Right idea, wrong time

A friend asked: "Why do all the good code ideas come when you should be asleep?" Good question. For me, they always come just after I leave work on Friday. A couple of times I've even turned around, gone back and spent another couple of hours coding, something you normally couldn't pay me to do. (Obviously not because I don't like coding, but because I won't give up my evenings and weekends for better pay.) This, after spending the entire day, and sometimes the entire week, trying to think of that one good idea.

My theory is that if you think hard about something, you get into a rut. You spend all your time thinking about the details of a particular set of ideas with clearly defined boundaries. Then, when you begin to relax as you walk to the parking lot (or get tired enough that your thinking gets fuzzy), your mind wanders a little bit outside the box and, if you're lucky, you find that idea that should have been inside the box before your stomach growls or you fall asleep.