Solving problems by stepping away

One thing I have noticed a couple of times now – when faced with a tricky logic or programming related problem, the solution will come to me only once I’ve stepped away from the computer. This happened yesterday when I was trying to figure out a way to implement matrix multiplication with two-dimensional arrays in C++. I was sitting in front of my computer for 2-3 hours and I could not make sense of how to do it, realising that logic may not be my strong suit. Finally I had to leave and I was incredibly frustrated. I took the tube home, and while taking the escalator at Victoria station, the solution just came to me! A few hours later I had the chance to sit down again to work on the program and within 5 minutes I had finished! So I’ll keep an eye out to see if this is a common phenomenon!