I think this hack is supported by a recent study (http://www.nature.com/news/why-great-ideas-come-when-you-are...) that working on a problem, then doing an unrelated activity that allows your mind to 'wander' can have measurable improvements to creativity when you return to the original problem. The author of this article seems to have stumbled upon some variation of this technique but I suspect that he could get better results if he applied the strategy more systematically.