Forget about chatbots. What you really need is a notebook. - Cal Newport

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      Back in 2012, when I was a young assistant professor, I traveled to Berkeley for a wedding. On the first morning after our arrival, my wife had a conference call, so I took the opportunity to stroll around the nearby university campus to tackle a challenging theory problem my collaborators and I called “The Beast.”

      I remember the events that followed because I wrote an essay about the experience. The story begins gradually:

      “It was early, and the fog was beginning to settle over the Berkeley hills. I eventually found myself in an eucalyptus grove. There, I enjoyed my coffee while contemplating.”

      I stumbled upon an intriguing new method to overcome a significant mathematical hurdle posed by The Beast. However, this hard-earned advancement soon introduced a new dilemma:

      “I realized… that there’s only so far you can go with an idea confined to your mind. Wanting to maximize my new insights and motivated by my recent commitment to the textbook approach, I walked to a CVS nearby and bought a 6×9 stenographer’s notebook… I then compelled myself to articulate my thoughts in a more structured manner. This mix of handwritten notes with the unique environment I was in led to new layers of understanding.”

      I even included a nostalgically low-resolution image of those notes:

      Over a decade later, I can’t specifically recall which academic paper I was working on in that eucalyptus grove, but based on some hints from the photo above, I’m fairly certain it was this ​paper​, published the following year, which garnered a respectable 65 citations.

      I revisited this essay on my ​podcast​ this week. The activity it described appeared to stand in stark contrast to the current narrative of a rapidly advancing, digitized, AI-driven workplace that Silicon Valley continually urges us to adopt.

      There is a profound human fulfillment in retreating to a unique setting and grappling with your own thoughts, recording the struggle on paper. The innovations and discoveries that arise from this deep contemplation are richer and more transformative than the artificially upbeat summaries offered by chatbots.

      The challenge facing knowledge work today is not the absence of powerful technologies. Rather, we are overwhelmed by so many digital tools that we lack the time to fully engage our minds.

      And that’s unfortunate.

      Few experiences are as distinctly human as the gradual emergence of new understanding, brought to light through the focused attention of your mind’s eye.

      So, pick up a notebook and find a picturesque spot to tackle a difficult problem. Give yourself ample time, and the relentless buzz about a reality filled with AI agents and enhanced productivity will fade into a soft hum.

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