Summary

Cal Newport defines deep work and describes its value for knowledge workers. While managers and leaders should prioritize context switching and being publicly busy, ICs should seek out deep work and practice batching, deliberate rest, and the law of the vital few.

“Your world is the outcome of what you pay attention to”

“Your ability to concentrate is only as strong as your commitment to train it”

“Develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll never find time for the life-changing big things”

Key Takeaways

• Modern winners: capital owners, superstars, high-skilled workers (power law)
• Publicly busy + context switching for management, leadership vs deep work
• Willpower: routines and rituals reduce willpower needed to enter deep work
• Tips: type of deep work, batching, deliberate rest, law of the vital few

Notes

1: The Idea

1: Deep work is valuable

• Beneficiaries of modern high-tech world:
  • High-skilled workers: those who work well with intelligent machines
  • Superstars: connection increases breadth of influence of the best
  • Capital owners: less labor required, more money returns to owners
• Key skills for thriving in modern economy:
  • Ability to quickly master hard things
  • Ability to produce at an elite level in terms of both quantity and speed
• Deliberate practice: without distraction
• Repetitive use of isolated neural circuits builds myelin sheath
• Batching: grouping work into intense, uninterrupted chunks
• Productivity = time x intensity
• Attention residue: context switching
• Can be successful without depth
• Management and leadership require rapid decision making, context switching
• ↑ executives less suited for deep work

2: Deep work is rare

• Communication technology increases serendipity but also a constant distraction
• Attention fragmentation
• “Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not”
• Publicly busy: busy shallow work is publicly visible, deep work is often not
• Deep work is not as conventionally favored in modern economy

3: Deep work matters

• “Your world is the outcome of what you pay attention to”
• Neurologically, deep work → purpose / fulfillment → satisfaction / happiness
• Flow
• Individual craftsmanship → meaning

2: The rules

1: Work deeply

• Finite pool of willpower
• Routines and rituals reduce willpower needed to enter deep work
• Monastic deep work: radically minimizing shallow obligations
  • Only suitable where bulk of professional success = doing one thing exceptionally well
• Bi-modal deep work: dedicating days to deep work, other time to everything else
• Rhythmic deep work: dedicating chunks of each day to deep work
• Journalistic deep work: ad hoc allocation of time for snippets of deep work
• Grand gesture strategy: grand action that forces deep work (eg. getting hotel room)
  • Psychology of commitment
• Deep work is synergistic with collaboration
• Let ambitious goals drive deep work
• Come up with a shutdown ritual to free mind of work obligations

2: Embrace boredom

• Multitaskers are chronically distracted
• Deliberate rest: allows willpower to recover
• Schedule internet use
• Challenge yourself to work intensely
• “Interval training for the attention centers of your brain”
• Deep work increases general brain function
• Practice memorization techniques and time yourself to foster deep focus
  • Eg. deck of cards: 5 rooms, 10 items, associate each card with item, walk through
• “Your ability to concentrate is only as strong as your commitment to train it”

3: Quit social media

• Find a middle ground in network tool usage
• Perform a cost benefit analysis
• Law of the vital few: 80/20 split
• Social media’s follow-back convention give the illusion that our presence is more valuable than it actually is
• ↑ used to be one way follow, requiring more work and higher quality content

4: Drain the shallows

• Limit of 1-4 hrs of deep work per day
• Create a daily schedule and keep it updated
• Ask manager how much time to dedicate to shallow tasks
• Essentialism
• Fixed-schedule productivity
• Process-centric approach to email replies
• “Develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll never find time for the life-changing big things”