Preparation compounds in uninterrupted blocks and not otherwise

The idea

Newport's case is that difficult learning happens only in long, undistracted stretches, and that the modern working day is built to prevent them. For a candidate preparing for technical interviews around a degree, the implication is specific: an hour of technicals in a block beats four fifteen-minute attempts between messages, because the hard part of a DCF or a merger model is holding the whole structure in mind at once, and that takes time to load. The method is to protect the blocks in advance rather than hoping they appear.

Schedule the uninterrupted block first; the preparation that matters cannot be done in the gaps.

How to use it

Put two ninety-minute blocks a week in the calendar before anything else, phone in another room, one topic per block. Use the spaced repetition guide to decide what goes in each.