Cal Newport has a new book out titled Digital Minimalism. This book follows up on his previous book titled Deep Work. Both explore the concept that he calls “deep work” that is often referred to as “monotasking” by researchers and scholars. If you’re unfamiliar with Newport’s work, he’s a computer science professor at Georgetown and a “study hacks” expert with several terrific books to his credit.
There’s a great interview with Newport in a recent New York Times article by the NY Times Smarter Living columnist Tim Herrera. The interview gives a good summary of Newport’s concept of how to best focus in the digital age when we’re constantly bombarded and distracted by digital clutter in our lives. Well worth checking out the interview.
Intense focus is often the key difference between achieving success and accepting failure when working on complex tasks, learning challenging information, and learning or improving new skills. I can’t say enough about the importance of finding focusing strategies that work successfully for you. I’ve got many focusing strategies in these blog posts, and please send me your favorites.
