Clock Watching

This is what I have been doing every night for the last five nights. Staring at the clock. Praying for sleep to come but always alluding me. Instead of sleep, the moment my head hits the pillow, my mind has been swirling with all the things I need to do. First, I chronicle the tasks I want to accomplish, in decreasing order of importance. Then, I try to estimate how much time I need to finish each of the tasks and who I can harass to help me finish them faster. When I have exhausted the list, I then begin composing sentences. That's right, I start discussing physics with myself ... at two in the morning. How to best explain the field ionization of other gases being suitably vague so I don't have to do too much work, but still acceptable enough to relay the point, etc. etc. etc. Once I actually come up with a good sentence, I then agonize if I should get up and write them damn thing or stay in bed and hope I will fall asleep right now but still wake up tomorrow morning remembering my exact word choice.

Oh joy, only 52 more days of this.

Comments

[Kit z brado]

It is almost impossible to think of the same exact sentence the very next morning. It almost impossible to remember the great ideas you've had about how to solve a certain problem.
And I never get up...

[Armando Teixeira]

This happens to me a lot!! I stay awake on certain nights thinking on physics discussing problems with myself and thinking on the better way to explain something to somebody. And I enjoy it a lot!! I allways seem to have bright ideas at that moment, but at morning I can't remember. I think that's because at late night we seem to think everything we say is bright... Remember we're sleepy... But good luck on your future tasks

[razvan]

I actually have a different approach. Late at night I only formulate the questions. The answers come to me during the night, probably by the miraculous work of my subconsciousness. All I have to do in the morning is put them into practice. Okay, it doesn't work all the time, but it does work occasionally, especially with the big problems that really bother me.

Otherwise you can just keep a notebook next to your bed and write down the ideas you have just before you fall asleep. It's again some border state that could generate useful ideas (naturally you'll have judge their "goodness" in the morning, with a fresh mind).