ABSTRACT
The second phase of the STEP Prism of Insight is Timeout. If you want to make it more likely that you come up with an innovative solution to the insight problem you’re trying to crack, it’s really important that you give your subconscious mind the mental Lebensraum it needs to combine all manner of stimuli in new ways. Exercise is good for this, and movement away from your normal working environment is essential. The range of diversions is limitless – from fun and games to deliberately making yourself bored – but what matters is doing anything apart from trying to force the insight out. This won’t work because insight problems are different from analytical problems.
