Cal Newport

passion work living what how

“Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.”

― Cal Newport

produce thrive skill talent

“If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.”

― Cal Newport

clarity matter not

“Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.”

― Cal Newport

choose focus ignore quality life

“what we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore—plays in defining the quality of our life.”

― Cal Newport

learn thrive

“If you can’t learn, you can’t thrive.”

― Cal Newport

human best immeresed challenging

“Human beings, it seems, are at their best when immersed deeply in something challenging.”

― Cal Newport

mental clutter resource deep thinking

“Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking.”

― Cal Newport

start small immediately

“Start small and start immediately.”

― Cal Newport

digital mimimalism focus online

“Digital Minimalism:

A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.”

― Cal Newport

solitude deprivation zero time thoughts

“Solitude Deprivation:

A state in which you spend close to zero time alone with your own thoughts and free from input from other minds.”

― Cal Newport

digital mimimalism reject innovation engage

“Digital minimalism definitively does not reject the innovations of the internet age, but instead rejects the way so many people currently engage with these tools.”

― Cal Newport

banish solitude

“It’s now possible to completely banish solitude from your life. Thoreau and Storr worried about people enjoying less solitude. We must now wonder if people might forget this state of being altogether.”

― Cal Newport

outsource autonomy attention economy conglomerate

“Outsourcing your autonomy to an attention economy conglomerate—as you do when you mindlessly sign up for whatever new hot service emerges from the Silicon Valley venture capitalist class—is the opposite of freedom, and will likely degrade your individuality.”

― Cal Newport

phones obligation friendship tethered

“Phones have become woven into a fraught sense of obligation in friendship. … Being a friend means being “on call”—tethered to your phone, ready to be attentive, online.”

― Cal Newport