New Scientist article says scientists have proven ‘sleeping on it’ is the best strategy for making complex decisions:
“…At some point in our evolution, we started to make decisions consciously, and we’re not very good at it. We should learn to let our unconscious handle the complicated things…”
Brilliant. By this measure, my cat must be deciding world-chaning issues.
This does reinforce one James Webb Young’s creative thinking techniques (the penultimate stage) of his rather nifty Technique for producing ideas – that of letting the subconcious work on the problem. he points out that Sherlock Holmes always used to go off and do something completely unrelated to the case he was trying to solved (albeit after poring over facts), much to the consternation of Watson. And suddenly, after playing the violin or attending a concert – a flash of inspiration.
Young contend that Conan Doyle was articulating what he, as a creative writer, intrinsically understood and practised – the creative power of subconscious.
Now if you excuse me, I’m off to bed – I think I’ll put a pen and pad of paper next to my pillow…