How to Build a Cognitive Training Plan | Monday Advice

August 24, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Cal Newport opens this episode with a stark data point: a college rhetoric professor assigned a 20-page article, a standard length for years, and not a single student finished it. One student admitted she “kept losing track of what the paper was about.” Newport’s response is not to wring his hands about a generation of barely literate kids, but to turn the question back on the listener: Could you read that 20-page article? If you’re honest, the answer might be uncomfortable. This leads to his central argument: we have no quantitative way to measure how fried our brains have become from digital distraction, and we desperately need one. Just as physical fitness uses key performance indicators (KPIs) like mile time or max squat, cognitive fitness needs its own measurable metrics. This episode proposes three such tests, explains how to calibrate your score, and outlines how to train to improve.

The Three Cognitive KPIs

Newport introduces three concrete, self-administered tests designed to measure different dimensions of cognitive fitness. Each test produces a score in minutes or a qualitative assessment, which he then calibrates against a five-level scale: brain rotted, distractible, pre-2012 average, impressive, and cognitive weapon.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:06) **The Problem: We Don't Measure Cognitive Fitness** - Newport introduces the episode's motivation by reading from an article about students who can no longer read long texts, then turns the question on the listener: could you read that 20-page article? He argues we lack quantitative tests for how "fried" our brains have become, unlike physical fitness where we have BMI or mile time.
2 (06:16) **KPI #1: Reading Endurance** - The test is to determine the maximum number of minutes you can comfortably focus on a conceptual nonfiction book (understandable to you) without any context switching (no phone, computer, or getting up).
3 (12:43) **Sponsor Break** - Advertisement for Caldera Lab (men's skincare) and Vanta (AI security and trust platform).
4 (15:10) **KPI #2: Contemplation Control** - The test is to attempt making progress on a personal or professional problem by thinking about it only in your head while walking (a practice Newport calls "productive meditation" from his book *Deep Work*). You stop when you can no longer redirect your attention back to the problem.
5 (20:20) **KPI #3: Written Persuasiveness** - The test is to write out an argument for a contested stance you believe in. The assessment is based on the format and style of the response, not a timer.
6 (24:56) **How to Improve Your Cognitive KPIs** - Newport explains that just as you must specifically train to improve a physical KPI (like running to improve your mile time), you must specifically train the activities measured by these cognitive KPIs.
7 (29:44) **Inbox: Information Fatigue Syndrome** - A listener named Gerald shares an article about "information fatigue syndrome," suggesting low-quality data is like ultra-processed food. Newport is skeptical, differentiating between the exhaustion from hard concentration (which he believes is real) and the mere processing of information (like Netflix), which he argues people can do all day without fatigue.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

In the world of physical health, we use so-called “key performance indicators” (KPIs) to help measure and improve our fitness. In today’s episode, Cal proposes a collection of three KPIs for measuring and improving your *cognitive* capabilities – a small step toward his larger vision of a cognitive fitness revolution.

Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

(0:00) How to build a cognitive training plan

(29:48) What is Cal’s opinion on information fatigue syndrome?

(37:04) Comments on the new book, “Pardon Our French: The Parisian Way to a Happier Life”

(40:17) An interesting way to think about AI and thinking

(47:37) An article about Disneyland, high quality leisure, and deep living

(57:53) What Cal is up to

August 2026 Books

The Laws of Thought (Tom Griffiths)

This is For Everyone (Tim Berners-Lee)

Into the Deep (Bob Ballard and Christopher Drew)202

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