Personal notes: Deep Work, Cal Newport
Deep Work, The New Superpower of The Modern Age
Lets first start with defining the major theme of this book: do more deep work and less shallow work.
Deep Work — the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It’s a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time.
Shallow Work — Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.
Why is deep work important?
True value comes from depth.
The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy.
As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.
Newport argues that the unprecedented growth and impact of technology are creating a massive restructuring of our economy.
In this new economy, three groups will have a particular advantage:
- Those who can work well and creatively with intelligent machines
- Those who are the best at what they do
- Those with access to capital
The third category is hard to reach for most.
The first two, however, are obtained by mastering the following abilities.
- The ability to quickly master hard things.
- The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed.
These two core abilities depend on your ability to perform deep work.
How to get into deep work
Stick to a routine and create rituals. Work in the same place, at the same time, wear the same socks and drink out the same pot of coffee.
The goal of having constants is to help you get into the deep work state quicker. (wearing the same socks isn’t really needed though)
Use your 4 hours wisely
Newport claimed that there is a limit to the number of deep work hours you have each day. This varies per person. People that are more trained have 4 hours each day.
This surprised me since it’s such a low number. However, when I consider my 8-hour workdays, I am often distracted, unfocused or occupied with shallow work.
It is important to realize that deep work, concentration and willpower are finite resources. Make sure you use spend these well.
Set up a cutoff point
Setting a cutoff point each day. “I don’t do any work after 7:00 pm”. Your brain needs to recharge, and before it can recharge, it needs the confidence to know that there won’t be any more incoming work requests until morning.
Newport mentioned that a practical way of doing this is by performing a shutdown ritual.
This triggers the assurance for your mind that nothing urgent is left to do. Again, there isn’t a specific ritual you should perform. It differs per person.
You can check your mail, stretch your body, play a certain song or go for a run. What matters is that you perform a set of habits at the end of your workday.
Quit social media
A big portion of this book and Newport’s philosophy is regarding social media. Social media consumes our time and attention, two of our most valuable resources in the modern age.
In return, it provides us with very little other than a quick distraction. There are reasons to use social media, however, these can be traded in for higher quality and real experiences.
Deep leisure
This is a lesson I did not expect to learn from this book. Newport mentions something he read from Arnold Bennet.
Bennet said that we should put more thought into our leisure time.
When it comes to your free time don’t default to whatever catches your attention at the moment. Instead, dedicate some advanced thinking of how you want to spend the rest of your day.
If you haven’t given yourself something to do in your leisure time. It will be consumed with the easiest thing you can imagine. Social media and streaming sites are the common poison for this period of inaction. They are always available, just a click away.
In lieu, you should get real value out of this time. Don’t wait till the day is over and it’s time to work again.
Won’t a structured evening leave you exhausted the next day instead of refreshed?
People should think more about what energizes the human spirit, Bennet answers. The mental faculties are capable continuous hard activity. They do not tire like an arm or leg.
All they want is change, not rest, except in sleep.
For example the energy you get from a workout instead of the tiredness of watching tv all night.
This article is part of my 168 series
Each week has 168 hours. I have the ability to choose to make the most out of these hours. However, I often regret how I spend my time. How can I give more to those things I value and less to those I don’t?
