Returning to the same work after idleness can yield promotion and ideas.

Evidence

But also, because he’d discovered what was necessary for his own creativity, things weren’t exactly the same the second time around. With renewed energy and a different perspective on his job, he went from technician to engineer, and has filed around twelve patents so far. To this day, he insists that he comes up with all of his best ideas on the top of a hill after a long bike ride. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 72

Categorization

• XREF: The claim that ideas arrive on the hilltop after a long ride mirrors Deep Listening’s and the silence book’s insistence that creativity needs open, unstructured time — and firmly rebuts the misreading that Odell recommends withdrawal, since the father returns to his job. — connects to: Free time must differ from work so that work can resume effectively — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 259; Pausing and relaxing can enhance creativity and lead to epiphanies. — Dan Harris, 10 percent Happier, 911; Lowering perceived stakes can trick a stalled writer back into serious work — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2052
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Free time must differ from work so that work can resume effectively — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 259; Pausing and relaxing can enhance creativity and lead to epiphanies. — Dan Harris, 10 percent Happier, 911; Lowering perceived stakes can trick a stalled writer back into serious work — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2052

Broader Connections

• Pausing and relaxing can enhance creativity and lead to epiphanies. #corroborates (0.92) — Dan Harris, 10 percent Happier, 911