Preparing for the First Digital Minimalist Cohort

An Amazing Turnout!

👋 Hey friends,
As of today, there are 384 people so frustrated with the attention economy that they’ve committed to our 30-day digital declutter. That is incredible.

I promise to make this as useful and effective for you as I can.

This first cohort will be a little scrappy and experimental—but the bones are good. I’ve spent years studying this topic, testing these ideas on myself (and a few brave friends), and diving into the science of behavioural change: how we form habits, and how we unlearn them.

I’m pouring everything I know into this.

There are a few things I want you to know before we begin. It’s worth it. And it’s hard.

I can’t describe the relief of waking up to journal instead of scroll. The quiet calm of eating lunch without searching for the perfect YouTube video. The little freedom that comes from leaving your phone behind on a walk.

But it is hard. Hard to start, and harder to keep going.

Just last night, I meant to play guitar while my girlfriend caught up on work. I’m a little rusty, so I looked up some chords. When I opened my laptop (no browser on my phone), my email app auto-launched. An hour later, my inbox was spotless—and my guitar untouched.

Five years into this, with all my blockers and principles, I’m still just as susceptible.

But that’s the point. I found another trigger, and now I’ll print my chord sheets ahead of time. One fewer routes for the attention economy to get me.

That’s how it goes: an iterative process of small experiments and honest reflection. And it’s worthwhile—because without that effort, I’d still be telling myself I don’t have time for the guitar, or reading, or exercising … I’d be missing out on so many of the things I value now.

Over the next 30 days, you’ll slip up. You’ll get tired. You’ll scroll. That’s okay. Every attempt rewires a little more of your attention toward what truly matters. You’ll start to feel calmer, more at ease in silence. And once in a while, you’ll glance at your phone and think: there’s nothing there I really care about.

That’s a big win!

So, with that little ramble out of the way, let’s talk about what the next 30 days will look like starting from Thursday October 16th 4pm ET when we launch during my live stream.

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Launch & Planning

Launch Date: Thursday, October 16th — 4:00 PM ET

We’ll kick off during my usual Thursday livestream. That first stream is about orientation and connection—getting acquainted, reviewing The 30-Day Declutter Protocol, and (if you’d like) finding a declutter buddy.

You can absolutely do this solo, but having an accountability partner dramatically improves your odds of success—and, frankly, makes it a lot more fun. Accountability works because it adds a subtle but powerful layer of social motivation: you’re no longer just letting yourself down if you drift back into old habits.

From Thursday to the following Monday, we’ll be in the Analyze and Plan phase. This part may not feel dramatic, but it’s the foundation of everything that follows. Taking this step seriously is the single biggest predictor of whether you’ll succeed.

There are three things to do before Monday:

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1. List Your Digital Vices

Make a full, ruthless inventory of where your time and attention go. Don’t stop at the obvious culprits—Instagram, YouTube, TikTok. Think about every place your brain sneaks off to when it’s bored or anxious: Email, podcasts, music to drown out your thoughts - not for actual listening, even the news.

I recommend keeping a log. Every time you notice that you used your phone, laptop, smart TV, write down what you were doing and feeling before, and what you did on the device.

When I first deleted Instagram and Reddit, I thought I was free. Then I found myself scrolling Safari. I blocked Safari… and started scrolling Letterboxd. When I removed that, I scrolled Goodreads. Then my inbox.

Our brains are astonishingly good at preserving habits of distraction. So list everything that even slightly resembles a scroll. The more honest you are here, the better your plan will be.

It’s okay to slip up though. Just like me with my email yesterday. You’ll get snagged on some attention economy hook. The important part is that when you do, you add new blockers and create new plans so you won’t get caught by that same trigger.

NOTE: if you require a specific technology for work or it’s absolutely essential for your personal life, it’s okay if that needs to be left out of this 30 day declutter. You can however setup standard operating procedures that fit the setting. For example, if your work email is a big problem consider an attention filter (these are a standard feature in iOS) that blocks work email after work hours.

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2. Mental Contrasting: Imagine Two Worlds

This technique, drawn from behavioral psychology, asks you to imagine two distinct futures:

• World A: You continue as you are—same apps, same patterns. Where does your attention go? How do you feel day to day? What opportunities are slipping past while you scroll?

