All Episodes Why Great Thinkers Lived in the Past & How to Reclaim Deep Thought
Why Great Thinkers Lived in the Past & How to Reclaim Deep Thought
Lately, I’ve been pondering a question: Why are so many of the great thinkers from history, and where are the great thinkers today? In this video, I share my ideas on how our modern lifestyle—bombarded by constant information, endless scrolling, and the lure of quick amusement—can hinder deep, creative thinking. I compare the rich, reflective past of ancient thinkers (who gazed at the stars and wrote in books) to our present-day habit of chasing dopamine hits from our screens. And I challenge you to put your phone down, take a moment to think, and reclaim your capacity for deep thought.
In This Video, You’ll Discover:
• The contrast between ancient amusement (deep pondering) and today’s superficial distractions.
• How constant connectivity and the rise of AI may be limiting our creative potential.
• Why “amusement” today often means not thinking at all—and why that matters.
• A personal challenge: carve out time to sit quietly, reflect, and let your own great ideas shine.
The Death of Deep Thinking: Reclaiming Focus in a World of Constant Distraction
On this episode I wanted to tackle something that’s been gnawing at me for a while now—something I believe is eroding not just our productivity, but our ability to think, to create, and to truly lead.
We live in an age where distraction is the default. The noise never stops. Our phones, our feeds, our constant notifications—they’re not just taking our attention, they’re training our brains to avoid deep thinking altogether.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: if you can’t think deeply in this world, you can’t lead in it either.
The Silent Crisis No One Talks About
We love to talk about productivity hacks, tools, and time management tricks. But none of it matters if your ability to focus is fractured into a thousand tiny pieces.
When was the last time you sat for two hours uninterrupted, thinking through a single problem without checking your phone, without scrolling, without clicking into some other task “just for a second”?
If you can’t remember, you’re not alone. In this episode, I called it what it is: a slow death of deep thinking.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
Here’s the reality:
“In a world where everyone is reacting instantly, the people who can slow down, think deeply, and respond with intention will win.”
Shallow thinking creates shallow solutions. We see it in business decisions, leadership failures, and even personal relationships—people reacting instead of responding, following trends instead of creating vision.
If you’re running a company, leading a team, or even just building your own life strategy, the lack of deep thought will cost you. Not immediately—but over time, in ways that are impossible to repair.
The Modern Attention Hijack
Our devices aren’t neutral. They’re designed to pull us back in. Every ding, buzz, and banner notification is a tiny hook, breaking your focus and forcing your brain to reset.
Studies have shown it can take over 20 minutes to get back into deep concentration after just one interruption. That means most people spend their entire day in the mental shallow end, never reaching the kind of clarity needed for great decisions.
The result? Leaders become managers of chaos instead of architects of vision.
The Illusion of Being “Informed”
One of the points I made in this episode is that constant consumption of small snippets of information—tweets, headlines, short videos—gives us the illusion of knowledge without the depth of understanding.
We know a little about a lot, but we don’t know much about anything in a way that matters. That’s dangerous for a leader.
Because when the moment comes to make a hard call, it’s not the person who’s read the most headlines that wins—it’s the person who’s sat in silence, wrestled with the problem, and thought it through from all angles.
What Deep Thinking Really Looks Like
Deep thinking isn’t about looking serious with a pen in hand. It’s about creating the conditions for your mind to work at its highest capacity.
That means:
Time: Blocks of uninterrupted hours to sit with a problem.
Space: A physical environment free from distractions.
Focus: Choosing one thing and one thing only.
Reflection: Asking questions like “What am I not seeing?” and “What would this look like in ten years?”
In this episode, I made the point that deep thinking isn’t just for philosophers or authors—it’s for anyone who wants to make decisions that matter.
The Leadership Gap
Here’s where this really hits home. As I said in the episode:
“If you can’t think deeply, you can’t lead deeply.”
The best leaders I’ve met—whether they run companies, countries, or communities—share one trait: they think before they speak, and they think long before they act.
They don’t fill every silence with words. They don’t need to constantly broadcast. They know that deep thinking builds trust—because when they speak, it’s clear they’ve already wrestled with the truth.
