Reclaiming my focus

Hey y’all, If you missed [last week’s newsletter](https://app.bentonow.com/share/poJ1zxVWEQN3dR), I went on a Vision Quest to clear my head a little bit from the noise of the day to day. We also covered it in this [week’s episode of Mostly Technical](https://mostlytechnical.com/episodes/102-vision-quest). Turns out, it was massively helpful. I’ve stuck to my new routine all week! I’ve set up my [Brick](https://getbrick.app/) to automatically go into focus mode at 6am every morning. Now when I wake up, I habitually grab my phone but… can’t do anything. I’ve actually opened the phone app a few times just to see if I have any voicemails. Turns out I might be addicted to my phone. Because all the good apps are blocked, I just get up and start my day! Instead of doom scrolling first thing in the morning, I just kinda… start. That alone has been a massive life improvement. The phone stays bricked until noon. No social media, no podcasts, no Hacker News. It’s funny how many outlets the addiction will take. I don’t look at Hacker News very much but when Twitter is blocked, that was my next time waster. So I blocked that too! Every morning this week I’ve come into the studio, and just kinda looked around for a few minutes. It’s weird. My life feels much slower. Then I pick what I’m going to work on and try my hardest to focus focus focus. And I think I’m already getting better at it! I probably get more done in the 8-12 block than I used to get done in a whole day. Truly. The afternoons kinda go off the rails once I unbrick my phone, but they’re still much better than they used to be. And I’ve started voluntarily bricking my phone in parts of the afternoon, too! I’ve gotten more responses to last week’s newsletter than any before it. It seems like many people are feeling this pain very acutely. I certainly thought I was one of the only ones, but that turned out to be not quite true. I encourage you to give it a shot. I’m just not sure we’re meant to be so online. I feel so much better after this week of increased focus. Try it out and let me know! --- ### Things I found this week *Just a heads up that each Twitter/X screenshot has a link to the original post if you want to go follow the account.* [](https://craigmod.com/essays/how_i_got_my_attention_back/) Stefan Zweifel sent [this article](https://craigmod.com/essays/how_i_got_my_attention_back/) to me after last week’s newsletter. It’s fantastic. This guy went on like a THIRTY DAY vision quest, completely offline. I can’t really afford that luxury, nor would I want to leave my family for that long, but it’s a great read. --- [](https://x.com/isabelunraveled/status/1974951782855094709) The number of new ideas I’ve had in the past week has gone way up. And clever rearrangements of old ideas. I think this is why you usually get ideas in the shower, on walks, or when you’re lying in bed. Your brain finally has the time to process! --- [](https://x.com/inkdrop_app/status/1975020178691018897) This guy is a great follow. He’s building a cool app, but doing so in a very thoughtful, aesthetic way. I loooove the framing of getting “torque” in your thinking. It may be slower, but it’s more powerful. --- [](https://x.com/simonsarris/status/1974562351035904376) These crates look gorgeous and are surprisingly not terribly expensive: . --- [](https://x.com/culturaltutor/status/1975600972056375541) This is a short, 15 minute film about the state of the modern world and how we’ve lost beauty in everyday objects. Highly recommended. --- [](https://x.com/HeritageMatterz/status/1975557775758664025) Speaking of beauty in everyday things! This one is in England, but I’ve been seeing a lot of pictures of beautiful brick work coming out of Iran. It’s just such a pleasing material. --- [](https://x.com/kissphoria/status/1976012177019674905) Annnnnnd speaking of beauty in everyday things. This is Dallas! This is where I live! It’s hideous. I’ve seen this building a bunch of times and it always strikes me as dystopian. I hope they tear it down. --- [](https://x.com/bswud/status/1791489734184743032) I did not know this! Apparently “pointing machines” were relatively common. I just assumed that they chipped away at the block and if they messed up it was game over. After doing some reading it’s not entirely clear the process that e.g. Michaelangelo’s David was created with, but pointing machines were somewhat common throughout history. --- [](https://x.com/Kpaxs/status/1889527413677117559) “Everyone wants to be interesting, but the vitalizing thing is to be interested.” It is curious how some 60 year olds are old, and some 60 year olds are incredibly young. I like this as a plausible explanation. It’s also a great way to be an engaging conversationalist! Taking an interest in another person, their work, their hobbies, etc is an easy way to have a great conversation. Just ask questions about what they’re interested in! --- [](https://x.com/bubblebabyboi/status/1975036651270176774) First of all, the all caps “SIKE” is hysterical. I gotta employ that in more written jokes. Flawless. Ok but more importantly, you can grind your way to anything! I’ve been listening to a lot of Cal Newport’s podcast and in a few of them he talks about how hard it is to break into academia if you haven’t been on the path since early in undergrad. And yet! This guy broke into the field just by working incredibly hard. An inspiration. --- If you’ve been enjoying the newsletter and think a friend may enjoy reading it each week too, please forward it to them! They can sign up to receive it weekly here: . That’s it for this week! I enjoy reading all of your replies, so if you see something interesting or just have a thought you want to share, please hit reply and let me know. Talk soon, Aaron {{ ENV.unsubscribe\_personal | default: visitor.unsubscribe\_url | hyperlink: "Click here to unsubscribe." }}