Einstein, Darwin, and Pavel Durov all did their best thinking while moving, especially in water. Einstein floated in a motorless boat for hours. Durov takes four-hour lake swims to think without phone distractions. A neuroscientist explains why motion and water boost cognition, a habit most desk-bound work today ignores.
What Einstein would do is in the middle of the day, get on like a tiny little boat and he would just float. It was a no-motor boat. He would stay there for hours and he would stay there because he's like, I do my best thinking out here in the sea. And the Coast Guard was really worried because they're like, dude, you don't have a motor attached to your boat. How are you going to get back if the tide like pulls you too far? And he's like, the further the better was basically like his quote around what he wanted to do. And that's where he did most of his quality thinking. I was telling my wife this and she goes, oh yeah, at work we had this lady come in and this neuroscientist and she told us you do your best thinking in motion or in water. This is why so many people walk and why they swim. Pavel Durov was on Lex Fridman, talks about how he goes for 4-hour swims because he does his best thinking when he's swimming. That's one of his routines. Like, it's great, I get fitness and I get thinking all at the same time. Guess what? You can't be on your phone in the middle of a lake for 4 hours. Like, you know, you just— you're out there. Another one, Darwin. Darwin used to go for these walks whenever he was noodling on a problem. Oh, I got a problem, go for a walk. Which is, I think, not really how most people in today's age solve their problems. I think they stare at their screen and like sit there and kind of just sit in a stationary position trying to like get through it. And you produce pretty low-quality ideas when you do that.
