I believe that we often see different areas of our lives compromising each other, when, in fact, they support each other, even if they seem to be taking us in different directions.

Taking breaks and relaxing every now and then actually makes us more productive.

A fact you express so beautifully in your post.

Thanks!

Adrian

At least according to “The Edisons of Fort Myers” by Tom Smoot, Edison used bait and caught fish when he was in Fort Myers. See http://www.amazon.com/Edisons-Fort-Myers-Discoveries-Heart/dp/1561643122 and search for “bait”

You’ll note that the link to the Edison story mirrors the content from the link you gave, but it’s unclear as to which page is scraping the other.

I like to wear my headphones while walking, but without listening to anything at all! I find most “background music” distracting, but it turns out that just wearing the headphones changes people’s expectations: suddenly, you’re off the hook for saying “hi” or otherwise interacting, and can get as lost in thought as you’d like. (I would never have figured this out on my own; a brilliant friend suggested it to me.)

Exceptions always exist. After all – Richard Feynman used to go sit down in a strip club to get his best ideas.

But for most people, having fewer stimulations for 15 minutes a day so that the mind can relax leads to better creativity output.

Its about how you bombard your mind during your 15 minutes of down time. The less bombardation = the more patterning that occurs.

But yes – I’m sure heavy metal music will work for lots of people. Its just not something I would recommend to folks when they start scheduling a daily down time.

You don’t have to fall in deep sleep during those 15 minute naps. Light naps are good enough.

So how do you fall asleep reliably for 15 minutes? Some ideas:

* Make it a habit. Try to sleep for 15 minutes everyday. After a week or so – you’ll become better at naps. (This works for kindergarten kids. And it works for some Chinese offices too where everyone has to take a nap for 15 minutes in the middle of the day.)

* Have a heavy lunch. Probably with lots of rice. Anecdotal evidence suggests that that makes you sleepy.

* No tea coffee or soda or anything that affects sleep a couple of hours before nap time.

* Exercise in the mornings so you’re a bit tired and can take a nap in the afternoon.

Got the story initially from a biography book on Edison. (Most likely Scholastic autobiography or Children’s autobiography. Had read a bunch of Edison books together…)

I did get everything in between ” quotes ” online.

Same with Poincare’s conclusions. The 2 points were from his research published online.