Book SummaryA World Without Email, by Cal Newport

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of A World Without Email

In A World Without Email, computer science professor and productivity expert Cal Newport argues that email, and the relentless requests and distractions it introduces, makes knowledge workers less productive and more unhappy. Rather than dedicating focused time to the work they were hired to do, knowledge workers spend most of their days responding to and checking for unexpected requests which, because they’re part of a team, they feel pressured to fulfill immediately.

Cal Newport has written several other books on productivity and focus, including Deep Work, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, and Digital Minimalism. He teaches computer science at Georgetown University and hosts the Deep Questions podcast.

_A World Without Email...

A World Without Email Summary Our Current Approach to Work: The Hyperactive Hive Mind Workflow

Newport argues that most knowledge workers structure their work days around responding to unscheduled emails and instant messages rather than around the knowledge work they were hired to do. A 2019 study showed that the average employee sent and received 126 emails a day, and another study showed that employees check their instant messenger app once a minute on average and their inboxes 77 times a day. A third study indicated that many knowledge workers can only perform about an hour of uninterrupted knowledge work a day. The rest of their day is spent responding to a barrage of incoming emails and messages.

Don’t Let Urgent Tasks Hinder Important Tasks

One solution to the problem that these studies reveal—the inability to focus because of constant requests for attention—might be to better distinguish important tasks from urgent tasks. Important tasks contribute value to the company, while urgent ones don’t take much time to perform but don’t contribute much value to the company. For example, an important task would be devising a...

A World Without Email Summary A Better Approach to Work: Solutions to the Hyperactive Hive Mind Workflow

Newport proposes three solutions to HHMW, all of which are predicated on his principle of attention capital. Let’s first explore this principle and then dive into his three solutions.

The Attention Capital Principle: Brainpower Must Be Optimally Harnessed

Newport’s attention capital principle is based on the idea that the most value-generating resource knowledge workers have is their brainpower, or what he calls their attention capital. Companies must extract the value of that brainpower to produce high-quality work. But not all value-extraction systems are equally effective. Therefore, to derive the greatest value from knowledge workers’ brainpower, companies must put in place optimal workflows and systems—this is the attention capital principle.

(Shortform note: In a blog post, Newport acknowledges that he borrowed the term “attention capital” from an article by Dan Nixon, formerly an analyst for the Bank of England. In this article, Nixon discusses the...

Shortform Exercise: How Can You Specialize?

Applying Newport’s Specialization Principle, think of strategies you could implement in your personal pursuits to minimize multitasking and maximize the quality of your output.

Write down an activity for which you use attention capital—brainpower—in your personal life. (This might be something like drawing, writing, or sports.) Additionally, define the particular type of attention capital that you use in this pursuit. (For drawing, this could be your artistic skill and understanding of color theory. For a sport, this would be your agility and knowledge of strategy.)