Every day, distractions, interruptions, and urgent (but relatively unimportant) demands on our time attention pull us toward a state of shallow, near-sighted, and frenetic busyness. If we don’t actively create space and time to think deeply and focus on work that is truly important, the likely outcome is that we will sink into (and remain in) this state of shallowness by default.

In the first half of book, Cal Newport argues that the ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. Mastering the skill of going deep work and making it the core of your working life can help you succeed because it creates new value, improves your skill, and is hard to replicate.  In the second  half, he shows you exactly how to do this.

This is an excellent read for anyone who wants their work to be meaningful, and a must for anyone who is considering graduate school, starting a company, or getting serious about writing/designing/building/creating truly useful and important work.

Are you in a toxic relationship with a terrible partner? Is that partner your phone?

I read this book as part of my ongoing effort to do meaningful work, build deep relationships, learn to be generous, and cultivate peace and balance in my life. If you want any of these things for yourself OR if you just feel icky about the way your phone makes you act, think, or feel, give this a read.

It turns out, most of us are repulsed by one thing more than almost any other… boredom. We will do almost anything to avoid the discomfort that comes with having nothing to occupy our attention. We fill every empty moment with distraction that our phones so readily provide. In this provocative book, Mark Hawkins suggests that avoiding boredom prevents introspection, finding meaning in our lives, creativity, and even gets in the way of considering the ethics of our behavior.

Let’s just round up to 600 million results to my Google search for “find your passion”.

A popular topic, to be sure, but there is growing evidence that trying to “find your passion” is, at best, unhelpful life advice, and at worst utter bullshit. (I believe pretty strongly it’s the latter).

This is not to say that passion is bullshit. It is not. True passion for what you do (and why you do it) is amazing and something we should all want in our lives. It’s just that “discovering” it, in my view, is impossible. Passion must be developed (through your development as a person).  Absent that development, passion is just infatuation.

I’ve suggested this before… and this is just another great article articulating why searching for your passion is just stupid… and what you should do instead.