Dr. Cal Newport

Some people I have met have trained themselves to work with lyrical music, which I think it took them a long time.

But I met a self-published novelist.

who does like a million words a year, which is crazy.

And he blasts – because he has four kids.

He blasts Metallica in NASCAR earphones.

And I was like, how do you possibly write like this?

I think he just trained – his mind has just like a pure auditory filter that it's – that it's –

adapted, I guess.

Or maybe his books aren't that good.

I don't know.

But I like silence or like background noise.

But even background noise is hard.

I have a hard time writing at cafes, for example.

Like I really do like lack of stimuli.

Yeah, I mean I just have my spaces engineered, right?

So like where I write in my library at home, all the interesting windows are behind me and over here.

I'm staring across to windows that just lives right next to the neighbors and like just typically blinds down.

Yeah.

I mean, look, we're used to this with physical stuff.

If we analogize to physical fitness, we're so used to all these details, right?