Get 60 hours of work out of a 40-hour workweek: “Deep Habits: The Importance of Planning Every Minute of Your Work Day,” a blog post by Georgetown computer science prof and prolific non-CS author Cal Newport, has worked-out really well for one of us the past week. The twist: Keep a task list to make sure you know what you need to be doing, then sit down with the calendar, as Newport suggests, and plan out your work day (or week) in full. The short piece is worth reading end-to-end. As Newport writes: “Using your inbox to drive your daily schedule might be fine for the entry-level or those content with a career of cubicle-dwelling mediocrity, but the best knowledge workers view their time like the best investors view their capital, as a resource to wield for maximum returns.”

(We took note a few months back of Newport’s book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World,” which was the subject of thought-provoking reviews in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, among others.)

This blog post recommendation is brought to you by the Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless noise cancelling headphones. Throw in Apple’s new weekly My New Music Mix, updated automatically every Friday if you’re a subscriber, and you won’t hear the kid grumbling about her Friday morning Arabic lesson. Pro tip: Two local distributors we tried for the QC35 headset charge more than double what you’ll pay in even the EU, where electronics prices are more expensive than in the US or Canada. If you’re buying them locally, the wired QuietComfort25 are a much better deal (and slightly more comfortable)— if you don’t mind the wire. (And yeah, we know Sennheiser… but good luck finding them in Egypt, let alone a pair with noise cancellation.)