Three Practices to Reclaim Your Focus
I didn’t just want to point out the problem—I wanted to give you a framework to fix it. In this episode, I broke down three practical ways to rebuild your capacity for deep thought:
1. Create Thinking Time—on Purpose
Block out time in your calendar just for thinking. No devices, no meetings, no music. For some, that might mean an early morning walk. For others, it might mean closing the office door and staring at a whiteboard.
It will feel unproductive at first—but over time, it will become the most valuable part of your week.
2. Protect Your Mental Environment
If you allow constant noise in your environment, you’re giving up control of your own attention. That means turning off notifications, leaving your phone in another room, and resisting the urge to check it every few minutes.
Leaders who think deeply guard their attention like a fortress.
3. Go Long-Form
Instead of scrolling social media for quick updates, commit to reading long-form content—books, in-depth articles, research papers. Train your brain to sustain focus over time.
This isn’t just about knowledge—it’s about rewiring your brain for patience and complexity.
Why Most People Won’t Do This
Here’s the truth: most people will nod along to this idea and then go right back to reacting to the next ping on their phone.
Why? Because distraction is easier. Shallow work is safer. It feels productive without the discomfort of actually confronting the big, complicated questions.
But if you’re reading this—or if you listened to the episode—you’re not most people. You’re here because you want to lead, create, and leave something that lasts.
The Competitive Edge No One Is Talking About
In a world addicted to speed, slowing down is a competitive advantage.
When you take time to think deeply, you see connections others miss. You anticipate problems before they appear. You make decisions with a clarity that others can feel—and that builds confidence in your leadership.
That’s the edge. Not just being first, but being right.
Your Challenge This Week
Here’s the challenge I left my listeners with, and I’ll leave it with you too:
Choose one problem in your business or life that you’ve been avoiding.
Set aside two hours this week to think about it deeply—no phone, no internet, no interruptions.
Write down everything that comes to mind—questions, ideas, fears, opportunities.
You’ll be shocked at what you discover when you actually give yourself the space to think.
Closing Thoughts
The death of deep thinking isn’t inevitable. It’s a choice. You can either let your attention be controlled by whatever flashes across your screen, or you can take it back.
And here’s what I’ll promise you—if you reclaim your focus, you’ll not only become a better thinker, you’ll become a better leader, a better creator, and a better human being.
Because at the end of the day, leadership isn’t about how fast you can react—it’s about how deeply you can see.
Welcome to the Champion Minutes Podcast, where we embark on a daily journey of personal growth and empowerment with your host, Chris Beane. Each episode delivers bite-sized insights, actionable strategies, and inspiring stories to help you unlock your full potential and become the champion of your own life. Join Chris as he shares practical tips, mindset shifts, and expert advice to cultivate resilience, achieve your goals, and live a life of purpose and fulfillment. Tune in daily to fuel your motivation, elevate your mindset, and unleash the champion within. Get ready to transform your life, one minute at a time.
In this episode of Chris Beane gets real about failure—and why it’s the clearest sign that you’re actually on the right path. Using the powerful metaphor of the comfort zone as life’s “snooze button,” Chris challenges you to stop playing it safe and start embracing the struggles, setbacks, and stumbles that come with real growth.
Failure isn’t the end. It’s feedback. It’s proof that you’re stretching, evolving, and moving forward. In this raw and motivating conversation, Chris breaks down how to reframe failure, why success is built on more losses than wins, and how to keep rising every time life knocks you down.
If you’ve been playing small, avoiding risk, or letting fear of failure hold you back, this episode will give you the mindset shift you need to fail forward with courage and purpose.
Lately, I’ve been questioning the idea that “you are not your thoughts.” In today’s video, I dive into the three layers of our mind: the conscious mind (the always-active thinker), the subconscious mind (where our habits, beliefs, and automatic responses reside), and introduce the self-mind—the true observer that sits between the two.
In This Video, You’ll Learn:
• How the conscious mind continuously analyzes and reacts, often without our full control.
• The role of the subconscious in shaping our habits, beliefs, and basic programming.
• What I call the self-mind—the inner observer that decides which thoughts truly define us.
• How understanding these layers can empower you to reclaim control over your identity.
• A challenge to question your thoughts and choose who you want to be.
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