• World B: You successfully complete the 30-day declutter. What does a quiet morning look like? How do you spend your reclaimed time? What parts of yourself start to re-emerge?

Write both visions out vividly. Then hold them side by side. The emotional contrast between those two worlds is what gives motivation its staying power.

I recommend reflecting deeply on your values here. What do you care about? How is that going to be impacted?

For me, the realization that I got snippy with my girlfriend when I was overstimulated from scrolling hit hard. I wasn’t cruel or explosive — just sharper than I meant to be, a little impatient, a little less kind. But when I looked honestly at those moments, I could see their trajectory. I could imagine the compounding effect of that small edge — how, over time, it could turn me into a subtle drain on the person I love most.

That thought hurt. I don’t want to be a source of weight in her life; I want to be someone who lifts her up.

And that’s when this became bigger than myself or my productivity. In World A, I saw a distracted, irritable boyfriend. In World B, I saw myself eager to hear her stories, listening fully, laughing with her. That contrast made the choice painfully clear. I’d do anything to live in World B.

Find your version of that contrast—the one that hits you in the gut. You’re not just decluttering your apps; you’re choosing the kind of person you want to be in the small, ordinary moments of your life.

Believe me: it’s worth the effort.

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3. ⚙️ Identify Triggers & Create Meaningful Alternatives

Habits don’t disappear—they get replaced. The key is to swap your trigger → habit → reward loops for ones that serve you better.

Start by noticing your triggers: those moments you reach for your phone or open a new tab without thinking. Is it boredom? Stress? The lull between tasks? The awkward silence at a party?

The most common triggers are:

• Boredom (“I don’t know what to do with my time“)

• Fatigue (“I feel too tired to do anything I actually want to do so I’ll scroll.“)

• Social discomfort and Anxiety (“I want to escape this situation and feeling“)

Once you’ve spotted them, the goal isn’t to feel guilty—it’s to design a new pattern around them.

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Step 1: Write a detailed story of one trigger moment

Pick a situation where you often slip. Then, describe it in vivid, cinematic detail—what time of day it is, what you’re feeling, what you’re doing. Don’t summarize it—replay it.

Example:

It’s 10:45 p.m. I’ve brushed my teeth and crawled into bed. The room is dim and quiet. My brain feels restless—too wired to sleep, too tired to read. My phone sits face-down on the nightstand. I think, I’ll just check one thing. My hand reaches out before I’ve even decided. Within minutes, I’m scrolling YouTube Shorts. My eyes blur. Half an hour vanishes. I feel irritated with myself and not at all rested.

Now, rewrite that same scene—but this time, include the new intervention.

It’s 10:45 p.m. The room is quiet. My brain’s buzzing. I glance at my nightstand looking for my phone, but remember I’ve left it charging in the kitchen. Instead, I grab my book, which I’ve placed where my phone usually rests on the nightstand. I read for 15 minutes and start to feel drowsy. I close the book, turn off the light, and let the silence settle.

You can do this with any scenario—browsing at breakfast, mindlessly tab-switching during class, doomscrolling between meetings. The key is to make the new version feel as real as the old one.

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Step 2: Boil it down to a simple implementation intention

Once you’ve imagined the story vividly, distill it into a short “if-then” plan:

• If I get in bed and feel the urge to check my phone, then I’ll pick up my nightstand book instead and read for 15 minutes.

• If I finish a work session and want to open YouTube, then I’ll step outside for a breath of air.

• If I feel awkward in a group, then I’ll introduce myself to someone friendly and ask them what they do for fun instead of checking my messages.

The vivid story encodes the plan in your memory; the short phrase makes it usable in the moment. Together, they create a mental cue strong enough to interrupt the old loop.

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Step 3: Practice catching yourself with curiosity

You won’t always catch the trigger in time, and that’s fine. When you notice you’ve slipped, pause and mentally replay the story you wish had happened. This strengthens the new loop for next time.

Every time you do this, you’re rewiring a little more of your automatic behavior. Over days and weeks, these tiny imaginative rehearsals accumulate into real, lived change.

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👋 Wrapping Up

That’s all you’ve gotta do before Monday. When Monday hits, that’s the first official day of your 30 day Digital Declutter. We’ll talk more on Thursday during the stream and I’ll take questions then as well.

Good luck! I think this is going to be really really good!

Cheers,
Nathan Laundry