By contrast, if you’re trying to learn a complex new skill (say, SQL database management) in a state of low concentration (perhaps you also have your Facebook feed open), you’re firing too many circui...
But this brings me back to my nagging question. I had notebooks filled with potential missions, yet I had resisted devoting myself to any one in particular. And I’m not alone in this reluctance to act...
And it seemed at that moment that I could hear an inner voice saying to me, Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth.
A foundational theme in digital minimalism is that new technology, when used with care and intention, creates a better life than either Luddism or mindless adoption.
Fully embrace Rogowski's closing advice: Leave good evidence of yourself. Do good work....Use skills to produce valuable things in the physical world.
Using money as a neutral indicator of value—a way of determining whether or not you have enough career capital to succeed with a pursuit. I called this the law of financial viability, and concluded th...
The message at the core of this book: Working right trumps finding the right work—it’s a simple idea, but it’s also incredibly subversive, as it overturns decades of folk career advice all focused on...
The journalist philosophy. This name is a nod to the fact that journalists, like Walter Isaacson, are trained to shift into a writing mode on a moment’s notice, as is required by the deadline-driven n...
The importance of ability. The things that make a great job great, I discovered, are rare and valuable. If you want them in your working life, you need something rare and valuable to offer in return....
Tactic that works well for me is to be clear in my refusal but ambiguous in my explanation for the refusal. The key is to avoid providing enough specificity about the excuse that the requester has the...
Rhythmic philosophy. This philosophy argues that the easiest way to consistently start deep work sessions is to transform them into a simple regular habit. The goal, in other words, is to generate a r...
Monastic philosophy of deep work scheduling. This philosophy attempts to maximize deep efforts by eliminating or radically minimizing shallow obligations.
If the subject dedicates enough time to such endeavors to reach maximum cognitive intensity—the state in which real breakthroughs occur. This is why the minimum unit of time for deep work in this phil...
For the first time in human history solitude is starting to fade away altogether.
Fighting desires—over time these distractions drained their finite pool of willpower until they could no longer resist. The same will happen to you, regardless of your intentions—unless, that is, you’...
Differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain.
Cultivating concentration so intense that there is no attention left over to think about anything irrelevant, or to worry about problems.)
Continuous and harsh feedback he received accelerated the growth of his ability.
Constantly sending and receiving e-mail messages like human network routers, with frequent breaks for quick hits of distraction.
Attention restoration theory (ART), which claims that spending time in nature can improve your ability to concentrate.