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Thinking is like digging. If you don't keep digging at one point, you wont go deep. However, the deeper you want to go, the broader your hole is going to be.

jtheory 14y ago
Staying in the flow is more important than staying focused on one problem -- that's more what I got out of the article. Applying the digging metaphor -- keep up a good digging rhythm. If you get stuck in one hole, instead of losing your rhythm (and motivation, and flow), switch to work on a completely different digging job... and switch back later when you're getting tangled up in that one. The metaphor starts straining there -- since if you hit a huge rock in this hole, it's going to be exactly the same when you get back -- but for more intellectual work, problems tend to simplify themselves when you put them aside for a bit, so this strategy can make you far more productive than "brute-forcing" your way through the problems on the first project.
- khitchdee 14y ago
  If the holes you dig are all in a general area, you don't have to shift dimensions to switch holes, though sometimes you could do that. You could also connect your holes which helps create a mesh of connected knowledge. Staying in the flow makes sense, but you also need to get depth sometimes and that means yanking yourself back from jumping to another thought-stream and sticking to the one you were on. Discipline has a role to play in the thinking process, I think.
  - jtheory 14y ago
    When you get to digging holes in alternate dimensions, and making a mesh of connected holes, it's probably time to drop the metaphor. :) Staying "in the flow" -- I'm not sure how you think of it, but for me this means significant depth. When I'm properly engaged, I'm past the point of flipping idly between thought-streams, and I'm completely engaged in a single task. The interesting thing about having multiple projects is not that we can flip rapidly between them (i.e., never deeply mentally engaged in any of them), but that when the engagement is waning on project #1 and we come up for air, instead of opening HN/NYT/whatever and wandering off, we can switch to a fresh project and dive back in again. I.e., our brains don't need "rest" as much as they need sufficient novelty and variety; if you can harness that, you can be hugely more productive -- not just because you're minimizing downtime, but you're also getting into the habit of frequent deep mental engagement.
    - khitchdee 14y ago
      The point of the metaphor is you don't do your thinking in one shot. Usually you build on what you did last time and it requires effort focused at a point each time and a repetition of the process over a sustained amount of time. After you've thought through something, usually it stays with you. So there is some permanence to the results of the the process, much like the hole you dig. The flow thing is related to being a little lazy and listening to every whim and fancy of your mind while you're thinking on a topic. If I were to choose, I would choose depth over flow -- it's more difficult to go deep.

jtheory 14y ago

Staying in the flow is more important than staying focused on one problem -- that's more what I got out of the article. Applying the digging metaphor -- keep up a good digging rhythm. If you get stuck in one hole, instead of losing your rhythm (and motivation, and flow), switch to work on a completely different digging job... and switch back later when you're getting tangled up in that one. The metaphor starts straining there -- since if you hit a huge rock in this hole, it's going to be exactly the same when you get back -- but for more intellectual work, problems tend to simplify themselves when you put them aside for a bit, so this strategy can make you far more productive than "brute-forcing" your way through the problems on the first project.

khitchdee 14y ago
If the holes you dig are all in a general area, you don't have to shift dimensions to switch holes, though sometimes you could do that. You could also connect your holes which helps create a mesh of connected knowledge. Staying in the flow makes sense, but you also need to get depth sometimes and that means yanking yourself back from jumping to another thought-stream and sticking to the one you were on. Discipline has a role to play in the thinking process, I think.
- jtheory 14y ago
  When you get to digging holes in alternate dimensions, and making a mesh of connected holes, it's probably time to drop the metaphor. :) Staying "in the flow" -- I'm not sure how you think of it, but for me this means significant depth. When I'm properly engaged, I'm past the point of flipping idly between thought-streams, and I'm completely engaged in a single task. The interesting thing about having multiple projects is not that we can flip rapidly between them (i.e., never deeply mentally engaged in any of them), but that when the engagement is waning on project #1 and we come up for air, instead of opening HN/NYT/whatever and wandering off, we can switch to a fresh project and dive back in again. I.e., our brains don't need "rest" as much as they need sufficient novelty and variety; if you can harness that, you can be hugely more productive -- not just because you're minimizing downtime, but you're also getting into the habit of frequent deep mental engagement.
  - khitchdee 14y ago
    The point of the metaphor is you don't do your thinking in one shot. Usually you build on what you did last time and it requires effort focused at a point each time and a repetition of the process over a sustained amount of time. After you've thought through something, usually it stays with you. So there is some permanence to the results of the the process, much like the hole you dig. The flow thing is related to being a little lazy and listening to every whim and fancy of your mind while you're thinking on a topic. If I were to choose, I would choose depth over flow -- it's more difficult to go deep.