Page 18 - J2TEAM-Community-RescueTime-Focus-Guide

Transition to digital minimalism
Professor and author Cal Newport is well-known for his ideas about
productivity—in particular, finding the time and space to do real,
important work. So when Newport suggested quitting social media,
people took notice.

We’ve all heard of social media sabbaticals, where someone quits
social media for a short period of time, but Newport also has a
suggestion for a more lasting approach than the yo-yo of quitting and
rejoining social media over and over: digital minimalism.

Digital minimalism, says Newport, is focused on the idea of removing
digital clutter and spending our time only on what adds value to our lives.

Digital minimalism, he says, “is a philosophy that helps you question
what digital communication tools (and behaviors surrounding these
tools) add the most value to your life.”

Newport’s philosophy is based around the idea that we can improve
our lives by “intentionally and aggressively clearing away low-value
digital noise, and optimizing [our] use of the tools that really matter.”

Of course, to adopt a philosophy that requires us to prune our use of
(and reliance on) digital tools, we’ll inevitably have to face FOMO—fear
of missing out. Newport says one of the key beliefs underlying his
digital minimalism philosophy is that missing out is not bad. We have
to come to terms with the idea that we will miss out on some things,
and that’s okay. FOMO is only holding us back by giving us an excuse to
stay chained to the digital clutter we’ve accumulated.

So if we admit we can’t keep up with everything anyway and let go of
our FOMO, what’s next? How do we actually clear out the digital clutter
that’s built up in our lives?

Newport suggests two alternatives for making the transition to digital

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