{"id":19171,"date":"2018-10-11T10:54:43","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T17:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=19171"},"modified":"2018-10-11T10:54:43","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T17:54:43","slug":"my-best-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/my-best-self\/","title":{"rendered":"My best self"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When I flew to Hong Kong two weeks ago, I was feeling distracted and pulled in many divergent directions as my busy autumn season had already begun in earnest. Our Advance was just another item on the to-do list and anticipating the work ahead in this program was rather daunting when paired next to my other responsibilities. But on returning home, recovering from jet lag, and reading Cal Newport\u2019s book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World,<\/em> some excellent disciplines have resurfaced to make my working hours more productive and life more meaningful.<\/p>\n

Newport\u2019s recommendations are not rocket science. But he boldly practices these countercultural disciplines in a world which often insists on the opposite. I\u2019m tempted to summarize the book with this simple counsel: Deep work can only happen when you turn off the freaking internet.<\/em><\/strong> In the past twenty-four hours since reading it, I have practiced this simple habit: When entering into a period of deep work, write a note beside your computer the time that you can go back on the internet.[1]<\/a> This is the simple way, for example, that you can acquire two blissful hours of focus free from responding to pestering emails or sucked into distraction on BuzzFeed.<\/p>\n

Aside from that jewel, the book was replete with examples of things I\u2019ve done in the past but need to intentionally renew for ongoing productivity.<\/p>\n