Also note that the Feynman method is rooted in this. In his book "Indiscrete Thoughts", the mathematician Gian-Carlo Rota said:
"Richard Feynman was fond of giving the following advice on
how to be a genius. You have to keep a dozen of your
favorite problems constantly present in your mind,
although by and large they will lay in a dormant state.
Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result,
test it against each of your twelve problems to see
whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a
hit, and people will say, 'How did he do it? He must be a
genius!'" (http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?FeynmanAlgorithm).
"Richard Feynman was fond of giving the following advice on how to be a genius. You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say, 'How did he do it? He must be a genius!'" (http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?FeynmanAlgorithm).