Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

by Newport, Cal

Published: January 5, 2016

Read: June 23, 2018

★★★★★

Goodreads

Review

I enjoyed reading this book. The content was nothing revolutionary with concepts like avoiding distraction, quit social media, and timeboxing, but the entire narrative of deep work vs shallow work pounded in through this book is a good way to conceptualize your work. The ideas and goal of "deep work" are now easy for my mind to digest and strive towards. The author does an excellent job of not only proclaiming his worldview but also considering the nuisances and tradeoffs of his recommendations. Instead of quit social media, the message is more eliminate the activities in your life which produce more cost than benefit. This didn't change my life, but hopefully, it helps me move towards becoming a more productive individual.

Notes

#Book Greatest minds in our generation do deep work undistracted and do user email. Can get ahead in this world if you can do deep work.

Our world is changing deep work is becoming more difficult but also more valuable. In our world those that

1. can work with machines

2.  Superstars are good

3. Those with capital

All our jobs become more likely to combine with intelligent machines. Remote work and contractors way better. Local programmers fire d in favor of highly skilled all star. Talent is not something that can be combined. Capital can become global quickly. Capital is hard to get, but working hard is something you can do

1. Quickly master hard things

2. Produce at elite level

If you can't learn you can't thrive. World is changing. Best students study less then those below them. They get the most out of their work. Attention residue when you switch tasks lessens your work. What about CEOs that do a million different things and go to many meanings. It's deep work isn't it cuz it's valuable. Their specific roles was hired to be reactionary and make decisions after already having gained skills

Offices are going open though and focusing on high communication and collaboration.

Everyone is an internet fad. Why should everyone be on social media everyone really. When someone comes out against it, everyone is shocked someone is s techno phone. New tech means good.

In work, to increase the time you spend in depth maximize the meaning. Distraction make you focus on your problems and say the complications and stuff.

More likely to complete surveys if you beep and ask what people are doing and how they feel. Best moments occur when your mind is stretched.

Happy at work more than liesure because the goals are clear.

Manostaic method is eliminate all shallow distractions and focus hard on your work. When it's great and discrete contribution is signifance, best method. Can also go bimodal and divide time for deep pursuits and some to everything else. Rhymitic work, remove if and when you will go deep. Big red x on calendar for some habit your doing.

Journalist switch quickly into writing. Have to believe it will be worthwhile.

Need to be discrete for your measurement, don't keep checking how your doing thats distracting, make ritual making sure you got food, drink, exercise etc. Find a specific place for deep work. Grand change: spend grand amount of money or have huge change from usually.

Collaborative deep work is a thing. The whiteboard still helps pushing you to go deep as someone waits for your insight. Separate pursuit of surreptitiously rncountersa and deep work. There's a book on exectuing strategies rather than just picking the strategies.

1. Focus on small number

2. Don't focus on lag measure because nothing you can do in short term like customer satisification or papers published but lead meautes like samples given and words written. Make tally cars in visible place and do tick marks per deep hours worked then circle ticks where milestone resched.

3. Be lazy, escape shallow stuff in a time period. Unconscious mind good for vast data amounts to difficult wuestions so take a break and don't use consciousnmind. Completely shutting out work is just a different way of working. Recharges too. Need to respect shutdown so you can actually recharged direct attention. Say shutdown complete. Incomplete tasks are distracting, but if you make a plan to complete it the next day. You can relax, like a study says this.

Need strict endpoint of work daym.

4. Be bored. Orthodox Jews have to deeply study the Bible daily. A guy found it helped him throughtout his life. Deep work is something to be trained not turned on. Need to reach limit of concentration limit. Need training. Overcome desire for distraction. And

Schedule in advance when you use internet. High stimulus, low quality vs low stimulus high qaulity switches at a moment of boredem or cognitive challenge. Cruical you don't use the internet even if you need some cruical information, even if you must wait 5 minutes. Set aside something that requires concentration, and then give yourself a deadline way less than you normally would for a task of this type. Then the only way will be to be incredible productive. Make deadline public and put it up. There is no way to complete this and be distracted. Do once a week. Productive meditation to think about one thing while doing something active like walking and keep bringing your attention back. Memorize deck of cards by imagine your house and 10 items in 5 rooms then associate a person with each card, now connect the two with the deck in hand. Great cuz fun and focus.

Do analysis of your tools. Dont go any benefit means it's good,  but do cost benefit analysis. Needll number of goals that are general and not tied to one time outcome. Do better research is too broad, finish by 9 is too specific. Good: regularly read papers. Then list the tools you use and only keep tools that are substantially good.

Having active close social life with already friends might not make Facebook worthwhile.

Put away all your stuff and keep those you take out of your box after a month. Take a break from social media then ask if your life would have been way better without it.

8 hour days gives you 16 hours to do what you want!!

All these websites gather your attention do more beneficial things like exercise, hobbies, books , social

Shallow work elimination great, 4 hours of deep work a day seems to be average limit. People vastly miscount their time thinking they sleep less and work more than they do. Schedule every minute of your day.

Time boxing and scheduling. If you stumble on an insight, then you can throw out the schedule until it loses steam. Conditional blocks maybe. Some say it keeps out your ability to get lost in the work, but it's havit of asking what you want to do with your time not forcing yourself to keep time.

Talk to your boss and get him to give you shallow work percentage. Only take jobs that encourage depends work as essential in our rconoy. Fixed schedule works: don't work after 5:30 this requires sufficient planning and productivity.

Email social convention is to repsond, but should have them pre filter by sending different types of requests to different emails or have people check boxes like I checked the faq.