“I read in a pop-science book called How We Learn that both hard problem-solving and creative projects work best when started as early as possible and interrupted as often as possible. Starting the project, even if you’re just making notes, flips the brain into a kind of open mode, where everything seems to have relevance to your project. When you’re in open mode, work happens even when you’re not actively “working”—indeed, all evidence suggests that you do your best work when you’re not trying. Maybe you’ve experienced this while working on a problem—you drive yourself nuts over it, finally give up, and then have your epiphany while playing a video game. In many ways the unconscious mind is smarter, and more creative, than the conscious one.”
— ‘Personal Data: Notes on Keeping a Notebook’, Elisa Gabbert
