Weekly Email: September 15, 2025
In this week’s email:
Student Tip: Training Your Focus Muscle
Program News: Logos Feedback
Student Tip: Training Your Focus Muscle
One of the most helpful lessons I’ve learned from Cal Newport over the years is that focus works like a muscle. If you want to sit down and read, study, or write for 45, 60, even 90 minutes without drifting, you have to train for it.
You won’t get there overnight. Just like lifting weights or running, you start small. Set a timer for ten minutes. Put your phone in another room, close the distractions, and commit that you’re not moving until the timer ends. Next session, go to fifteen minutes. Then twenty. Then thirty. Working your way up to 90 minute stretches with complete focus.
The output will vary. Some days you will write several pages, read multiple chapters, or master your Greek paradigms in a single sitting. Other days you may stare at the same paragraph, go over the same vocabulary words again and again, or just feel sluggish in your reading. That part is beyond your control, and it helps to realize that focus and output are not the same thing. What you can control is your focus. The discipline of being fully present is what slowly builds strength.
The harder part comes when you feel restless. The habit is to reach for a distraction. Instead, stay put. Sit in the boredom. Sit in the distraction. Keep going. Learning to resist that first tug away from the task is what develops endurance.
And this isn’t just about study sessions. Think about the ordinary moments of your day: standing in line at the grocery store, filling your car with gas, waiting for an appointment. Most of us pull out our phones almost automatically. We aren’t checking for anything in particular. It’s just habit. Those moments are an opportunity. Keep the phone in your pocket. Let yourself feel the boredom. Pay attention to your thoughts. These small, ordinary choices are not wasted time. They’re intentional reps in learning to resist distraction. Each one makes you a better student, preparing you to enter your study sessions with more strength and less temptation to wander.
These ordinary choices accumulate. Every time you resist distraction, the focus muscle grows. And with each bit of growth, you are becoming a better student.
Program News: Logos Max and Textbooks
I’d love to hear how Logos is working for you this term. How often are you finding yourself using it during the week? Has having your textbooks in Logos changed the way you approach reading or studying for class?
I’m also curious what has been most helpful so far. Are there specific features such as highlighting, searching, or note-taking that you’ve leaned on? And on the other side, what challenges have you run into?
A quick reminder: to access your textbooks in Logos for each class, you need to click on the Logos tab inside your course on Canvas. That step adds them to your Logos account. Required textbooks do not appear automatically. Access before the class starts is on a day-to-day basis and you will need to add the books to your Logos account daily.
To help, we’ve put together a couple of short videos on this page walking you through Logos Max access and textbook setup.
Quick Reference of Upcoming Term Dates:
Current Week: Fall 1, Week 7 (September 15–22)
Fall 2 Term Begins: October 6, 2025
Winter Term Begins: December 1, 2025
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