Reading paths · Five steps

Getting your attention back

Four of these books disagree with each other about the cause. Read in this order, the disagreement is the point.

1. 01 Digital MinimalismCal Newport

   Digital Minimalism

   Cal Newport

   Practical · Accessible · 3 min read

   Begin with the audit. It is difficult to reason about attention while still inside the thing taking it.

2. 02 Deep WorkCal Newport

   Deep Work

   Cal Newport

   Practical · Accessible · 4 min read

   Then the argument for what the reclaimed attention is actually for, which the first book deliberately leaves open.

3. 03 IndistractableNir Eyal

   Indistractable

   Nir Eyal

   Practical · Accessible · 3 min read

   The corrective to both: the trigger is usually internal, and no amount of blocking software addresses that.

4. 04 EssentialismGreg McKeown

   Essentialism

   Greg McKeown

   Practical · Accessible · 4 min read

   Widens the question from hours to commitments. Attention is downstream of what you agreed to.

5. 05 Slow ProductivityCal Newport

   Slow Productivity

   Cal Newport

   Practical · Accessible · 3 min read

   Last, because it is the long-run answer, and it only makes sense once the short-run fixes have been tried and found partial.

A path is an order, not a syllabus. Every step says why it sits where it does, so you can disagree with the sequence on the evidence rather than on faith.