The Focus Course

Walking, Thinking, and Writing, with Chris Bowler: Part One

As part of our Accelerator community we’ve been hosting live interviews for our members on various topics.

A while back I invited my friend Chris Bowler about his thinking and writing process. For Chris, a good part of his creative process actually starts away from screens. Good thinking, as it turns out, usually doesn’t start at the computer. It could be out on a walk or a run. Working the garden or chopping fire wood.

For the knowledge worker in particular, if you’re working with your mind all day, resting with your hands is a necessity. And it’s often in doing something physical that gives our brain the white space to unravel a problem.

I split the conversation into two parts to make it more “chunkable”. I recommend giving this conversation a listen and taking some time to think about the concepts before moving on to part two.

Time Stamps

  • 1:05 — Meet Chris Bowler
  • 5:50 — Digging in to thinking deeply
  • 8:35 — The need for whitespace and brain activities
  • 10:22 — The affects of thinking post smartphone era
  • 13:25 — On-demand always present entertainment
  • 14:10 — Problem solve away from screens
  • 14:45 — How do you slow down enough to problem solve
  • 16:46 — Building resiliency to focus and go deep
  • 18:35 — Share your thinking, share your work
  • 20:00 — The skill of thinking deeply

Hero image by Alejandro Alas via Unsplash.

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