For all of our complaining about the term, knowledge workers have no agreed-upon definition of what ‘productivity’ even means. - Cal Newport

This same trend holds for the growing number of fields where technology makes productive remote work possible — consulting, marketing, writing, design, and so on. Once the talent market is made universally accessible, those at the peak of the market thrive while the rest suffer.

Sertillanges argues that to advance your understanding of your field you must tackle the relevant topics systematically, allowing your “converging rays of attention” to uncover the truth latent in each. In other words, he teaches: To learn requires intense concentration.

Every appealing headline clicked or intriguing link tabbed is another metaphorical pull of the slot machine handle.