Cal Newport: On Avoiding the 'Like' Button.

Note: This article is the third in a multi-part series that covers Cal Newport’s new book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. The first two articles can be found here and here, covering in greater detail the four key areas of focus according to Newport: 1) Spend Time Alone, 2) Don’t Click Like, 3) Reclaim Leisure and 4) Join the Attention Resistance. Today I’ll be focusing on the concept of reclaiming leisure.

Newport’s thesis on digital minimalism:

Our current relationship with the technologies of our hyper-connected world is unsustainable and is leading us closer to the quiet desperation that Thoreau observed so many years ago. But as Thoreau reminds us, ‘the sun rose clear’ and we still have the ability to change this state of affairs. To do so, however, we cannot passively allow the wild tangle of tools, entertainments, and distractions provided by the internet age to dictate how we spend our time or how we feel. We must indeed take steps to extract the good from these technologies while sidestepping what’s bad. We require a philosophy that puts our aspirations and values once again in charge of our daily experience, all the while dethroning primal whims and the business models of Silicon Valley from their current dominance of this role; a philosophy that accepts new technologies, but not if the price is the dehumanization Andrew Sullivan warned us about; a philosophy that prioritizes long-term meaning over short-term satisfaction. A philosophy, in other words, like digital minimalism.

The idea of “don’t click like” is a byproduct of how the technology has been engineered to not only grab our attention, but also tailor the content in a way that is supposed to benefit us, but in reality is designed to create addictive patterns that keep us checking the various social media apps over and over. A prime example of how social media is engineered to cause addictive patterns is the ‘like’ button.

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Cal Newport: On Reclaiming Leisure

Note: This article is the second in a multiple part series that covers Cal Newport’s new book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. The first article can be found here and covers in greater detail the four key areas of focus to achieve Digital Minimalism, as outlined by Newport. The four key areas are: 1) Spend Time Alone, 2) Don’t Click Like, 3) Reclaim Leisure and 4) Join the Attention Resistance. Today I’ll be focusing on the concept of reclaiming leisure.

Newport’s thesis on digital minimalism:

Our current relationship with the technologies of our hyper-connected world is unsustainable and is leading us closer to the quiet desperation that Thoreau observed so many years ago. But as Thoreau reminds us, ‘the sun rose clear’ and we still have the ability to change this state of affairs. To do so, however, we cannot passively allow the wild tangle of tools, entertainments, and distractions provided by the internet age to dictate how we spend our time or how we feel. We must indeed take steps to extract the good from these technologies while sidestepping what’s bad. We require a philosophy that puts our aspirations and values once again in charge of our daily experience, all the while dethroning primal whims and the business models of Silicon Valley from their current dominance of this role; a philosophy that accepts new technologies, but not if the price is the dehumanization Andrew Sullivan warned us about; a philosophy that prioritizes long-term meaning over short-term satisfaction. A philosophy, in other words, like digital minimalism.

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The Importance of Spending Time Away from The Digital World

I touched on the Cal Newport’s book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World last week in a post on willpower, and felt his important work warrants a deeper overview, so much in fact that I’m going to divide it into multiple articles. Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of a number of important books including Deep Work, So Good They Can’t Ignore You and How to Become a Straight-A Student .

Newport’s thesis on digital minimalism:

Our current relationship with the technologies of our hyper-connected world is unsustainable and is leading us closer to the quiet desperation that Thoreau observed so many years ago. But as Thoreau reminds us, ‘the sun rose clear’ and we still have the ability to change this state of affairs. To do so, however, we cannot passively allow the wild tangle of tools, entertainments, and distractions provided by the internet age to dictate how we spend our time or how we feel. We must indeed take steps to extract the good from these technologies while sidestepping what’s bad. We require a philosophy that puts our aspirations and values once again in charge of our daily experience, all the while dethroning primal whims and the business models of Silicon Valley from their current dominance of this role; a philosophy that accepts new technologies, but not if the price is the dehumanization Andrew Sullivan warned us about; a philosophy that prioritizes long-term meaning over short-term satisfaction. A philosophy, in other words, like digital minimalism.

