Our dog, Pokey.
Pokey – the dog that walks with me.

Typically, I walk our dog an hour each day.  Sometimes, we are lucky and my husband joins us.   Most (week)days,  the dog and I walk.  We have our routes well-memorized at this point and so the rhythm of walking is uninterrupted by decisions about which way to turn or the distance we have covered.  As I prepared for my written exams, I wanted to use this time for spaced retrieval or deep thinking about the research I was reading.

Cal Newport’s method of priming one problem helped me address thinking outside of the time(s) I was reading and writing.  Although I’m not working on proofs (like Dr. Newport), I found value in priming 1-2 questions for exploration while I walked.    There was a clear starting and stopping point (bound by the walk) that prevented me from spending too much time on this task.   While developing my ideas is critical at this point in my PhD program,  without access to feedback about the strength of my reasoning or the clarity (and importance) of a specific research question, there is a point at which this time would become unproductive.

Now that my exams are over, I am excited to continue to refine this strategy as a tool in my workflow.