5 Ways To Stop Getting Dumber
The daily playbook that helps me run a $250M+ business while being a decent father
Specifically, people are finding it difficult to concentrate, reason, and problem solve.
This is not just a hypothetical question being batted around at dinner parties anymore. Research and statistical metrics make it clear. Sadly, this is even more true for young people.
As a father, this is one of my biggest worries for my children.
Here is what I am doing about it.
Way #1: Reduce Short-Form Content Consumption
Short videos train our attention to reset constantly.
One clip leads to the next, and our minds jump with it.
After a while, it becomes hard to follow anything that takes time.
I noticed this in myself:
Reading felt harder
Deep work became difficult
I struggled to stay focused in conversations
Here is what I am doing:
I keep short-form content to one small window in the day
I prioritize long-form where I choose at least one longer thing to stay with, like a full podcast or article
If I open an app without thinking, I close it and come back when I actually have a purpose
The skeleton key for intellectual warfare is the ability to stay with ideas for an extended period of time. Good ideas don’t often come out fully formed.
My recommendation: Do whatever it takes to choose long-form materials over short-form content.
Way #2: Change What I Outsource to AI
I am embarrassed to say that I used AI in a way that made my own thinking weaker.
When I let it create the first version of my ideas, my reasoning came out soft. It frustrated me in the beginning, but then I realized I was just giving into the ease of something else doing the work.
I would follow its logic instead of shaping my own.
I was kinda disgusted by my intellectual laziness.
I realized how ridiculous that was, so I made an about turn.
I changed the order of things:
I write my own draft first
Then I ask AI to point out unclear logic or missing steps
I also use it early in the process to test my assumptions and see different angles
This keeps me involved in the hard (and meaningful) part.
Now I only ask AI to analyze concepts, battle-test logic, and review my hypothesis based on the draft that I provide it. I do not ask it to write for me anymore. I use it as a thought-partner, something that can ask me, “Have you considered x idea?”
My learning: The big idea was to have AI support my work instead of replacing my work product.
Way #3: Stop Taking Advice From Influencers
I follow a lot of people online, and I used to take in their advice at face value.
Over time, I realized many opinions are shared without real experience behind them.
I have found there are two types of people online:
Those that have done the work, learned the thing, and talk about it
Those that are good at making videos
Unfortunately, it is your job to figure out who is who.
For example:
I know an influencer who made some money by selling his business and then bought three real estate deals without understanding even the basics.
He did not check the numbers well
He rushed into the contracts
The deals went bad in predictable ways
Instead of learning from it, he decided real estate itself “sucks.”
He now tells that story to millions of people.
But the issue was not real estate. It was that he did not know anything about it.
Influencer status is rampant on the internet:
If you spend 18 months as an analyst at an investment bank, it does not mean you are qualified to teach people how to buy companies
Just because you made a million dollars once doesn’t mean you are now qualified to teach everyone how to make a million dollars
And don’t get me started on influencers giving relationship advice
Just like you, I had to slow down and think about whose opinion I was letting in to guide my life.
Now I take a different approach:
I look at what they have actually done, not how well they present it
I ask if I would want to swap lives with them
If the subject is important, I do my own research afterward
What has all of this got to do with being less dumb?
Everything.
This keeps me from blindly adopting views that were never thought through in the first place because run of the mill influencers are not business or life advisors.
Way #4: Flip My Creation-to-Consumption Ratio
It’s easy to be distracted in today’s world.
So I added a pause to break the addiction cycle.
I use an app blocker called One Sec.
It forces me to stop for a moment before opening any social app.
That pause lets me notice whether I am reaching for my phone because I am curious or because I am bored.
Specifically, it helped me change why I consume content.
I am kinda proud to say that I do not scroll for entertainment anymore.
I only consume to support something I am creating:
I go online with a clear question
I gather the information I need
I leave once I have it
I spend the rest of my time creating some kind of output:
Writing a memo
Drawing on a whiteboard
Talking through ideas with someone
My realization: I have noticed that I feel “better” at the end of every day where I have created more than I have consumed.
Way #5: Rethink What “Entertainment” Means
My kids reached a point where “fun” meant watching short videos.
When the iPad turned off, their bodies were restless
A fifteen-minute car ride felt impossible
Even eating cereal felt dull unless a screen was near
Sadly, I recognized the same pattern in myself.
At night, I would get into bed and drift into infinite scrolling without meaning to.
It left my mind overstimulated and empty.
So I changed the pattern.
I’d be lying if I told you that I was able to quit being on a screen cold-turkey. But I did replace a bad thing with something a little less bad.
At night, I watch a show or a long video instead of scrolling.
Long-form entertainment slows my mind down. Sometimes it sparks ideas, and sometimes it helps me rest.
If I am worn out, I reach for a book or take a short walk before I touch my phone.
With my kids, we try to rotate simple activities back into daily life.
Screens still exist, but they are no longer the center of what we call fun.
(This is still a work in progress).
The Antidote to Getting Dumber
Out of everything I tried, one practice made the most difference:
Writing.
Not voice memos.
Not videos to my team.
But, writing in Google Docs.
An essay
A memo
A strategy draft
There is something magical about taking scattered thoughts, giving them shape and organizing our thinking logically to convey a complex set of ideas.
The Greeks used writing in this same way.
After debates, they would spend time alone, writing, thinking, and practicing their arguments.
They strengthened their ideas through this quiet, reflective process.
I follow a similar rule now:
I write something every day.
It keeps my thinking sharp.
It helps me stay present with my kids.
And it reminds me that our minds get stronger when we give them space to work.
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The reversal on AI usage you describe is fascinating becuase it pinpoints exactly where cognitve muscle atrophies. When AI generates the first draft, you're essentialy outsourcing the hardest part which is imposing structure on unformed thoughts. That structuring proces is where the actual thinking happens, not in the polishing. Your real estate influencer example illustrates the same priciple: consuming surface-level content without doing the underlying work leaves you with borrowed conclusions instead of genuine understanding.