Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Staying Focused and On Task in a World of Distractions

"One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results." 
~From the book description at Amazon.com

What makes us follow links to the articles we read? Sometimes it is curiosity. Sometimes there's a glimmer of something that entices because it resonates with something deeper within us. It may be affirming convictions or resolving an internal conflict. A recent allari blog post by Ravi Madhaven did all these things for me. The blog reviews the book Deep Work by Cal Newport.

Deep Work appears to be a book about what it takes to have a successful career, but the princples of focus and eliminating distractions apply to other areas of life as well. Whether you're writing poetry or reading a story, enjoying the company of a friend or doing research on an important project, all of these experiences become more meaningful when they are uninterrupted by myriad distractions.

After reading the article I skipped over to reviews at Amazon, where I found this description of the book:

In DEEP WORK, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill.

There's a lot to be gleaned here, especially if your into personal internal development.and performance. Here's the article at allari.

Here's a closing takeaway, from Ecclesiastes: "The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but time and chance happen to them all."

No matter what happens on the outside, it's what we're becoming on the inside that counts. Be beautiful. Be good. Be kind. And have a great day.


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