I watched Love Actually.

Oh, you did? I hope you loved it. Did you love it?

It was fine.

Oh, my God.

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, how do you access creativity?

There is nothing you can do to make the muse strike you and not the person who's standing next to you.

Also, why are humans so bad at planning for the future?

In the long run, we're all dead.

Stephen, I'm going to read you a note that we received from Carolee Morrison, who really

has the best question here.

Hi, folks.

As what we call a creative person, or God forbid, a creative, I grew up on such maxims as

consistency is for small minds.

So too for punctuality.

Better to write with the muse.

Only garbage comes out when you force it.

However, all caps.

I've been killing myself to stick to a schedule, parentheses, ugh, in parentheses.

Reading how the great writers woke up, et cetera, et cetera, daily on schedule.

...