Cal Newport's job description got me to wonder what a computer science professor has to say about life and navigating through it. Honestly, I fell victim to judging a person by their profession, just like judging a book by its cover. I thought the computer professor would be more focused on codes and 1s and 0s, but that is not the case with this professor. His book Deep Work focuses on life and navigating through it. Through my blog and books, I have spoken about, I find myself leaning towards books that give that sense of purpose for life and trying to find one's way through it. That is where I have come across books like Ikigai, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, Atomic, The Obstacle is the way and many more like these books.
In today's post on Cal Newport's book Deep Work, the quote that springs to mind is:
“Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.”
The statement from the book talks about clarity and not just about seeing clearly, but rather having a priority on what you see. By knowing what matters to you, you can tell what does not matter. It is hard to keep track of so many things that go on in one's life, especially as you get older. It is like an adage that is always well spoken in pidgin English, which says Problem no dey finish. This means there will always be a problem to solve or a fire to put out. Now, when the clarity Cal Newport talks about comes in play, it becomes a lot easier to know what truly matters and what does not. By focusing on what matters, the issue that does not matter becomes irrelevant and takes less of your time.
When I read it for the first time, it was not hard to grasp what the author's point is, which is priority. It has become a thematic preoccupation of most self-help books, where their message usually boils down to priority. It was the same message from Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, where he spoke about how you cannot give everything your time and effort. You have to prioritise what is more important and focus on that. The priority that has been spoken of has become something I have to pay attention to. You cannot be available to the disposition of every problem that comes your way because there will be many, at least I am seeing that. Many things are always competing for the little time I have to make the best use of. Then crown it up with my personal endeavors as well.
The heart of this book lies in the fact that people do not get confused because of the many things competing for their attention, but rather, they get confused due to the inability to decide on what is important. There is the perplexity that comes with making a decision when you are given too many options to pick from. A good example is when you are trying to pick a movie to watch on Netflix or any other streaming platform. The indecisiveness comes in when you are cut by the too many options on your screen. Now relate it to life, that is how indecisive it can get. On the other hand compare to when you have clarity on what you want to watch on the streaming platform, instead you go and search for it, and when you see something that is not what you are looking for, you can easily skip it and keep searching. This is the kind of clarity Cal Newport is talking about: clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.
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