Snowy with a side of gray. (Or, meditate…productively?)

I promise, that title will make sense shortly. 

I’m from Rochester, NY, and before you say anything, there are LOTS of great reasons to live here. 

But here’s one that’s not: 80 out of the first 109 days of 2024 were gray and so far, 2025 hasn't been much better. Mind you, most of those days are not partially cloudy. They're GRAY. Remember Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves? (Yeah, it’s old, but still…Morgan Freeman!) When Robin and Morgan Freeman’s character, Azeem, arrive in England, Azeem crankily asks Robin whether there is no sun in the country, since the sky is such a flat gray that no hint of light peeks through. That’s Rochester. Perhaps the only place in the direct path of the solar eclipse that was completely cloudy.

Stunning gray on gray. Let there be white.

My first book begins in Rochester on a bitterly cold, February day. As I've been learning how to write (which is a series of blog posts all on its own, coming soon!) I got to wondering: other than moving to French Polynesia (tempting!), how can I be less of a bitch (er, stave off seasonal depression), stay mindful, and get me some much needed exposure to Vitamin D during these coming winter months? 

Answer? This guy. ↓  And surprisingly, Cal Newport.

Meet Kato. Master of mischief, destroyer of shoe inserts, lover of snowy days.

Kato’s a Tamaskan, a rare-breed husky mix (and not for the faint of heart).* He requires a LOT of exercise, which means lots of walks. Which generally, I’ve done rather mindlessly. 

But a few weeks ago, (when I could still walk) as Kato and I trudged and tromped through the cold snow, my mind flickered to a small section on productive meditation that Newport wrote about in his book, “Deep Work.”  Why? First, because I hoped it would help me organize some thoughts for future blogs posts that I'm working through, and second, because I want a character of mine to (eventually) be a productive meditation master. Because it's cool.

Full disclosure: I hate meditating. It’s not that I’m a skeptic, actually. I see the merits. (And, incidentally, the pitfalls, as Ozan Varol eloquently describes in his blog and his book, “Awaken Your Genius”). But…sit still?! Like, still still? Imagine watching a dog with a piece of hot dog sitting on his nose for three fucking minutes. Just imagining it, I heard you think, “Wow, torture.” That’s how I’ve felt about meditating. Don’t be a hater; it just isn't my jam. 

Urgh, well, until Cal came along.

In Deep Work, Cal (can I call you Cal?) talked about his long walks in cold, snowy Boston during his postdoc time there. He decided to get the most out of his walk time by thinking deeply (read: meditate) about a single, well-defined problem. Tada! Productive meditation.

Hmmm. Ok, I’ll bite. But let's call it PM, for short.

So, how does this PM thing work?  

As with sit-still meditation, productive meditation is deceptively simple. 

First, define the problem you want to solve. (Ok, duh.) Whether that’s outlining a blog post, considering a sticky plot point, having “the talk” with your kid, or figuring out how to nicely accuse your partner of stealing the last Oreo that was supposed to be yours. In Cal’s case, he worked through a math proof. ‘Cause that’s…fun. <shudder>

Hobbes. He wasn't enthused when I asked him about doing a math proof.

Second, get physical! Yeah, not that kind of physical. It can’t be mentally taxing or overstimulating. Wash dishes, take a long shower, walk the dog, or clean out the disgusting amount of accumulated gunk in the groove of your car’s gear shaft before you notice it at midnight the night before you have to give a coworker a ride to work.

 You could mindlessly bat at a piece of string, too. I won’t judge.

Calvin. He's kept his day job of catching mice since the string cleverly alludes him.

Third, add structure to your thinking. Cal (being Cal), offers a very mathematician / computer scientist-y approach in his book, which I’ve dumbed down because I only have the brain of a 2nd grade mathematician. 

1. Hash out the main areas of the problem you want to focus on. 

   1. For example, if it’s a blog, what key points do you want to make? If it’s “the talk” with your kid, what three things can you get across before your kid shuts you out? (You’ll only have like 2 minutes, believe me.) 

      Note: if you’re working through an in-depth problem like a full-fledged marketing strategy that your boss asked you to pull together, I’d suggest separate PM sessions to determine the key area(s) of focus, questions, and categories like your digital journey, thought leadership, monetization, case studies, print media, etc., in separate sessions.

2. Ask yourself, “Ok, what goes in each area?” Consider only one area at a time! Remember, the key with the Productive Meditation is focused thought. 

   1. If it’s your blog, you could ask yourself, “What evidence do I have to make my point(s)?” Cal uses an example for a math proof in which he asks, “What can go wrong if I don’t assume this property holds?” then works out the issues. In the case of “the talk,” outline your lies and deliberate the merits of various stiff drinks to have during the conversation (the better to set a proper parenting example for your kid, naturally).  For your marketing plan, answer your key questions in turn. E.g., if you’re solving for your digital journey, consider what platforms are best for what your org believes in? (This could be one PM.) What tone do we want to have and why? (Another PM.) What frequency? Etc. 

3. When you’ve got your “answer(s),” go back to the beginning. Make sure you’re solving the right problem, re-consider each main area of focus, then delve into your next-step question. 

   1. For your blog, that might be reviewing any other ideas for the post. For your kid, think on the affordability of the psychological counseling you’ll both need post-talk. For your marketing plan, it could be moving on to your next key area (e.g., thought leadership), or if you’ve spent hours and hours finishing the presentation, considering how to get revenge on your boss for gaslighting you when he said he never told you to put together a marketing plan in the first place and why would you have possibly wasted your time on something that he had already done, see? 

   
   

Ta da! You did it!

If you can still jump like these girls, YAY YOU.

Oh, wait. 

It takes practice. Because…Omg I haven’t done the Wordle today! Does that squirrel have white ears? No, Kato, don’t eat that lady’s tiny Fifi! Wait, is she walking a cat?...ah, right. Distraction. And looping. Like when you figure out exactly how you’re going to tell your gaslighting boss to fuck off 37 times in your head. (And then get to your next meeting with him and instead say, “You know what, you’re right. You never told me to do a marketing plan. My bad.”) 

When we get distracted, or we start looping, Cal suggests we “gently” remind ourselves to get back to the problem or question at hand. (For me, that's generally, "Oh, for fuck's sake, Kelly, get back on track!" in a bad Scottish accent. Because it's much more fun to discipline yourself in another accent.)

For Cal, it took almost a dozen productive meditation “sessions” before he started realizing any results. 

“A dozen?” you exclaim. Well, you have to take twelve showers eventually. Make them a little longer. You might as well be productive while you soap your bits!

Let’s try it together. Drop me a line and tell me what you think after you try productive meditation. Was it good for you? No? Well, it’s not me, it’s you. No wait, it’s not you, it’s me. Wait, that’s wrong, too. It’s Cal. 

In the meantime, I’m heading out to try my hypothesis:

Hypothesis of snow with a side of productive meditation:

Dog walk + ruminate on blogs and book ideas + exercise + exposure to Vitamin D + bad Scottish accent = Less Bitch(?)

*I’m a believer in rescues AND breeders. My first husky mix, the love of my dog life, was a rescue. And we have four kitty rescues! Kato’s breeder was absolutely ah.maz.ing. Best of all worlds!

Photo credit ChatGPT