This is the first lesson in a three-part series from Cal Newport called Focus Week. At the end of the week, we’ll be taking a select group of students through the first session of our new course, Life of Focus. I’ll let Cal take it from here… I opened my book Digital Minimalism with an excerpt from an […]

Cal Newport, my friend, frequent collaborator and best-selling author, has written the following post. During this week, I’ll be sharing three more lessons written by Cal, in anticipation of our new course together. I’ll let Cal explain more… Last fall, Scott Young and his team flew down to Washington D.C., to join me in a […]

Today is my birthday. Continuing a tradition I’ve had on this blog since I was 18, I use this opportunity to write about myself. If you’re a new reader, or otherwise uninterested in my self-indulgence, feel free to skip it and I’ll have more useful writing next week. Side note: Cal Newport and I are […]

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to get better at things. I agree with Aristotle that excellence itself, rather than money or status, is the aim worth pursuing. Recently, I’ve been thinking that the concept of excellence itself hides a subtle distinction. That is, there are different ways something can be considered […]