A great article on needing time for true thought. Read the whole article at : 
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2006_10_13/opportunities_stealing_time

"I am very occupied with the courses, so that my real free time is less than in Bern."
--A. Einstein, in a letter to M. Besso, 1909

In his latest book, Einstein 1905: The Standard of Greatness, scientist and historian John Rigden analyzes Albert Einstein's landmark year, in which he published 5 seminal papers that changed physics forever. As you probably know, Einstein wasn't in a university or laboratory at this time: He was a junior patent clerk in the Swiss patent office in Bern. When he wrote that letter to Besso, he was a professor at the University of Zurich. It seems odd to most of us now, but the isolation and free time that Einstein enjoyed while goldbricking in the patent office may have contributed to his extraordinary intellectual productivity. Einstein's "alternative career" may have contributed to some of the most important breakthroughs in the history of science.

As you know, science and engineering are creative activities. We rely on inspiration and serendipity to generate the insights and make the connections that are the kernel of new inventions and discoveries. Creativity requires many things: a prepared mind, obstacles to overcome, and time. What Einstein had in 1905--and what he had less of by 1909 when he wrote to Besso--was time: time to think, time to tinker, time to explore.

It is not uncommon for faculty to long for the relatively simple days of grad school and postdoc: Back then, they had TIME! Sometimes you can find yourself with so many interruptions and emergencies in succession that the e-mail you began to compose at 8 a.m. is still unfinished by the time you head to lunch! 

This isn't just frustrating and stressful; it can be corrosive to your creativity, smothering the spark at the core of your intellectual engine. Can you imagine what it would be like if painters, playwrights, and composers had to produce their product in 5- to 10-minute bites between committee meetings and proposal reviews?

Stealing time

Creating time to think, explore, and tinker is critical to your effectiveness as a creative individual--as a scientist. Without time to explore, your chances of making a breakthrough are vastly diminished. And no matter where you end up professionally, your effectiveness--and your happiness--will depend on how well you manage your time.

Killing the time vampires

Time vampires are those small, seemingly helpful or innocuous things that nibble away at your day without really adding value to it. 

1. Keep e-mail in its place. Open Outlook only twice a day. 
2. Manage your interactions with the people around you. It's easy to get caught up in enjoyable, unplanned conversations with friends and colleagues. This may require a certain amount of tact and patience: You don't want to alienate others in your thirst for privacy.
3. Create meeting-free Fridays. When I started work at a large national laboratory, lots of meetings were inserted into my workweek. Given the time I spent preparing, attending, assimilating, and following up those meetings, it was little wonder that I struggled to spend 20% of my time on productive research!  I worked half days on Sundays, in peace and quiet, to get caught up on my real work.

Creating mind oases

1. Spend at least one 3-hour chunk of time each week outside your office. any place where you can isolate yourself and read, review, and cogitate. Walking stimulates thoughts and connections differently than sitting idle does. So get out and take a walk.
2. Think about big problems. In research, it's easy to get down to tiny details very quickly and spend the bulk of your time there. Making a habit of mentally stretching yourself from time to time can be intellectually stimulating and a lot of fun. This can be even more fruitful when done in conversation with the right people.
3. The trick to maintaining your professional (and personal) sanity is knowing what tasks you can afford NOT to do--not trying to pack ever more tasks into the same day.