Deep-Work

When are you going to work on your goals? Rather than wondering where the time goes, be proactive and make a plan for your calendar with time blocking.

James Clear and Cal Newport discuss the symbiotic relationship their prior work has in terms of fostering focus.

Daily Gleanings to help get you started with difficult focused work.

Daily Gleanings from Freedom about avoiding procrastination and Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s thoughts on how to foster focused work as a busy academic.

Doist provides a “complete guide to deep work.” The essay is mainly geared toward summarizing the advice of Cal Newport’s Deep Work with some additional insertions from Digital Minimalism. Both books are definitely worth reading. But Doist’s essay is a thorough crash course on the basics. ...

TopTracker provides a straight-forward, free time tracking utility that works on both Windows and OS X.

Valerie Bisharat shares some helpful reflections on “how to avoid focus-stealing traps.”

The Dropbox blog has a short essay on the downsides of trying to multitask. Rather than multitasking, deep and singular focus is just what the doctor ordered, but in our hyper-connected world, it isn’t always easy…. You could chuck all your gadgets and move to the woods, but luckily you don’t need to get that drastic. Experts say you can begin to retrain your brain and take advantage of deep focus by concentrating on one thing at a time, managing your use of technology, and reframing the “instant-response” expectations of your colleagues—and yourself. ...

Michael Hyatt has a helpful interview with Cal Newport, author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Grand Central, 2016). According to Newport, Focus is now the lifeblood of this economy. Why? Because focus is rare and distraction abundant. As Hyatt comments, ...