“Jordan had a name for the worries about what his friends are doing with their lives and whether his accomplishments compare favorably: “the cloud of external distractions.” — Cal Newport Copy Share Image
“Open offices, for example, might create more opportunities for collaboration,* but they do so at the cost of “massive distraction,” to quote the results of experiments conducted for a British TV special titled The Secret Life of Office Buildings. “If… — Cal Newport Copy Share Image
“the importance of ability. The things that make a great job great, I discovered, are rare and valuable. If you want them in your… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“many software companies now deploy the Scrum project management methodology, which replaces a lot of this ad hoc messaging with regular, highly structured, and… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“when paying more than $1,000 a day to write the chapter in a suite of an old hotel down the street from a Hogwarts-style… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“When deciding whether to follow an appealing pursuit that will introduce more control into your work life, seek evidence of whether people are willing… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“Let your mind become a lens, thanks to the converging rays of attention; let your soul be all intent on whatever it is that… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“study by Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow. In this study, a group of management consultants were asked to disconnect for a full day… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“if it’s rare and valuable, it’s not easy to get. This insight brought me into the world of performance science, where I encountered the… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“Here’s the routine: Once a week I require myself to summarize in my “bible” a paper I think might be relevant to my research.… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“the journalist philosophy. This name is a nod to the fact that journalists, like Walter Isaacson, are trained to shift into a writing mode… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“Not long into his 2010 TED talk on creativity and leadership, Derek Sivers plays a video clip of a crowd at an outdoor concert.… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“Kirk’s path to American Treasures was incremental. He didn’t decide out of nowhere that he wanted to host a television show and then work… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“If you spend too much time focusing on whether or not you’ve found your true calling, the question will be rendered moot when you… — Cal Newport Copy Share
“Their plans were circumspect and small-time. They weren’t dreaming of taking over the world.” — Cal Newport Copy Share
“This chain method (as some now call it) soon became a hit among writers and fitness enthusiasts—communities that thrive on the ability to do… — Cal Newport Copy Share
