The book Smarter Faster Better introduced me to the concept of disfluency - the idea that extra friction such as awkward fonts, new environments, different tools, etc will pull you out of autopilot mode and force you to think in new ways. I haven’t seen references to it elsewhere, but it’s changed how I approach problems and learning the last 9 years. Switching to a notebook is one great way I use to trigger this as well.
Interesting. I noticed the same and sometimes I change my emacs theme just to get a fresh perspective. Sometimes I also disable syntax highlighting when typing so I won't get distracted.
> Sometimes I also disable syntax highlighting when typing
Was waiting for someone to comment this. It's a somewhat known strategy if you have to read through a bunch of boring code you don't want to work with, and find hard to focus with, to turn off the syntax highlight and somehow the brain stops glossing over/skimming the code and starts to pay more attention.
I found it led to marginal difference at best, as with most strategies. It does work well initially though, as I guess the brain stops being able to use colors it's used to for grouping stuff together and similar.
Along similar lines, sometimes I print out code on paper and make notes with a pen, sitting far away from my computer. Of course there's no, or very minimal, syntax highlighting then.
A bit extreme on my end, but I've got the spare hardware for it - when I get into a rut I change operating systems, so I'm bouncing back and forth between macOS and Windows or Linux.
I'm adept at using both but the change adds just enough friction and visual differences to spark creativity, or a little productivity boost.
I have syntax set to off in my .vimrc file, to have no syntax highlighting at all, and it's off all the time, not just while typing, i.e., even while moving through or changing text (code), or even when just reading it.
I experience similar and I think of discomfort tolerance like a muscle. The more I (am forced to) use it, the less strain I experience when using it.
I am naturally prone to optimizing friction away--autistic engineer--but have come to realize regularly putting myself in uncomfortable positions professionally and personally works for me as a form of exposure therapy.
Nowadays, in the event I'm thrust into such an unfamiliar situation against my will, I'm still functional.
An enormously valuable knock on effect was coming to the realization the things I enjoy most in life are those which have been a surprise, and I would have simply avoided weren't I being intentional in pushing my own boundaries.
When I was dual booting my Mac between macOS and Windows I used to swap the keyboard and mouse at the same time. I found it helped with handling the differences between the two operating systems.
This is a somewhat wasteful one, but when I really really can't focus or make progress on untangling an issue or if I just want to fully understand a file, I will print out my code on paper and go through it with a red pen line by line. It's rare, but it works just like editing an essay. I notice things I wouldn't otherwise.
