Tag: Cal Newport
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How I try to be productive (my productivity system)
Being productive is not easy these days precisely because it’s easy to misunderstand what productivity really is. When you hear the word “productivity” might just think of getting a bunch of stuff done really fast (efficiency). You might think of shooting off and replying to emails. But I think a focus on efficiency or just […]
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Pursuing a Deeper Life
It’s easy to skim along the surface of life these days, bouncing from distraction to distraction. What I want in life is depth. I want to have a life that counts. Not “successful,” but one that counts for eternity. To that end, I’ve been a bit of quest recently for how to live a deeper […]
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Cyborg Nation
This is my third installment in reflecting on our cultural moment and how we can begin responding as the church. In the first part I talked about secularism, and in the second part, I talked about what it means to be a post-Christian. Today, I want to talk about the third profound shift we’ve seen […]
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A World Without Email | The Specialization Principle
How do we get out of the mess that email has made? Cal Newport, in his book A World Without Email, lays out a few principles that could help individuals and organizations get out of this mess we’ve made. First, Newport argues that organizations must prioritize their worker’s attention. Knowledge work require great depth of […]
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A World Without Email | The Protocol Principle
Email is terrible. But Cal Newport has answers for the problem of email: the attention capital principle and the process principle. In the next chapter, Newport lays out the next principle: the protocol principle. The protocol principle seeks to “optimize when and how coordination occurs in the workplace” (187). In other words, what are the […]
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A World Without Email | The Process Principle
Newport opens his book examining the problems that email has brought upon the world of knowledge work. He then attempts to solve these problems by laying out a few principles. He first argues that organizations should focus on focus, guarding their employee’s attention. Next, Newport focuses on the “process principle.” Knowledge work can be more […]
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A World Without Email | The Attention Capital Principle
After exploring the problems with email, Cal Newport dives into different ways to solve them with several principles. The first principle is the “attention capital principe.” Newport essentially argues that the most valuable asset knowledge workers have is their brains. Since the human mind is what produces value in knowledge work, it needs to be […]
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A World Without Email | The Problem of Email
Cal Newport’s book A World Without Email explores the problems that email has brought upon the world of knowledge and how to counteract them. While the book puts “email” in the title, the bigger problem is what Newports calls the “hyperactive hive-mind”: having your mind bound back and forth between various messages and therefore constantly […]
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The Power of Purpose
What are you doing with your life? Just about everyone wants a meaningful life, even though it can feel meaningless, pointless, and absurd at times. Humanity’s desire for meaning reveals the power of purpose. Once you know why you’re on this speck of dust hurtling through the universe, your life will take off in a […]
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Pastor as Monk (Sort of)
Cal Newport has a solid older blog post on the concept of “Monk Mode Mornings.” Essentially, going monk mode in the morning means spending the morning doing deep work and scheduling any other meetings/people time in the afternoons. Applying the monk mode to pastors would mean focusing on your sermon prep and writing during the […]