Creativity is the residue of time wasted as Albert Einstein once excellently put it. That quote, however, may lead you to believe that anytime you run into a problem, run away and waste some time, and the creative solution will appear. Not true.
Creativity IS the residue of time wasted, but only when the problem has been clearly defined.
Dutch psychologist and researcher, Ap Dijksterhuis, says that if we break out attention, it is ideal for problem-solving as it allows our unconscious mind to engage with the issue.
It brings a different level of your mind into play and allows cognitive processes to do their work that isn’t available to the conscious mind.
The big caveat in Dijksterhuis’s statement is that our unconscious mind does not engage with the problem unless we have clearly and consciously defined it. If we have not set a goal in our mind, there might as well not be a problem at all. The unconscious thought does not occur.
It’s a fascinating thing and yet another consideration in the pursuit of more clear thinking and more flexibility in creative thinking.