I used to believe that Distractions Were Bad. Time spent away from “the work” when you’re “supposed to be doing the work” means less work “gets done”. Right? Over time, I’ve come to see that it depends.
I’ve studied and tried all kinds of formal techniques for solving problems and being creative. Here’s a list I put together: Thinking Toys. Don’t get me wrong, these can be useful. But they’re no panacea.
When doing creative work, I now embrace distraction. What’s my creative process? Switching every few minutes between “the work” and “the distraction”. Sometimes it’s Twitter. Sometimes it’s looking out the window. Sometimes it’s trimming my cuticles. Whatever the distraction of the moment, I think it helps. Distractions make me more creative.