Setting a problem aside improves later solution rates, especially for problems needing restructuring.
Poincaré described a solution arriving as he boarded a bus, after weeks of fruitless work. The effect is real but modest, and works mainly on problems that need restructuring rather than more effort.
In practice
- An engineer stuck on a fault solves it on the walk to the station having stopped thinking about it.
- A writer who cannot fix a chapter fixes it on Monday after leaving it Friday, without new information.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Creativity & Work
- Essay
- What gets in the way of good work