MBA1273 Must Read: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

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I'm a huge Cal Newport fan. Totally was sold on him when I read his book Deep Work which we did a must read episode on his TED Talk is incredible. That's a must watch. Make sure you YouTube that. And today we're going to take a dive into his latest book, Digital Minimalism. This is a great book. If you're feeling overwhelmed with social media, you're looking for a way to boost productivity or you're just looking for a bit of a tech detox to regain your focus. Again, it's a practical guide to navigating today's media landscape. Remember, these social media companies are multi billion dollar companies that rely on keeping your eyes glued to their platform. There's already been a lot of skepticism about these platforms and their intentions. So how do you pull yourself away from all that so you can spend more time on things that actually move the needle in your business? That's what we get into in today's must read. Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. I can't wait to get into this book by Cal Newport. Digital Minimalism this book explores so many assets of social media technology today. He goes into how social media is like big tobacco, how to better use your smartphone. He's not into like totally scrapping your smartphone. He's not asking you to be Amish here. He's asking you to have a system so you are focused. But he also highlights the fact that today, attention, your attention is more valuable than oil. While oil is decreasing in value with renewable energies, your attention is increasing in value. So know that your attention is a commodity. It's invaluable. You need to make sure that you spend your attention on the right things. The book starts out by recognizing the fact that we have to admit that these devices in our pockets that were originally made to make phone calls or even listen to music have now turned into these addictive and dangerous tools. This is just the reality of the situation. People are addicted to their phone. Don't believe me? Leave your phone at home and go away for a week vacation. The mere thought of that gives most of us anxiety. And yet a decade ago, that would be totally doable. What has happened to us? What's going on here? And that's what he explores in the book. What are these things doing to us and why are they addictive? Now if you're wondering what does this all have to do with me and entrepreneurship and business, well, how you spend your time is how well your business is going to run. You're the leader of the company and your time is super valuable. And if you don't have a handle on that, you're wasting your biggest asset. The thing that's really going to change things in your business. You only have 24 hours in the day. Everybody has the same amount of time. It's how you use it, is how you're going to get ahead. The book then goes on and talks about what he means by digital minimalism and the concept of that less time on these platforms is actually more. He says there are plenty of people recommending quick fixes, like simply disabling notifications on your smartphone. But Cal Newport doesn't trust these little adjustments, these little hacks. He says it doesn't make much of a difference in the long run. After all, the author, Cal Newport, has done extensive research on this Q Digital Minimalism, which is about the time honored philosophy that better living can come from less. He borrows from the concept from Marie Kondo, you know, the woman that's all about organizing and bringing joy into her life by having a tidy home and a tidy life and letting go of the things that don't spark joy in your life. Well, Newport's applying this to apps and digital media, suggesting that you ask yourself, does this website, app or service really support what I value in the way that nothing else can? Think about that statement. Does this website, app or service really support what I value in a way that nothing else can? So if you're saying I'm reading Twitter on an average of 2 hours a day to be updated on the latest business trends, is that the best way you can do that? What about reading blogs? What about reading books? They go a little bit deeper in the subject, so your understanding is not so shallow. But then digital minimalism takes a further step in asking you to optimize this technology in a way to maximize the value while reducing the cost of your time and energy. So going back to Twitter, if that's something that your career clearly benefits from, and you build relationships on Twitter and it really, you looked at it and it's good for you and good for your time, you can use it wisely by setting up purposeful rules around it so that you can go in and out and do what you need to do without wasting any time. And not just sitting there setting up time in your calendar to do it. Blocks of time. And outside those times, you are not on Twitter. In the book, you learn about Tyler, who's one of 1600 people that signed up for Cal Newport's experiment with digital minimalism. He signed up to a few social platforms because he valued staying connected to friends. He enjoyed entertainment and networking. But after following the principles of digital minimalism, he realized the benefits of social media were actually small compared to the time it cost him. Tyler closed his social media accounts and a year later, he's still thrilled with that decision. He's getting more exercise, he's reading books, he's volunteering, he's learning to play music. Even with all this, he has more time to spend with family and friends and feels focused and relaxed when he's with them. Now, if you guys have been following me for some time, you know that last year, 2008, the whole year I was off social media. This was my own experiment. And I gotta be honest with you, after the first month or so, I didn't miss it at all. In fact, I felt like this burden was lifted off my shoulders. I had more focus, I was less stressed out, and I enjoyed my time with my friends and family because I wasn't thinking about what's on my phone as soon as they got up to go to the bathroom or something like that at a restaurant. In fact, it was the best year for growth of our business the year I was off social media. So it was proof to me that it really doesn't have a negative impact on your business if you're off social now. Having said that, I am still on social now. And I do feel now the effects of how addictive it is, how often I check Twitter, how often I check Facebook or, or things like that. So one of the things I really want to do, given I tried both of them and reading this book, is I definitely want to delete these apps off my phone because I can't time slot myself, meaning that I can't only look at Twitter at certain hours a day that I put in my schedule because it's so handy on my phone. If it's off my phone, then I can only do it when I'm on my computer and therefore it's during the workday and only during my schedule. There's some staggering statistics in this book. Like the average Facebook user spends 350 minutes per week on Facebook. Think about what you could do with that time. You could start a whole new business or side hustle with three hours a week. It's actually close to four hours a week. Pretty crazy. The biggest takeaway though, from this book that I want to share with you is this idea that your attention and your focus is going to be your biggest asset in life and in business. It talks about how all these companies are vying for your attention. That's how they make their money. But he says that, hey, it's not going to be about smarts or education or resources in the future. In fact, all that stuff is becoming democratized with the Internet. It's actually going to be about who can focus best, who can focus and get things done and not be distracted and be pulled away in different directions. Those who can focus will build their businesses and their products and their services faster, more efficiently, and will create more thoughtful products. That's staggering to me. That's something that really is inspiring and it really makes total sense that, hey, all the information is out there. If you want to learn something bad enough, you'll find a way. There's podcasts, there's blogs, there's websites, there's courses, there's all this stuff. But do you have the attention and the focus to consume it and implement, or are you getting pulled away in different directions? Are you being distracted by the next shiny thing on social media? Don't forget that on social, it's not just people's posts and, you know, doggy pics and birthday parties and discussions. It's also advertising you're being sold to by other companies because we've been bombarded with targeted ads every day through social and it's causing us to see something and go to a site and buy it and waste our money on things we probably don't need. You probably just save money on not purchasing things that you see on social by giving it a break or structuring your time. What I found is that when you give yourself a time slot, you're super focused on social. You're replying to your notifications, you're answering questions in groups or people that tweeted at you, and then you're out. You have no time to waste and browse. So to sum up, the biggest point I got was if you want to get ahead, you need to get focused. You need to get all your distractions out of your way. And the more focused you are, the more fully attentive you are to your business, the greater the chances you're going to be able to compete and win. I totally resonate with this and totally believe this because I told you I did this. I had more focus when I was off social and when I did, I saw growth in my business because of that focus. I got so much more done and I was able to build more in my business.

