Only a partial answer: In my personal experience, writing up whatever thoughts / ideas you have (and even better, sharing them with other people), in some form or another, allows for iteration on what otherwise would have been idle musing.
Yeah, I think that one of the most important things in my intellectual development was an assignment in high school to keep an idea pocket-book for some period of time. I filled several books in the alloted time, and just kept at it. Writing in a notebook became one of my primary down-time activities.
The difference between having an idea on your commute home from work and then getting home and surfing the internet / turning on the TV / whatever, vs getting home and writing out the idea in a notebook before doing those other things, is huge. That’s at least one iteration on the idea; a chance to add details, notice flaws, and refine them.
(old cereal boxes cut up into strips are a thing I keep in my kitchen to write upon—I don’t like picking up a notebook with maybe greasy hands, but spoiling a cardboard strip seems like no biggie.)
Only a partial answer: In my personal experience, writing up whatever thoughts / ideas you have (and even better, sharing them with other people), in some form or another, allows for iteration on what otherwise would have been idle musing.
Yeah, I think that one of the most important things in my intellectual development was an assignment in high school to keep an idea pocket-book for some period of time. I filled several books in the alloted time, and just kept at it. Writing in a notebook became one of my primary down-time activities.
The difference between having an idea on your commute home from work and then getting home and surfing the internet / turning on the TV / whatever, vs getting home and writing out the idea in a notebook before doing those other things, is huge. That’s at least one iteration on the idea; a chance to add details, notice flaws, and refine them.
(old cereal boxes cut up into strips are a thing I keep in my kitchen to write upon—I don’t like picking up a notebook with maybe greasy hands, but spoiling a cardboard strip seems like no biggie.)
I’ve rigged google assistant to be easy to speak out notes to for situations where I don’t have use of my hands.