Dr. Cal Newport

I just –

what if this proof doesn't work and blah, blah, blah.

So what you do is when you get a rumination post shutdown, hey, what about what's going on with our work?

Are we doing the right thing?

Do we forget this or that?

Instead of engaging in the rumination, well, it's like, no, I think we're okay.

Let me think about my schedule tomorrow.

What's my plan?

You instead can just say, I said that crazy phrase or I checked that box.

I wouldn't have said that phrase unless I had gone through everything and made sure that I had a good plan and nothing's being missed and it was okay to shut down work.

Because of that,

I'm not going to engage with your rumination.

I said the weird thing.

Let's get back to what we're doing.

This is like cognitive behavioral therapy that after a month or so, you are really able to actually effortlessly disengage from work and do everything, you know, all the other stuff that matters.

right, without having the constant ruminations about work, which gives your mind an actual break to, you know, do other things.

So, I mean, this is more mental health than productivity, but for me, it was critical.

I mean, I can really remember when I came up with this, you know, exactly where I was in my grad student career.

And there's just too much, too many ideas and concerns that were just roiling.

And like, once I did this, you know, it took a few weeks and then I could actually like shut down and go on and do other things.