I was going to say, your method sounds exactly like what Newport describes as journalistic deep work -- Walter Isaacson is the example Newport gives, and no one can accuse him of not having a great body of work. If you can work that way, then great. I’m similar, and I think it’s probably unrealistic to expect most people to be able to have uninterrupted multi-hour blocks of time. As one person said on Twitter, Cal’s advice is great if your aim is to be a well-respected tenured professor.
Love it. So much of business/tech/entrepreneur Twitter leaves out the part where very few of them learned by reading Twitter etc. they learned by doing. This is social media porn for bros. Become Instagram fit in the gym doing shit, not by consuming more fitness influencer content. I think people are trying to help but it’s maybe not the most effective teaching like you are doing here: go do shit and figure out what works for you.
Looks to me like a full self-justification of something you can’t do. Like the fox with the grapes.
I got similar justifications when I explain you cannot fully concentrate on the work by listening to music while working. You are more comfortable but not more concentrated.
You should ask what those people of Daily Rituals achieved with their strict routines and what are you achieving with your method. At the end, that’s the only thing that counts
Re: Deep Work and misreading it, this is an interesting phenomenon with a lot of teaching. The mind tends to take away one oversimplified idea rather than the numerous fragmented points and disclaimers from a body of work - I don't think it's a failure on the part of a reader, but a broader failure to understand how people learn and absorb information.
Other examples are 1) People thinking the point of the 4 Hour Work Week is to literally only work 4 Hours a Week and 2) Some people get turned off by Naval's "How To Get Rich" Tweetstorm/Podcast Series because of the title, when there are a lot of powerful ideas in there.
It's why prescription and 'how to' doesn't work as well as people expect it to, whereas your writing style of reflecting on your own experience and encouraging others to get theirs is way more effective.
> Don’t worry about finding the perfect system. It doesn’t exist. Start walking, experiment occasionally, and reinforce the paths that work for you.
Most people want a map to go from A to B, but what they really need is a compass. There is no one-size fits all approach. Even at a personal level, what worked for you five years ago might not work today (definitely true if you had kids in the meantime).
Look at other people's maps, but don't copy them. Try to extrapolate the underlying principles and ideas. Then, go out and explore, so you can draw your own map.
This really resonates with me. In part, because I left Dubai to come back to my garden path in India. Dubai was a great experience, while it lasted. Next time you visit do go to Al Ain-an oasis of peace just 140 Km away.
I was going to say, your method sounds exactly like what Newport describes as journalistic deep work -- Walter Isaacson is the example Newport gives, and no one can accuse him of not having a great body of work. If you can work that way, then great. I’m similar, and I think it’s probably unrealistic to expect most people to be able to have uninterrupted multi-hour blocks of time. As one person said on Twitter, Cal’s advice is great if your aim is to be a well-respected tenured professor.
Love it. So much of business/tech/entrepreneur Twitter leaves out the part where very few of them learned by reading Twitter etc. they learned by doing. This is social media porn for bros. Become Instagram fit in the gym doing shit, not by consuming more fitness influencer content. I think people are trying to help but it’s maybe not the most effective teaching like you are doing here: go do shit and figure out what works for you.
Looks to me like a full self-justification of something you can’t do. Like the fox with the grapes.
I got similar justifications when I explain you cannot fully concentrate on the work by listening to music while working. You are more comfortable but not more concentrated.
You should ask what those people of Daily Rituals achieved with their strict routines and what are you achieving with your method. At the end, that’s the only thing that counts
Re: Deep Work and misreading it, this is an interesting phenomenon with a lot of teaching. The mind tends to take away one oversimplified idea rather than the numerous fragmented points and disclaimers from a body of work - I don't think it's a failure on the part of a reader, but a broader failure to understand how people learn and absorb information.
Other examples are 1) People thinking the point of the 4 Hour Work Week is to literally only work 4 Hours a Week and 2) Some people get turned off by Naval's "How To Get Rich" Tweetstorm/Podcast Series because of the title, when there are a lot of powerful ideas in there.
It's why prescription and 'how to' doesn't work as well as people expect it to, whereas your writing style of reflecting on your own experience and encouraging others to get theirs is way more effective.
> Don’t worry about finding the perfect system. It doesn’t exist. Start walking, experiment occasionally, and reinforce the paths that work for you.
Most people want a map to go from A to B, but what they really need is a compass. There is no one-size fits all approach. Even at a personal level, what worked for you five years ago might not work today (definitely true if you had kids in the meantime).
Look at other people's maps, but don't copy them. Try to extrapolate the underlying principles and ideas. Then, go out and explore, so you can draw your own map.
This really resonates with me. In part, because I left Dubai to come back to my garden path in India. Dubai was a great experience, while it lasted. Next time you visit do go to Al Ain-an oasis of peace just 140 Km away.