Is it time to reimagine your future? The right business skills may make a difference in your career. At Capella University, we offer a relevant education that's designed to focus on what you need to know in the business world. We'll teach professional skills to help you pursue your goals like business management, strategic planning, and effective communication. And you can apply these skills right away. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella. Edu.

To wrap up today's must read episode, Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, pick up this book. It's going to give you some perspective. You don't have to agree with every single thing, but it will allow you to fine tune how you spend your time and where you spend your attention, where you give your attention and you shouldn't be just giving it away. It's like gold. And it's going to be the differentiator between who's successful and who's not. And of course these concepts are applicable not only to you, but everybody on your team. This is definitely a book that I would recommend sharing with your whole team and maybe even doing like a book club type of thing once a month. Well, there you have it. Thank you so much for listening to the $100 MBA show. If you love what you hear, just hit subscribe right now so you get our next episode automatically. It's ready for you when you're ready to listen. We're on every app that matters. Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Tunein, Radio, Himalaya. Just hit subscribe and thank me later. Alright, before I go, I want to leave you with this. I love picking up a book that challenges my ideas. It challenges my opinions where I'm like, really? It's okay to read something you don't 100% agree with. It's a good way to challenge your ideas, especially when the book backs up its ideas with intensive research. It's good to question things so you can either confirm what you believe in or re evaluate it and say, hey, maybe I need to change things up. Maybe this is going to help me. Even if just by 1% more, it's worth the read. Alright, thank you so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

Is it time to reimagine your future? The right business skills may make a difference in your career. At Capella University, we offer a relevant education that's designed to focus on what you need to know in the business world. We'll teach professional skills to help you pursue your goals like business management, strategic planning, and effective communication. And you can apply these skills right away. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella Eduardo.