The era of the smartphone is incredibly fascinating. For all the positives these devices have brought to society, so many of us struggle with the nagging feeling that for all the good they provide, there’s a downside. Newport’s use of the famous Henry David Thoreau term, “quiet desperation”, is very fitting. Smartphones and social media apps, with the promise of optimizing our life and making us more connected often have the opposite effect.

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Plato and Gene Tunney: Cultivating the Mind and Exercising the Intellect

Of the great heavyweight fighters in history Gene Tunney barely gets a mention. Fighting as a light heavyweight for much of his career, Tunney won the title late in his career only defended his belt twice, beating Jack Dempsey a second time and then capping his career with a victory over Tom Heeney. Tunney would lose only once in his career.

Known as the “Fighting Marine” for his non-combat service during The First World War, Tunney was a unique fighter, known for his defensive style and boxing skills inside the ring and for his cerebral nature and his well-rounded intellect outside of the ring. As Paul Beston noted in The Boxing Kings, Tunney’s love of serious literature and the reading of Shakespeare made him unique among heavyweight boxers but didn’t necessarily endear him to the 1920’s fight crowd.

Sportswriter Paul Gallico, best known for his famous short story The Snow Goose, who said of Tunney, “I think Tunney has hurt his own game with this cultural nonsense.”

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Why We Struggle With Willpower and What the Experts Tell Us We Can Do to Improve It

There’s a famous experiment, the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment. Young children were put in a room and a marshmallow was placed in front of them. They were told that if they were able to resist eating the marshmallow for 15 minutes they would get a second treat, which was also in their view. The researchers then left the room and observed them. The results were a classic test of willpower. Some children ate the marshmallows immediately. The majority were able to resist and wait the fifteen-minutes and get a second treat.

It was a great test of instant vs. delayed gratification. In follow up studies the researchers found unexpected correlations between the results of the test and the success of the children in later years. In 1988 the first follow-up study was conducted which showed that preschool children who delayed gratification longer in the test were described more than ten-years later by their parents as adolescents who were significantly more competent. Later experiments showed that the children who delayed gratification typically showed higher SAT scores.

I have no doubt that six-year-old me would have failed that test. There are times when adult me may not fare well on it. Willpower has always been a challenge for me in certain areas.

As Cal Newport says, “willpower is the forever struggle of the human soul.”

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The Hardest Part is Getting to the Starting Line

The 100-meter dash is the signature track and field event of the Olympics with the 100-meter world record holder earning the mythical title of the “World’s Fastest Human.” The current 100-meter world-record is 9.58 seconds set by Usain Bolt on August 16, 2009 in Berlin Germany. The retired Jamaican, considered the greatest sprinter of all-time, holds the world record in both the 100 and 200 meters, winning each event in three consecutive Olympics. It is an incredible accomplishment

In America, track and field is relegated to a niche sport, receiving scant attention unless it’s the every-four-year Olympic cycle. The majority of American sports fans see sprinters like Bolt for that brief ten-seconds of glory every four-years and then turn their attention back to the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball.

What the public sees is Usain Bolt’s athletic dominance over ten second sprint. What they don’t see is the hard work world class athletes like Bolt put in to remain elite. In a competition where fractions of a second can determine the winner, it’s the work the training the athletes put in on a daily basis, outside of the competition, that sets them apart.

The hardest part is getting to the starting line.

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Let Your Guard Down

Heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey was the biggest sports figure of the roaring twenties, arguably Boxing’s first superstar. Dempsey’s two late career losses to the “Fighting Marine” Gene Tunney, the second defeat via the controversial “long count” bout, drew over 100,000 fans in Philadelphia and Chicago respectively, attendance numbers unrivaled in boxing history.

 On July 21, 1927 Dempsey fought the heavily favored Jack Sharkey at Yankee Stadium in front of 82,000 fans. A crowd that size to see two heavyweight contenders battle is indicative of how much of a draw Dempsey was.

Here is the pivotal moment in the fight as described by Roger Kahn in his excellent book A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring ‘20s.

As described by Kahn:

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Let Your Kids be Bored

Let your kids be bored

 “I’m so bored.”

 It’s a common refrain you hear as a parent, when your child tells you that there is “nothing to do” and they are “SO bored.”

