Be bored alone for one full afternoon. Whatever you start doing when nobody’s entertaining you is a clue to who you are.

A full afternoon with nothing scheduled moves through stages, and the useful part sits on the far side of the restlessness. First comes reaching for something, then irritation, then eventually you start doing something with no obvious reason behind it. That last thing is a genuine signal, since nothing external produced it.

Block an afternoon and keep it free, with the phone out of reach rather than face down. Let the boredom run its course instead of rescuing yourself at the twenty minute mark. Write down what you ended up doing, because that is the part worth having.