A couple of thoughts from Lifehacker

+ My comment re: subconscious:

i'm a big believer in letting stuff percolate, letting the subconscious/intuition/whatever go to work. sometimes i'm just too head down and need to unclench. i definitely have some of my best ideas in the shower. driving is another place/time where my brain unwinds in a good way. exercise and manual labor (mowing the lawn, washing dishes, etc.) are other good activities. w/o being a psychologist, it's like my immediate attention is occupied, but i have enough cycles left over for subconscious or semiconscious stuff to get processed.

of course, one challenge with this kind of processing is: are you prepared to capture the good idea when it comes? part of the nature of these activities is they're not next to pen and paper. i capture important thoughts in the car by leaving myself voice mail. the other situations are more sketchy...
by Sean Meade on 04/28/06 04:30 PM

Something I would add upon further review is that writing/Morning Pages (a la The Artist's Way/journalling can also be a great way to connect with the subconscious/intuition. (For me, I have to be careful not to get too self-absorbed in journalling, but I don't think normal people struggle with that ;-).

+ Interesting post about trying to keep up/stay current , though I don't know that I really agree with any of the suggestions. My secrets are: don't watch it on tv or listen to it on the radio, read it on the web. Reading is much faster.