Here are pages from Leonardo Da Vinci's To Do List!
I've personally re-resolved to resume my regular meditation practice! You'll find the author's conclusion very interesting:
(Here is the article in full).
"We live in an age that worships attention," says my friend (and Radiolab colleague) Jonah Lehrer. When we need to work, we force ourselves to concentrate. This approach can also inhibit the imagination. Sometimes, it helps to consider irrelevant information, to eavesdrop on all the stray associations unfolding in the far reaches of the brain."
That ability to let go, float free, does seem like an essential part of a creative mind, not just in giant ones. Those of us who make our livings closer to the ground, have to do it too. In his forthcoming book, (coming to bookstores this Spring) Jonah mentions a study by Dr. Holly White, then at the University of Memphis, and her colleague Priti Shah, of the University of Michigan.