Cal Newport

Writing is like pull-ups, right?

a simple exercise that works every muscle and is gonna make you stronger.

All right, a third of my moderate intensity tier suggestions is to go on thinking walks.

While on foot, try to stick with a singular thought.

It could be a professional thought.

It could be just an idea thought.

You're trying to make sense of a complicated idea or self-reflection.

You're trying to solve or make sense of an issue in your own life.

Do not bring your phone or have your phone often in your bag so that it's hard to access for distraction.

Practice being alone with your own thoughts.

Practice aiming your mind's eye on targets that you have intentionally chosen.

We have lost the art of just long, consistent, self-directed thinking.

Thinking walks will help you get it back.

Four, here I said plug in your phone.

What I talked about there was while at home, keep your phone plugged in your kitchen.

After this episode, one of our listeners wrote in and said, hey, you should call that landlining.

You turn your smartphone into like a landline because it's plugged in and it remains plugged in in your kitchen.

This means at the very least when you're at home, you do not have the option of quickly glancing at your phone at the slightest hint of boredom or distraction.

Your brain then gets used to feeling the feeling of I'm not 100% entertained right now.

And that's okay.