Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Self Improvement Stuff
Let me tell you about a fool. An idiot. About a guy so dumb, I’m ripping him off every day. It’s all about me and he doesn’t even see I’m robbing him blind. Also …this fool …is brilliant.
It’s Cal Newport. How I’m only now discovering this genius is, well …because I’m actually the fool who follows and invites Internet ads like a moth to a flame. I read an article by someone I like. I immediately hit their website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and when I do, all the other “gurus” and self-help wanna-be’s find me by Internet cookies and by guesting on Podcasts I listen to, and most of them might help people a little, but mostly they just want to sell more books, courses, or coaching sessions.
But not Cal Newport.
Here’s the best way to put it …if you wanted to learn to be a master chef, would you read a bunch of Blogs, social posts, and buy some cookbooks? Or would you go to cooking school? If you wanted to be a lawyer, would you listen to a buncha Podcasts with lawyers interviewing lawyers? Or would you go to law school?
See where I’m going? If you want to get more organized, ditch the Internet (or greatly reduce your usage), be better at work, be more calm, be smarter, and learn to be organized and to write and think and be productive and disciplined …well, you would (and could) pay BIG MONEY to have Cal Newport teach you. Thing is …he gives away pretty much everything for FREE.
Sucker. He’s written these books…
A WORLD WITHOUT EMAIL
THE TIME-BLOCK PLANNER
DIGITAL MINIMALISM
DEEP WORK
SO GOOD THEY CAN’T IGNORE YOU
HOW TO BE A HIGH SCHOOL SUPERSTAR
HOW TO BECOME A STRAIGHT-A STUDENT
HOW TO WIN AT COLLEGE
And he has a new book coming out … “A World Without Email.” Guess what? Shhhh. All of these are at my local library. Cal, Cal, Cal …you have NO IDEA what you’re doing.
Plus, early in the pandemic, he started a Podcast, called Deep Questions, and he’s approaching 200 episodes and they’re all available …FOR FREE.
Now, let me take off my jokey-sarcastic hat and just be real. Cal Newport and what he espouses is absolutely brilliant. And simple. He’s figured out life isn’t actually as confusing and stressful and overwhelming as we’re all thinking it is. I’ve thought this for a long time and couldn’t quite figure out how to simplify everything. Lucky for me (and you, if you’re looking to slow down, have more focus, and work smarter), Cal Newport’s been reverse engineering daily, weekly, monthly, morning, evening, and work routines for a couple of decades and his nerd-brain presents his ideas in a way that avoids analogies and hyperbole and simply tells you how to fix little things in your life.
Like getting your workday organized. He has a video. It’s simple. You could do with loose leaf paper. But his fans made him sell a journal version.
What I’m doing is listening to every episode of his Podcast, one by one. With a pad and a paper and treating it like a masterclass.
This Blog is really just a P.S.A., really, because I feel myself getting a little better every day … a little more relaxed …a little more efficient and someday people are going to ask, Don, wow, what are you doing to be so happy, relaxed, and yet achieving so much.
And I’ll say it’s because of this idiot named Cal Newport.
Don Kowalewski 