In this week’s essay, John discusses the Pomodoro Routine (among other productivity routines), why he especially needs a meditation pillow, and how a particular teacher captured his heart.      Notebook Entries: Notebook 75, pages 8 and 9. September 2021 OReinstating the Pomodoro Routine… Starting Marshall again… Write Brice… Send Laura the larger project list… Work on budget to get accounts in order Meditation pillow upstairs. Notebook 18. December 6, 2009 Instapaper Alpha Smart Richard Hugo on poetry Degrees of Gray In Philipsburg. Notebook 18, page 105. June 4, 2011 Visit to Mr. Mead. He was playing piano as we entered. [During our conversation, he asked]: do you find your work fulfilling? Do you have a close circle of friends? Questions about life and living it well… References: Getting Things Done - David Allen The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey  The Questions That Will Get Me Through the Pandemic - John Dickerson 43 Folders - Merlin Mann  The Hardest Job in the World - John Dickerson Essays of E.B. White “Merlin Mann” - Tina Essmaker for The Great Disconnect More about Ernest “Boots” Mead “Because Buying New Running Shoes is More Fun Than Actually Running” - Merlin Mann for 43 Folders Atomic Habits - James Clear The Creative Habit - Twyla Tharp Free Agent Nation - Daniel Pink “Sharon Salzberg On: Openness, Not Believing the Stories You Tell Yourself, and Why the Most Powerful Tools Often Seem Stupid at First” - Ten Percent Happier Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com

In this week’s essay, John discusses an onboarding memo for his assistant Laura, and recounts his early days living and working in New York City.    Notebook Entries: Notebook 75 Onboard memo for Laura Notebook 3, page 44. May 1991 June 17 start job. Good stuff Notebook 3, page 46. May 1991 Tips on buying renting in NYC Ask about broker 20s and 30s East side. Murry Hill Live on no major avenue Interest bearing account for security deposit Medeco locks Notebook 4, page 15 Scared standing on 34th and Broadway $6 cab fare Notebook 4, page 42 Getting lost in the village References: The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes by Clifton Fadiman  Medeco Locks “Here is New York” by E.B. White “Silly Job Interview” - Monty Python  John Cleese on Creativity in Management Herbie Hancock: Miles Davis’ Essential Lesson On Mistakes Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com   Host John Dickerson

In this week’s essay, John discusses the art of attention and how to develop the skill of slow-looking.   Notebook Entries: Notebook 75, page 8. September 2021 1016   Notebook 1, page 54. June 1990 -   Magna carta 1215 at Salisbury -   Girls skipping -   The Haunch of Venison -   Chris   References: Georgia O’Keeffe Museum A Little History of the World by E.H Gombrich Artist Jeff Koons “The Art of Divination: D.H. Lawrence on the Power of Pure Attention” by Maria Popova for The Marginalian “Gabfest Reads: A Woman’s Life in Museum Wall Labels” for Political Gabfest  One Woman Show by Christine Coulson “Grammy-winning artist Jason Isbell talks about the craft of songwriting and his latest music” for CBS News A Journey Around My Room by Xavier De Maistre “Just think: The Challenges of the Disengaged Mind” by Timothy Wilson, et.al for Science “Our Rodent Selfies, Ourselves” by Emily Anthes for the New York Times One Man’s Meat by E.B. White   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com   Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.   Host John Dickerson

In this week’s essay, John dives deep into the loss of his beloved dog, George, the essayist’s dilemma, the comfort of quiet mornings, and more.   Notebook Entries: Notebook 75, page 5. September 5, 2021 I go to the morning alone.   Notebook 75, page 6. September 6, 2021 Phantom nails on the stairs     References: “Every Dog Is a Rescue Dog” by John Dickerson for The Atlantic “Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution of human-dog bonds” by Miho Nagasawa et.al for Science Haikus by Jennifer Gurney “Which Pet Will Make You Happiest?” by Arthur C. Brooks for The Atlantic “The Family Dog Is in Sync With Your Kids” by Gretchen Reynolds for The New York Times   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com    Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen. Host John Dickerson

In this week’s essay, John remembers dropping his son off at college, and trying to hold onto moments and feelings while you can.    Notebook Entries: Notebook 75, page 6. September 2021: They chose you.   Notebook 15, page 4. April 2004: Sitting with Brice by waterfall. Throwing rocks in stream. Loading sand from dump truck and loader and back again.   References: What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith Songwriter Nick Cave Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com    Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.   Host John Dickerson

In this week’s essay, John Dickerson looks back on a Sunday morning in 2021, and ruminates on the empty spaces left behind by the people that once filled our lives.    Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen. Notebook Entries: Notebook 75, page 6. September 5, 2021: “Oh my god. We dropped our son at college and our dog is dead.” – Anne.   References: “Sunday Morning Coming Down” by Johnny Cash “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot “When Someone You Love is Upset, Ask This One Question” by Jancee Dunn for the New York Times “A Case of ‘Sunday Neurosis’” by Jena McGregor for the Washington Post “Waking Early Sunday Morning” by Robert Lowell Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything is Changing by Brad Stulberg Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed “Alabama Pines” by Jason Isbell    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.   Host John Dickerson

Political Gabfest host John Dickerson has been a journalist for more than three decades, reporting about presidential campaigns, political scandals, the evolving state of our democracy. Along the way, he’s also been recording his observations in notebooks he has carried in his back pocket. On the Navel Gazing podcast, John Dickerson invites you to join him in figuring out what these thirty years of notebooks mean: sorting out what makes a life --or a day in a life— noteworthy. Listen to Navel Gazing every week, starting April 6th, wherever you get your podcasts.