In an age of network tools, in other words, knowledge workers increasingly replace deep work with the shallow alternative — constantly sending and re… - Cal Newport

constantly sending and receiving e-mail messages like human network routers, with frequent breaks for quick hits of distraction.

Spend enough time in a state of frenetic shallowness and you permanently reduce your capacity to perform deep work.

When you work, work hard. When you’re done, be done.

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.

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.