 My forty-something dad comeback?

 I’ll tell them to stop being boring and then follow it up by telling them that they don’t know real boredom. Trying growing up in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. You don’t know boredom until you find yourself on a cold January morning in rural Wisconsin with three tv stations (my childhood).

Our kids have the requisite video game consoles, books to read, traditional board games to play and, oh yeah, Pacific Ocean is a mile away. Yet, we still hear the refrain of how they are SO bored.

 You know what? It’s a good thing. You want them to be bored. According to Manoush Zamorodi, author of the book Bored and Brilliant, you want your kids to be bored and it’s good to be bored yourself.

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Do Your Job: Stoic Lessons from Belichick and McVay

Do your job.

Three simple words and one of my favorite quotes, via Bill Belichick. The quote is perfect in itself but also perfectly Belichickian in that it defines the culture that the Patriots coach has created. In the era of NFL free agency and the salary cap the Patriots dominance is remarkable. With the exception of QB Tom Brady the Patriots roster has turned over again and again yet they’re still making Super Bowl runs more than fifteen-years later.

Do your job.

I’m not a fan of the Pats but have a begrudging respect based on the success of the team. Any organization that achieves what the Patriots have during the Brady/Belichick era should command respect. My biggest takeaway from Belichick isn’t his remarkable ability to out scheme his opponents with unseen wrinkles, but his simple motto.

Do your job.

It’s not about the title you carry or your occupation. The idea of “doing your job” extends beyond what you do at work. It’s as simple as taking care of the tasks that need to be completed at home, being a good parent, or getting the oil changed in your car when it’s due. We all have “jobs” that we need to get done on a daily basis, many basic, others complex.

Doing your job is about taking pride in the simplicity of the completed task.

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It's OK to Change Your Opinion

I’ve written before in this space that I typically avoid watching the news, don’t get involved with politics and make a point to not get sucked into the pointless “empty vessel” debates of social media. I avoid the news and politics because the vast majority of it is negative and I see no point in constantly injecting negativity into my headspace. The act of debating politics on social media is a waste of time because you’re simply not going to change a complete stranger’s opinion. Someone inclined to spend an inordinate amount of time arguing politics on social media has no interest in understanding the argument of the opposing side.

All too often there’s an event that polarizes America. Inevitably, the opinion of those reacting to the event is broken down via their political affiliation. The rush to condemn happens, the opinion pieces are written, and depending on what side you fall on the narrative conveniently fits your worldview. In many cases, when the facts start to trickle out, they don’t fit the narrative, typically occupying the gray area in between. When this happens, some people change their mind, but for the majority of those occupying both ends of the right/left spectrum, no amount of evidence to the contrary will change their opinion. Twitter and Facebook turn into a giant echo chamber of confirmation bias. What results is massive wasted energy by people that probably have more pressing things to do then argue with complete strangers on social media.

It’s all a colossal waste of time.

It’s OK to change your opinion on something.

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Lessons From the Shipwreck of Simonides: Focus on Your Inner Resources, Not Your External Possessions

This past week I’ve been studying up on the origins of Stoicism, a subject I post often about. Ever since I came across the Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday I’ve worked to incorporate the practical daily wisdom of Stoicism into my life. Recently, while reading the wiki of Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, I learned that Zeno encountered Crates, the famous cynic philosopher who became his mentor, by chance. The story goes that Zeno, a wealthy merchant, survived a shipwreck while traveling from Phoenicia to Peiraeus, eventually ending up in Athens. There, while visiting a bookstore, he asked the owner where men like Socrates were to be found. At that moment, Crates happened to be walking by, and as they say, the rest was history.

Ironically I came across the Zeno shipwreck story within a few days of reading about another ancient shipwreck told in the Aesop fable, The Shipwreck of Simonides. While reading an essay on Stoicism by the author who writes under the pen name Quintus Curtius included in a collection titled Thirty Seven: Essays on Life, Wisdom and Masculinity, I was introduced to the fable. I’ve long been fascinated with how human beings passed down important knowledge about their societies and timeless wisdom on human nature and morality through oral traditions like Aesop’s fables. Much like the biblical stories, the fables are the compilation of oral traditions written down and published through various translations in hundred of languages. Like so many of us, I was introduced to Aesop’s fables through a collection of children’s books that were read to me as a child. The fables are now mostly known as children’s stories, but for centuries they existed as oral stories that passed on important life lessons.

