Cal Newport
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
ISBN: 978-1-4555-8669-1
Over the course of our careers, we tend to do a great deal of “shallow work” – we send a lot of emails, we create a lot of documents and slide decks, answer phone calls, and spend time on social media. The problem many of us face is how to find the time to do the “deep work” – creating things that move society forwards or solve life’s problems. Just doing the deep work is difficult, but pile distractions on top, and it seems like an unclimbable mountain.
I picked up a copy of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World because I wanted to learn how to increase the number of hours I spend building things that actually matter. Between running the Undergraduate Incubator Program, building Cider Finder, and managing several freelance clients and projects, it’s more important now than ever to be able to find the time to dig into deeper work. It’s easy to spend your day sending emails back and forth and dealing with social media and other distractions, but there are far more important things that need to be done.
Part one of Deep Work lays out the case for pursuing the kind of concentration necessary to change the world, while part two lays out four strategies for increasing the amount of time you spend performing deep work. Newport discusses why deep work is valuable, rare, and meaningful. I really didn’t need the case to be made for deep work, but this might be a selling point for others who need this kind of motivation. I thoroughly enjoyed the second part, as Newport discussed different strategies for increasing the amount of quality work a person can do. This section is why I wanted to read the book – straightforward information and strategies designed to be used by anyone.
The author clearly states that there’s not one way to perform deep work, but you must make deep work a habit. Some who successfully work at this level can escape to a sanctuary; others must make do with the time and resources they have. One of my biggest issues finding the time to deeply dive into my work is my tightly packed schedule. In previous reviews and blog posts, I’ve talked about my seeming inability to say “no” to new projects and to overschedule myself whenever I’m traveling. The second chapter of the second part of the book discusses embracing boredom – something I need to do. Every minute of every day does not need to be crammed full. Even though this will reduce the number of face-to-face interactions I’ll have, it should be a net-positive to my work in the future.
One tip that I’d love to do but can’t right now is to quit social media. One of my goals in the future is to hire someone else to deal with my business social media accounts, at which point I’d love to deactivate my personal accounts. I really don’t use Facebook anymore, and I just use Instagram on the business side. Twitter is my only real timewaster, and it’s such a train wreck right now. Social media, especially the newer services like Snapchat and TikTok, is a cesspool of nonsense that rots your brain from the inside out. I certainly hope, for everyone’s sanity, that these services are a passing fad.
If you can’t quit social media, you can certainly work to “drain the shallows.” Automate as much of the shallow work as you can, and if you’re able, hire someone to deal with as much of it as possible. Getting rid of the low-hanging fruit by offloading it elsewhere will give you more time and more motivation to truly dig into the important and meaningful stuff that needs to be done. Once you’ve drained the shallows, set up some sort of system of accountability for yourself – Newport suggests some kind of scoreboard or tally of your productivity metrics. Perhaps you can create a streak of days where you spend at least an hour in deep work. You could also record the number of finished projects in a given amount of time – this system is great for people who publish written or audiovisual material. Use whatever system works for you, so long as you are holding yourself accountable.
Overall, 8/10 would highly recommend to anyone looking to increase their output of quality work that changes the work, or anyone looking for strategies to decrease the number of distractions plaguing day-to-day life. Even though the book starts off relatively slowly, part two delivers great information and insight on the ways to decrease distractions and increase productivity, both at work and at home. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an edge in a competitive field where quality work output matters.