I tend to give my brain play-time, when it can freely roam around. At that time a whiteboard however is much more useful than a browser with tabs, where you wil

I tend to give my brain play-time, when it can freely roam around. At that time a whiteboard however is much more useful than a browser with tabs, where you will end up with 40 open tabs that you plan to 'work through'. What I also found most useful is cycling outside. I research and let my brain binge on information, then I do a long walk or a cycling trip for two hours. During that time the puzzle solves itself. Then I have a voice-recorder ready and record my completed train of thought, which later at night is typed into Powerpoints for work and Mindmaps. The trickiest part of all this is that it's difficult to fit this around fixed schedules.