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R.I.P. Instant Gratification
There’s a joke in my family that the sloth is my spirit animal. My kids use it liberally, ironically because I’m almost never still. I wake up at the absurd hour of 4:00 am almost every day (even on weekends) and often don’t go to bed until after 10:00 pm.
Perhaps I’m one of those people who doesn’t need a lot of sleep, but my inability to remember things from one day to the next makes me think that it’s time to get serious about fixing my sleep.
I have a voluminous library (pun) of business books. Collecting business books that I’ll read someday is a hobby I’ve had for more than 2 decades. That’s resulted in a library numbering in the hundreds of books, many of which I have not yet read.
“Slow Productivity” is the first Cal Newport book I’ve read, and I’ve developed a serious literary crush. He has an incredible ability to take what many would consider a dull subject — business — and turn it into something fascinating.
What’s amazing about “Slow Productivity,” however, is the applicability to everyday life. There’s a phrase toward the beginning of the book that should resonate with all of us:
Haphazard modernism is conflicting with the human experience. — Cal Newport