THINK

The Decoded 7-Day Deep Thinking Challenge

A seven-day experiment in concentration, reflection, and deliberate thinking.

Type: Challenge
Difficulty: Beginner
Length: 7-day challenge

In the episode, Professor Murty talks about mental discipline, the cost of constant digital distraction, and the value of setting aside uninterrupted time to think. This challenge turns that conversation into a small, practical experiment you can run on yourself over one week.

There is nothing to buy, install, or sign up for. Each day is a single deliberate act of attention. Check off a day when you have done it; your progress is saved in your own browser only.

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DAY 130 minutes without your phone
Put your phone in another room for half an hour. Notice the urge to reach for it, and let the urge pass without acting on it.
DAY 2Write a difficult problem down by hand
Take one problem you are stuck on, in any subject, and write it out longhand on paper. Writing slows your thinking down enough to actually see the problem.
DAY 3Read something difficult, line by line
Choose a passage that is a little beyond you and read it slowly, one line at a time, rereading until each sentence makes sense before moving on. No skimming.
DAY 445 minutes on one problem, no switching
Work on a single problem for 45 minutes without switching tasks, checking messages, or opening a new tab. When your attention drifts, bring it back to the same problem.
DAY 5Sit with a question you cannot answer
Pick a question you genuinely cannot answer yet and spend time simply thinking about it, without rushing to look it up. Get comfortable not knowing.
DAY 6Write about something you changed your mind about
Write a few honest paragraphs about a belief you have revised. What was the old view, what shifted it, and what does that tell you about how you think?
DAY 7One longer uninterrupted thinking session
Bring the week together with a longer stretch, an hour or more, of focused, uninterrupted thinking on something that matters to you. Notice how it compares to Day 1.

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All Episode 3 resources Listen to the episode →