Sitting at the terminal, but not sure what to type? Turn off the terminal, grab your source listings, scratch pad, and red and black pens and go to the other room. Or the library, Or starbucks. Work the problem that way and soon enough, you'll be dying to get back to the terminal.
Sitting on the sofa and analyzing that function with pencil and paper until you've worked yourself into a logic freeze? Get up and turn on your computer and code the simplest case. Before you're done, you'll find some enlightenment.
Have trouble doing either? Review old code, examine apps written by others, refactor something (you always have something to refactor, right?).
Oh, come on. Says who? You only "have work to do" to the extent that you need to survive. Beyond that, it's optional. It's equally bad advice to suggest people should force themselves to work when they don't want to, simply because they "have work to do."
The only insightful comment you can make here is that one-size advice doesn't fit everyone. Some people are workaholics, and should try harder to take breaks. Others are complete daydreamers, and maybe need more discipline. There's no one right recipe. The world is not binary.
You have work to do. Do it.
Sitting at the terminal, but not sure what to type? Turn off the terminal, grab your source listings, scratch pad, and red and black pens and go to the other room. Or the library, Or starbucks. Work the problem that way and soon enough, you'll be dying to get back to the terminal.
Sitting on the sofa and analyzing that function with pencil and paper until you've worked yourself into a logic freeze? Get up and turn on your computer and code the simplest case. Before you're done, you'll find some enlightenment.
Have trouble doing either? Review old code, examine apps written by others, refactor something (you always have something to refactor, right?).
But do what you feel like? No.