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Emotions are Contagious: Pay Attention to How Your Moods Can Affect Others

About once a year someone in my family of five comes down with a cold and inevitably the entire family gets it, leading to a week of coughing, sniffles and less than optimal sleep and performance. It’s a fact of life, something we all families go through.

There’s another contagion that can run through a family, much more often if you let it: your moods. In fact, studies have shown that it’s as easy to catch a bad mood from someone as it is to catch their germs.

It’s human nature to not always be in a good mood. Life can be frustrating and things don’t always go our way. There are times when life downright sucks, but if you’re a parent, partner or boss you have to be mindful of how your mood can infect an entire room. I write from experience on this. It’s an area I’ve made massive strides in, but I’ve often been very bad at masking my mood. Minor things in my life, such as the performance of a favorite sports team or work related stress would impact my mood and inject negativity into the room.

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Recognizing Your Personal Blind Spots

Over the past couple of months my wife and I have been teaching our fifteen-year-old son to drive. Needless to say, learning to drive in Southern California is quite a bit different than rural Wisconsin where I learned. Sure, we dealt with ice and snow, but didn’t have to navigate six-lane freeways and cell phone distracted drivers.

Last month we decided to push it a little bit and moved on to night driving. While returning home after picking up some takeout in the adjoining town, my son changed lanes and didn’t see the truck in his blind spot. Thankfully an accident was avoided, but not without the requisite horn honking and gesturing from the other driver.

As I was looking back on the near accident it made me think more of the idea of a blind spot. As experienced drivers we reflexively check our blind spots every time we navigate busy freeways. It’s not something we consciously do, just part of the regular routine of driving that’s hardwired into our brain with practice. We all know that not checking our blind spot can lead to a potential disaster.

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The Strenuous Life and The River of Death: Why I love TR

My family and I just came off a long weekend in New York City, returning late Monday night. We wrapped up the vacation by spending the day at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side of Manhattan before a late flight out of Newark to LAX.

It was a long awaited visit for me and AMNH was a highlight for us. My children love the Night at the Museum movies, so they were excited to visit the museum in person. For me it was all about my favorite president, Theodore Roosevelt, and his connection to the museum.

TR has been a favorite of mine since I read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris as a teenager. Like so many young men, I was instantly captivated by Roosevelt’s idea of the Strenuous Life and the vision of the rugged outdoorsman and man of action who also happened to be a learned and published historian and natural scientist. Since that time I’ve read nearly every major biography of Roosevelt. Studying the life of our 26th President has truly been a passion of mine.

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Embracing the Love of Your Fate

Last week I had what I perceived a very difficult work related phone call. As the clock moved closer to the afternoon conference call time, my dread increased. A tiny little part of me was hoping the client wouldn’t show up for the call.

The client showed up on the call, they always do. And, like always, the call went just fine. I’ve been in sales for nearly twenty-years and have had hundreds of such high pressure calls. I’m no rookie, and have the skill set and experience to handle these situations, yet none of that experience stopped the dread from building up inside me.

We’ve all been there and we all know the outcome. Whether it’s a job interview, a tough conversation with a loved one, or breaking really bad news to someone, It’s never as bad as it seems.

Not that the negative voice in our head care.

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Abstinence is a Super Power (Not the Abstinence You're Thinking Of)

The ability to abstain is a superpower.

This isn’t the type of abstinence you are thinking about.

I’m talking about the ability to abstain from the little habits that can be become full blow obsessions. I’m not talking about drugs. I’m talking about everyday things.

Smart Phones. Email. Twitter. Facebook. The NFL. Instagram. Netflix bingeing. Reality television.

It’s often not about what our priorities are, but what are priorities aren’t.

Ask anyone what their priorities are and you’ll get the typical list.

Family. Work. Marriage. Faith.

But It’s the non-essential things we often prioritize that get into the way of our real priorities. For all the emphasis on the important things, like family and our marriage, we let things that shouldn’t be priorities get into the way.

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