Thinking Pods: How To Ignite Your Mind
“It can never be too strongly impressed upon a mind anxious for the acquisition of knowledge that the commonest things which we are surrounded are deserving of minute and careful attention” — James Rennie (1857)
Attention is everything.
The very origin of the word "attention" comes from the idea of "a giving heed, an active direction of the mind" — a deliberate turning of our mental gaze toward something. It’s not passive. It’s an intentional act, like a soldier snapping to attention, focusing their entire being on the command at hand.
The Fixed Gaze of the Mind
We live in a world filled with noise — an endless current of distractions and anxious thoughts. It’s easy to let that current carry us downstream. But what if we grabbed the paddle? What if we turned the whole force of our mind to the subject in front of us? To be truly astonished by something requires this kind of intentional focus.
I recently heard that revival, at its core, is renewed attention and focus. Hmm. Think about that.
A mind revived is a mind that directs itself toward ideas that breathe life into the soul and light up the imagination.
This is more than thinking harder — it’s about thinking deeper, staring longer, and staying present with what matters.
Build Your Strategy from Your Stare
I heard a preacher once say that he builds his strategies in life from staring. What a concept. He said “God gives me raw elements and I stare at them like I stare at a text”. We take what we see, and we stay with it long enough to imagine what it could become.
It reminds me that “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” — Mary Oliver
This kind of attention breeds creativity. It creates a space where ideas can spark and grow. But it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. That’s where Thinking Pods come in.
Thinking Pods: Environments That Ignite Your Mind
Some environments — and the people within them — naturally push us to think more creatively, more imaginatively. These spaces are like gold mines for the mind. I call them Thinking Pods: places and people that create space for living ideas to flourish.
A Thinking Pod could be:
People — Friends/creators/deep thinkers who ask brilliant questions, challenge your assumptions, and open new ways of thinking through conversations, books, podcasts, and videos. Every book you read is written by someone who either kindles your imagination or doesn’t. When you find an author who lifts your thinking to a higher plane, consider them part of your Thinking Pod.
Places — Coffee shops, parks, or even your backyard — spaces where calm and curiosity coexist.
Be Intentional About Your Pods
The key to cultivating Thinking Pods is intentionality. Seek out people who think differently than you. Listen to creators who challenge your perspective. Find places that stir something within you.
For example, I take a 2-mile walk almost every day. I snap pictures of things that catch my eye — beautiful, strange, or seemingly mundane. Each picture becomes a seed of curiosity. When I dig into those images later, they often become living ideas that shape my thinking.
Here are a few photos I’ve taken and how I could think about these further.
Attention fuels creativity. And when we build environments — Thinking Pods — that nurture our attention, we create space for astonishing things to take root.
So… where will you point your mind today?
I stare a lot, and yes I am really thinking. About what, it depends.
When I was working for the Department of the Navy, I would stare out at the waterfront spread out before me. Generally, I was thinking about the people I was there to support and how best to do just that.
Later, as I moved up the ladder I was relegated to an office with no view on my responsibilities. That is when I discovered that solving logic problems, like sudoku, helped me by awakening that process in my mind. Allowing me to apply logic to the problems with which I was dealing.