[whb101]

for those curious about the neuroscience --

"stepping away from the keyboard" takes your Default Mode Network off the project like a burned-out employee that's just running it into the ground

when the DMN is highly active - fixating, ruminating - its focus is narrow and it's less likely to produce as many creative insights or dredge up as many relevant memories

if you make it less active - doing something else, letting your mind wander, shutting it off entirely with sleep or substances - it will keep trying to solve the problem, but also make farther-flung connections that might solve it

these connections can then be picked up and used more effectively by your executive and salience networks