> I noticed in grad school that your sub-conscious is passively working on the problems you encountered even if you are not actively thinking about them
As other comments already mentioned, this works amazing for problem solving related jobs as well. As an engineer I use this actively on almost a weekly basis.
To make this work you just gotta really think about that problem and understand the actual parameters very well. Like almost every detail. And you really need to want it solved. Like make it really bother you. This usually comes
by itself if you are engaged enough with the problem anyway. You can't solve something subconsciously when you just glanced at it and think "meh" about it. Then go to sleep and hope for the best if you didn't already solve it by using the above steps. Worst case is you wake up with the urge to understand the problem better and either get the solution or the next hints within the day ... or next session of sleep. The brain is really an amazing tool if utilized right.
Lucky you. In my case, I end up thinking about the problem in my sleep, come up with solutions that are a mix between reality and fantasy within the dream and usually end in a horrible loop of the above while I desperately try to break out of it. In short, spoils my whole night sleep ( at least how I feel about it next day ). Rarely have it actually produced a successful solution!
My problem too. I actually can't fall asleep because my brain keeps throwing out random ideas at me, like a toddler tugging at my sleeve: "is this solution good enough? no? How about this? No? What about this? No? This?" and so on and so on throughout the night.
Describes perfectly some problems I've had when sleeping. They are not really any problems I think before sleeping and even in my sleep I'm not sure what the problem is but oh boy is my brain thinking hard about it. Usually I need to reset by walking around my apartment for a minute. Thankfully I've had less and less of these nights recently.
Wow, I thought that only happened to me. There was only one specific project I was on where I would have the not so practical fantasy solution like you described. Others were like the parent, a good sleep discovers solutions, I wonder what my subconscious was saying about all of this.
I secretly suspect this is everybody, and the people who claim to be coming up with real solutions in their sleep are back justifying what happened when they had enough time to sleep well and felt nice.
As I also experienced this, the trick is that you keep your mind focused around the problem, even when you go to sleep. I already mentioned you need to make trying to solve the problem your big thing of the day. Of course if you try to solve a problem and at the same day got almost robbed or were close to having an accident (or something really nice happened) your brain is most likely to process that instead at sleep or mix things up.
Claiming that all the engineers, scientists and researchers who claim to use a specific technique to solve problems are really just "back justifyting" seems a bit weird. For the record, I use this technique all the time AND, for the past 8 years, have been getting a solid 8 hours sleep most nights. Why would we do that?
I completely agree. I fully discounted the value of sleep when I was in school but now professionally I use it in a very similar way.
When I need to learn how to use a new tool, I’ll read through the docs, some tutorial examples and try to find an actual complicated example (which is usually what I actually need to work with) of how it’s used. The first day, I kind of get it in theory but struggle to connect how the tool interacts with everything else. If I get a good night’s sleep I’m usually ready to get my hands dirty the next day with the complicated stuff because my understanding greatly increased overnight
As other comments already mentioned, this works amazing for problem solving related jobs as well. As an engineer I use this actively on almost a weekly basis.
To make this work you just gotta really think about that problem and understand the actual parameters very well. Like almost every detail. And you really need to want it solved. Like make it really bother you. This usually comes by itself if you are engaged enough with the problem anyway. You can't solve something subconsciously when you just glanced at it and think "meh" about it. Then go to sleep and hope for the best if you didn't already solve it by using the above steps. Worst case is you wake up with the urge to understand the problem better and either get the solution or the next hints within the day ... or next session of sleep. The brain is really an amazing tool if utilized right.