catch me at say, 2:00 AM, and with the right questions you can probably find out all my secrets.

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**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-do-your-best-thinking/327774/24 "2005-10-28T01:20:19Z")

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Oddly enough, my best thinking seems to happen when I’m not really focused on anything in particular. I’ll be doing some mundane task (and thinking consciously about it…I am a terrible multitasker in the usual sense)…and suddenly this new thought will pop into my head - pretty much fully formed.

This could happen when I’m pulling weeds, or washing dishes, or putting together a PowerPoint presentation…Zap!!!..here is this solution or idea! It can also happen when I deliberately decide to consider and solve a problem. Strange 😕 how our brains work. 😕

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**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-do-you-do-your-best-thinking/327774/25 "2005-10-28T13:29:57Z")

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Whilst jogging. Has to be a few miles into a run of at least 4 or 5 miles, but after 10 or so I start to space pretty badly. Unfortunately I stopped running after my surgery this summer and haven’t started up again, so I have major mental constipation.

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