if time is money, then it's throwing good money after bad.

i don't know why i work in the afternoons. almost always, that time is wholly unproductive for research:

no good ideas,
more paper thrown into the recycling bin,
staring through space and into the wall.

i don't know why it's so hard just to take a break, and work later.

why didn't i just perform less creatively-demanding but useful tasks,
like grade exams or write lesson plans,
or even go to the gym or running?

i tell this to other people often, but never take my own advice:

mathematicians are not like factory workers, or employees at a company office.

we think for a living,
so we should work in a way so that we think our best.

as long as we get enough good ideas, write enough papers, give enough talks .. and show up when we have to teach or hold office hours .. why should we hold ourselves prisoner from 9am to 5pm?

admittedly, i have an answer: paranoia.

you never know if you suddenly get that one idea, the one key that unlocks the problem. if i work just a little longer, maybe i'll see it.

the problem, of course, is when i iterate this reasoning.

"just a little longer,"
repeated 5 times,
is usually equivalent to "wait, where did the afternoon go?"

[sighs]

oh well. at least i know i'll be productive in the evening ..