Can You Reverse Brain Rot?
I’ve been following Cal Newport for some time (known for his book Deep Work and Digital Minimalism). I’ve come to look forward to his weekly podcasts on attention, focus, and life without social media.
Today, he dropped a podcast titled “How Do I Build Cognitive Fitness?” (Alternatively, his YouTube video with the same content was titled “How Do I Reverse Brain Rot?”, so I’m curious which one got more clicks).
In it, he outlines five ways that we can improve our cognitive fitness and challenges us to be more intentional with our time. If you want to give it a listen he covers it in the first half of this episode.
Here are the five things he suggested, and my thoughts on each one.
Read every day.
He suggests that the more time you spend reading, the more you’re rewiring your brain. It gives you practice in “aiming your minds eye at a desired internal target,” such as a thought or idea. He recommends starting with books you’re excited to read, not books you feel you “should” read. Fun books, trashy books, romance books, they all count. Start with 15-20 pages a day. Read at lunch and before bed. After you’re doing that regularly, increase to 30-50 pages a day. As that gets easier, make 1 out of 3 books “hard” or more challenging.
I feel good about reading every day, though I can definitely improve on the number of pages. I’m likely still in the first category, reading 10-20 pages a day. Not quite to 50 pages a day. Though I do think I’m reading more challenging stuff sometimes. I’m currently reading Dune Messiah I’m definitely slowing down to digest the passages.
Don’t avoid writing.
Cal states that many people are writing less than ever before due to generative AI, and that “to improve your cognitive fitness you should seek out as many opportunities to write as possible.” He goes on to say that "we feel naturally resistant to it because of how many moving pieces there are in our brains.” Writing is hard and we feel strain when we write, but it provides us with more “cognitive strength”. He recommends studying technique while you read, writing in a journal/newsletter/blog (ahem), and acclimating yourself to getting over the first 10 minutes of writing as they are the hardest to work through.
Why do you think I’m here? Ha! I’m trying to get better at constructing my thoughts into sentences and paragraphs. And yeah, it’s hard. But I figure the more I do it, the easier it will start to feel. I’m also trying to write by hand more, but I need to find better opportunities to write when I’m not getting interrupted.
Go on thinking walks.
Cal suggests that we take walks several times a week without our phone (and if we do bring our phones we should make them very inaccessible, like at the bottom of our bag). “Practice turning your attention inwards to make sense of some information.” Brainstorming or day dreaming counts here. Reflection is “where you develop your sense of self” and our best ideas come from it. He recommends journaling your insights after your walk, that it will help you clarify internal thinking.
I might have to take on this one. I’m not good at getting out of the house (I work remotely), and I need to be better about it. The weather is warming up though, which will make it easier. Plus it’ll get me away from my desk more often. Something semi-related is that our brains come up with some of our best ideas while we’re in the shower, and I think the two are related.
Plug in your phone.
Cal recommends keeping your phone plugged in and not with you when you’re at home. “Spend hours in your house each day without your phone as your constant companion.” This will give you lots of practice doing things without that constant short term motivation to pick up the phone. Put your ringer on and let people know to call you. Make the phone “less desirable by taking off any apps that makes money from your engagement” - social media apps, for example.
Oooh this one is good. I can do this right now. I have a charger in the other room and can put my phone there. This would be a really good one to practice. I still need an alternative for having my phone next to my bed - I still use it as my alarm because last summer our phones woke us at midnight for a tornado warning that sent us grabbing the kids and flying to the basement. Maybe I can plug it in further away from the bed and still hear weather alerts. I’ll need to explore this further.
Learn a hard skill.
Cal’s last idea is to master a skill that requires you to focus and get better, but also gets you a clear reward. Take up tennis, playing the guitar, learning to knit, etc. He goes on to say that when you learn a hard skill, it “builds up a sense of discipline and helps train your long term motivation system that when we focus on something hard, over time we get meaningful rewards.” When you practice focusing, it becomes easier to sustain concentration. BUT, you need to do this on a regular schedule, not whenever you feel like it.
This is a great one. I’ll have to think about what I’d want to learn! The hard part for me will be sticking with it. I have a terrible habit of picking up new projects every couple of weeks and I need to get on top of that. I need to find something that will sustain me for at least a season or so.
Overall, some really good tips from Cal Newport. I really do think these could help someone step back and assess their cognitive fitness. I know I’ll be implementing some of these ideas.
Which of these 5 do you see yourself implementing? Which is the easiest? The most difficult? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.