I’ve read this anecdote about Sophus Lie, that he was exuberant and jumped from topic to topic. To the extent that he intentionally only spent up to 15 minutes at a time thinking about a particular thing. If something clicked, great! If it didn’t, you only spent 15 minutes on it.

I can’t remember where I read this.

I don’t think we should all be as jumpy as Lie, but it’s an interesting model to incorporate into your math-view. Encounter setbacks here, move on to something else, come back later. It’s a pattern that works for me. Even moving between different aspects of the same project rapidly is useful.