Dr. Cal Newport

I would say nothing but nature observation.

Like that's what I'm doing.

I'm just, ooh, the ice is thinner on the Charles today.

Like look at this tree or the leaves coming back.

Partially I think what was going on is like this was right after I'd been whiteboarding it.

I think it was letting stuff process.

So I had this explicitly in my routine a lot of time where I was, okay, I can't think about work at all.

I can't do anything else, but I'm thinking about the tree.

I'm thinking about the water, like really sort of minimal cognitive lifts.

And I wonder if that's what was going on there.

Like to me, that was a very productive period of my life.

My whole writing career, by the way, is based on taking things people already intuitively know in their gut and giving it a two-word name.

Just having the language around that really matters.

Like, oh, deep work.

Oh, okay.

That's like this activity.

I kind of knew that was important.

I didn't have a name or digital minimalism.

Like, oh, yeah, I kind of know what that means.

Like it's a different philosophy towards it.