Deliberate solitude
Regular time with your own thoughts and no other inputs
Scheduled time free from other people's ideas, usually taken on a walk or a drive. No podcasts, audiobooks, radio or feeds. The claim is that constant input has produced solitude deprivation, and that thinking, problem-solving and emotional processing all need the empty space. It is easier to describe than to tolerate for the first week.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Chris HemsworthDoes it
Actor · Limitless and Centr
Since learning his Alzheimer's risk he has been building in more solitude. No outside voice, no stimulation. That felt newly important after years of consistent exercise, he told Men's Health.
Source: E! News: Chris Hemsworth Shares Lifestyle Changes After Learning of Increased Risk of Alzheimer's Disease - David GogginsDoes it
Retired Navy SEAL · Can't Hurt Me
Says he has trained 99% of his life alone, running at 2am and lifting at 1am in long sessions by himself. When Huberman suggests he needs no playlist to get going, he says it is all in his head now; the Rocky pump-up routine he leaned on at 300 pounds fell away as he got older.
Source: Huberman Lab: David Goggins: How to Build Immense Inner Strength - Dwayne JohnsonDoes it
Actor and former WWE champion · The Rock
Two hours alone before anyone else is up. He calls it one of his two daily anchors, alongside training. He uses the window to think, get some work done and plan the day, and says that once he has that time banked a 10, 12 or 14 hour day on set is manageable.
Source: Variety: Dwayne Johnson on His Rock-Solid Empire and Walk of Fame Honor“The only thing that’s regimented is I have to wake up before the sun gets up, and I have my two hours alone when no one else is up and the house is quiet, … I often sacrifice two hours of sleep just so I can have the quiet two hours that I need before the whole house wakes up, including the animals.”
Variety: Dwayne Johnson on His Rock-Solid Empire and Walk of Fame Honor (opens in a new tab) · 13 Dec 2017 - Lex FridmanDoes it
AI researcher · Lex Fridman Podcast
Alone for long stretches by design, treating time without other people's input as necessary rather than incidental.
Source: Lex Fridman Podcast #435 transcript“Unfortunately, I get drained by social interaction, even with the people I love and really respect and all that kind of stuff.”
Lex Fridman Podcast #435 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 28 Jun 2024 - Naval RavikantDoes it
Angel investor · AngelList and the Naval podcast
Sitting alone with no drink, no phone, no book and no headphones is how he says you find out what the quality of your life actually is. He describes time spent by himself as the most important time he has, and credits it for how self-contained he now feels.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #473 transcript: Naval Ravikant on Happiness and Reducing Anxiety“put down the drink, put down the computer, put down the smartphone, put down the book, put down the headphones, just sit by yourself, doing nothing. And then you will know what the quality of your life actually is because that’s what you’re always running away from.”
The Tim Ferriss Show #473 transcript: Naval Ravikant on Happiness and Reducing Anxiety (opens in a new tab) · 15 Oct 2020 - Nick BareDoes it
Hybrid athlete · Bare Performance Nutrition founder
The morning run doubles as his solitude: no music, no social media, before the sun is up. Solitude never presents itself, the article argues, so you have to go looking for it, and it frames the habit as what keeps his stress from landing on the people around him.
Source: BPN: Nick Bare's 3 Tips for a Better Morning Routine - Ryan HolidayDoes it
Writer · The Daily Stoic
Gets his quiet in the pool, swimming as often as he can partly because nothing can reach him there: no phone, no noise. He asks the reader how often they are truly unreachable, then answers that it is not often enough.
Source: RyanHoliday.net: 13 Life-Changing Habits To Try And Do Every Single Day - Simon SinekDoes it
Author · Start with WHY
Somebody once told him to buy a coffee, sit on a bench in Central Park and watch people for an hour. No agenda, no notes. It sounded absurd at the time and the person was right, he says. He also credits a walk in New York, plus a friend's call, with getting him through the writing of Leaders Eat Last.
Source: The Optimism Company: Why Boredom Is a Leader's Best Friend“I once got advice to go to Central Park, grab a coffee, sit on a bench, and just watch people for an hour. No agenda, no notes. It sounded absurd at the time, but he was right.”
The Optimism Company: Why Boredom Is a Leader's Best Friend (opens in a new tab) · 9 Jan 2026 - Warren BuffettDoes it
Investor · Berkshire Hathaway chairman
His idea of a perfect day, he told Becky Quick in 2013, is being alone with no interruptions. Then he can read and think. Flipping through a nearly empty appointment book, he said the one thing his money buys that he really values is freedom. And freedom, he added, is the key to a happy life.
Source: CNBC: Billionaire Warren Buffett's Secret Ice Cream Fix - Cal NewportRecommends
Computer science professor · author of Deep Work
Defines solitude as being free of input from other minds, and coined solitude deprivation for the constant opposite.
Source: calnewport.com: spend more time alone - Chris BumsteadRecommends
Bodybuilder · Six-time Classic Physique Mr. Olympia
For people who cannot take two months off after one big day the way he could, his advice in a 2022 Q&A was to find one or two weekends a year to shut off completely and leave the phone behind. Solitude, he says, does more to reset the mind than people expect.
Source: Breaking Muscle: Bodybuilder Chris Bumstead Trains During Q&A, Discusses Retirement, Recovery, and Avoiding Burnout - Morgan HouselRecommends
Writer · The Psychology of Money
Making a decision takes time alone with the problem, he argues, and the ideas turn up in the shower or on a walk rather than in a meeting. Most workplaces have it backwards. Asking people with thought jobs to look busy for 40 hours is, by his comparison, like making a ditch-digger work without a shovel.
Source: Collaborative Fund: Lazy Work, Good Work“Good ideas rarely come in meetings, or even at your desk. They come to you in the shower. On a walk. On your commute, or hanging out on the weekend.”
Collaborative Fund: Lazy Work, Good Work (opens in a new tab) · 27 May 2024
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Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.