Ann Patchett on Scheduling Creativity - Cal Newport

Making sure we have time to think and explore concepts is important.

Creative insight of any type — be it business strategy, an ad campaign, or computer code — requires cognitive space to emerge. It doesn’t take much daily activity before original thought is starved of the neuronal nutriments required to grow.

This is something I regularly struggle to achieve. The issue that goes along with this is having the energy ready and available when the time you have set aside comes along. I've always struggled to schedule time to write for example, as I often find that the energy isn't there when the time arrives.