From The Extended Mind I learnt that our environment shapes our thinking more than I’d expected. That we can arrange our environment to extend our thoughts.
In 2023, each month I changed something in my environment to see:
- What does “changing my environment involve”? What can I change?
- Will I succeed?
- Does it affect my thoughts? Can I track this?
Here are the results.
- 🟢 Jan. New desk orientations. Rotated standing desk, settled on one direction. Impact: LOW. I don’t know if my thoughts changed.
- 🟢 Jan: New walking routes. I explored new areas in Singapore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Impact: MEDIUM. Just seeing new shops, posters and layouts helped me think differently.
- 🔴 Jan: New song genres. I playlist-ed with several western genres, but listened only twice.
- 🔴 Feb: New book genres. I list 12 genres I dislike: Art, Chick Lit, Christian, Cookbooks, Gay and Lesbian, Horror, Music, Paranormal, Poetry, Religion, Sports, Travel. I didn’t read any.
- 🔴 Mar: Sleep over problems. Sleep is a great way to solve complex problems. But I couldn’t summon the willpower to “load” problems at night.
- 🟢 Mar: New people. I met a new person daily. Impact: HIGH. Meeting diverse people had the highest impact.
- 🟢 Apr: New work places. I worked out of libraries, cafes, school, parks, and offices. Impact: HIGH. New complex environments (like libraries) prompted new thoughts.
- 🟢 Jun. Notes from podcasts. I took notes rather than just listening. This helped me reflect and synthesize. Impact: MEDIUM. BTW, I listen mostly to Cautionary Tales, The Knowledge Project, Hidden Brain, How I write, The Seen and the Unseen, and Deep Questions.
- 🟢 Jul: New gadgets. I bought several new gadgets that changed my habits. Impact: HIGH.
- Portable USB fan lets me sit comfortably anywhere in any room
- Desk clock (with a second’s hand) keeps me on time for meetings
- Gaming laptop lets me run LLMs locally on the GPU
- Rucksack lets me carry laptops and clothes in one bag
- Pomodoro timer helps me time my activities and focus
- Monitor lets me code while seeing the output
- Gaming chair lets me read lying down
- Standing desk gives me a mobile re-orientable desk
- Raincoat lets me cycle in the rain
- Gaming mouse lets me browse leaning back (and play Minecraft)
- Cycle phone mount lets me film while cycling
- Plastic belt lets me through airport security
- Lycra sandals helps me with rains and airport security
- Rain bonnet helps me grab lunch when raining
- Bicycle lamps let me cycle at night
- Fidget cube keeps my hands occupied while I think
- Bluetooth speaker lets me carry songs while washing dishes
- Others had lower impact. I don’t use them much.
- 🔴 Aug: New cuisines. I tried a Bibimbap, a Verdure Ciambatta, and then discovered my cholesterol problem. I stopped.
- 🟢 Aug: New work habit. I used Pomodoro with micro-tasks. Impact: MEDIUM. I became more aware of where I misestimate time and got less distracted.
- 🟢 Nov: New exercise pattern. I switched walking to cycling. This increases heart points, reduces foot stress, and gets me to work. Impact: MEDIUM. I switched from typing notes to dictating, which needs a different thought process.
In summary:
- 8 / 12 attempts were successful.
- New people, new places, and new gadgets had high impact on thoughts. Most others had at least medium impact.
- The changes mostly led to diverse thinking. But measuring that is subjective.
I’ll continue exploring new environments in 2024. I’m evaluating:
- New book genres (contd)
- New music genres (contd)
- Walking meetings
- Reading while walking
- New places to sleep (e.g. AirBnB)
- Working while traveling
- New audiences to teach
- New attires
Superb articulation Anand…never thought adding gadgets will enable productivity…BTW, your suggestion on notes in VS code is one transformation step for me…
Pingback: My Year in 2023 - S Anand
Woowwww!! I always used to hear the popular suggestion “To change your life, you need to change your habits” – and I am now more convinced to the idea – if someone wants to change their life – they need to change what they hear, speak, watch or just break the pattern of what they have been doing all this time and I just realized thats what I am trying to do in my current situation of life and thats how I am evolving. I have changed my taste of music, replaced the series/films to new genre, replaced the books, replaced the articles. So, basically we don’t need to leave the habits – we need to replace the habits – thats the crux!