I fixed the same bug all night in my dreams. Nothing was committed.
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Woke up tired like I'd worked a full shift. Same bug, looping, my brain solving it ten slightly different wrong ways until morning. Git log empty. Nothing real happened.
Part of me took it as proof I care about what I'm building. The other part knows a brain that won't clock out isn't a flex, it's a leak.
Do you get this one? And if you do, what actually makes it stop?
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This hit a little to close to home. I've woken up convinced I fixed something, only to open my laptop and realize nothing had changed. It's strange how the brain keeps working even after we've called it a day.
Hey Alex, If I understood you clearly then I have been there and the best solution that works is take a long break away from the project like you don't care. When you return to it, solutions will come like rivers flowing down streams. From my experience I had users on my project (prototype) and there was a bug that just proved difficult to fix, it was not easy getting away as I am saying it but I still did.
@richatsealedvault The walking-away part is the hard bit. My fixes always turn up in the shower or on a walk, never at the desk staring at it. Getting myself to actually leave is the problem. Appreciate this.
I've definitely had that happen. Usually it's a sign I've been staring at the same problem for too long.
The fix often comes after stepping away for a few hours or getting a proper night's sleep!
This happens when your brain is carrying too much unresolved state, almost like an unclosed loop. I've noticed it's less about workload and more about uncertainty. A clear debugging plan often does more for sleep than another hour of coding.
For me it's worse when it's not even a bug, it's a decision with no objectively right answer, naming, API shape, that kind of thing. A bug has an actual fix waiting to be found so the brain has somewhere to land. A design choice can get re-litigated forever because there's no "solved" state to stop at. Writing down the next concrete step before closing the laptop is the only thing that's worked for me too, same as a few people above, it gives the open loop somewhere to go instead of just floating all night.
@galdayan Yeah, that's the worse one. A bug ends when it's fixed. A naming decision never ends, you just get tired enough to ship one. My brain files "good enough" under unfinished and keeps poking at it.
@bickov that's a good way to put it. bugs have a finish line, taste doesn't. the only trick that's worked for me is giving myself a deadline on the decision itself, like a fake ticket that says pick by friday, otherwise it really can loop forever.
yeah, mine does this with architecture decisions more than bugs, like Gal said above. what stops it for me is writing the actual next step down before closing the laptop, even one sentence, so the brain has proof the thread isn't lost and doesn't need to keep rehearsing it. leaving it "in my head" is what turns it into a 3am rerun
Yeah, I get this, just not with code. Mine is running three businesses at once, my brain keeps auditing all of them at 2am even when nothing's actually wrong. What's helped isn't willpower, it's cutting down how much I have to hold in my head during the day so there's less to loop on at night. Built FounderFlow for exactly that reason, so I want to be upfront I'm the founder, but the honest answer to your question is: the leak stops when you stop being the only alarm system.
@stacywycof83995 Getting it out of my head during the day is the part that actually helps, yeah. The night looping is just the daytime load with nowhere to go. Willpower never did anything for me either.
@bickov That's exactly it. Once the daytime load has somewhere to go, the night stuff mostly takes care of itself. Hope tonight's dream is a rerun of a bug you already fixed.
I can't stop thinking about coding. All day, everyday. How do I stop?
I get this one, and I would gently separate the two things you are holding. The tiredness is not proof you care, it is proof the work never got a boundary last night. A brain rehearsing ten wrong fixes until morning is not problem solving, it is an open loop it could not put down, and open loops feel like dedication while they quietly tax the next day.
What actually closes it for me is externalizing the loop before bed. Write the exact failing state and the single next thing you will try, somewhere you trust you will see it in the morning. The looping usually comes from your brain being afraid it will forget, so once the problem is safely out of your head it stops holding the tab open. The care shows up in how you work rested, not in whether the bug followed you to sleep.