Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Ratings415
Average rating4
I've read a few books by now on productivity. This one did not make any particularly nuanced points, but I did leave convinced that deep work is a key to expert success. David Allen's “Getting Things Done” and, by a different author, “The Power of Habit” are some good books to read either after or before this one. They all pretty much say the same thing—habit is crucial to success and we must manage our actions in regards to all types of projects in our lives.
I think this was a really important book for me to read. Sure some sections could have probably been shorter, but there are some ideas in here that I don't see myself ever forgetting and that could also lead to some significant changes in my life.
Normalmente odio scrivere recensioni, penso infatti che la mia scrittura sia abbastanza mediocre e non penso di avere mai grandi concetti da aggiungere alle migliaia di recensioni già reperibili online, ma questa volta sento il bisogno di fare un'eccezione.
Faccio un'eccezione perché penso che Deep Work abbia in se il suo motivo di essere rivoluzionario: viviamo in un mondo iper connesso e iper pieno di informazione, e lo giudichiamo come un vantaggio, siamo spesso occupati ad essere occupati, non riusciamo a stare 10 secondi in coda alle poste senza scrollare il feed di Instagram. Cal Newport ci vuole dire che chiunque riesca a scappare da questa confusione invisibile può veramente dare un senso ai propri giorni e portare avanti la propria visione personale, invece che “reagire” alla quotidiana overdose di inter-connettività.
Rivoluzione consigliata.
Premise: if you are a knowledge worker/want to do things that matter you should spending a portion of your time doing deep work.
1) you must practice concentrating
2) you must make time to do deep work
3) figure out what your goals are and what two or three activities best support them
4) stop wasting time on busy/shallow/admin work
5) profit
Didn't expect to find this book enjoyable but it was - enjoyable and insightful. There are plenty of “rules” and tips on how to focus more deeply, with many examples drawn from past and current figures.
This was a good book with actionable advice. I'd love to see the author research and present findings on a more diverse group if he is going to make sweeping claims.
I preferred Digital Minimalism, you'll get some of the same points.
Very interesting and well written book discussing the benefits and challenges associated with “Deep Work.” In short, Deep Work is when you are able to focus solely on getting something specific accomplished. It's very essential to the concept of “flow” or “being in the zone.” But you don't have to live like a hermit to get there. There are ways to get the benefits in much shorter time chunks than you may suspect.
Going into it, I wasn't honestly expecting a whole lot of new information for someone who has read quite a few books in the “productivity” segment. I was pleasantly surprised. Cal Newport does a great job discussing not only the benefits of uninterrupted work (or focus... it doesn't really even have to be “work,” honestly), but also different ways to implement the principles he discusses and gives interesting real-world examples of people you may have heard of who are living the Deep Work life. Not only that, but he also honestly discusses some of the challenges you can expect to encounter.
Changing your life to a full deep work lifestyle isn't for everyone, but there's a good chance everyone could benefit from implementing deep work segments into their workflow. While this book isn't as beneficial in concept as, say, GTD or Your Best Year Ever, I think it's one I'm going to return to every few years. Also of note, I listened to this on Audible audiobook and it was very well produced. The narrator did a good job with the production and it didn't seem as though there was any important info that I missed (graphs or infographics).
Like his previews one, Cal Newport managed to write an amazing book about the skill that's super valuable in today's society. Deep Work, as he calls it, is the ability to work on something with full attention and concentration over long periods of time.
In our current times, with all the technology around us, in the midst of social networks and numerous other tools for distraction, one who develops an ability to work on something with undivided attention and focus will be rewarded with things that just aren't possible to have otherwise.
Nearly all the great people throughout the history, who have created something meaningful and valuable, worked deeply in one way or another. Craftsmen mindset and deep work abilities are essential to living non-distracted and growth-oriented life. According to Cal, your abilities to produce meaningful work will skyrocket, as did his, after implementing the strategies and techniques that this book talks about.
There are numerous case studies and stories told here which seem to be reasonable arguments to embody this new (or rather, quite old if one thinks about it) philosophy.
This book will make you think about your everyday working habits and the potential of optimizing them. Also, it will inspire you and make you see the possibilities of what you can achieve if you simply undertake the process of making your work deeper. I believe that nobody will want to return to distracted and unconcentrated lifestyle, after tasting the results of making one's work deeper.
Overall, the concepts in the book resonated with my past attempts to limit distraction in the work place, and get more done. The sentence structure and prose were long for my taste. On content, I think Deep Work pulled together concepts and research from other sources on working efficiently, and my main complaint is that too much of the justification fell to the authors personal anecdotes and experience. I would have preferred to see a wider range of interviews and sources, across different disciplines and careers, relating to the strategies suggested. This would have added more strength to practical application of Cal's advice. There is a long section on social media use, but fails to add any new perspective. I think this chapter would have been much better structured talking about the nature of digital distraction as a whole, and then making suggestions to manage and carefully select what you allow to consume your attention (including social media simply in the broader spectrum of app or phone usage).
The practical advices that I intend to apply:
1. Putting more effort into structuring my down time to advancing personal projects (creative outlets like drawing and painting, fitness focused on yoga and cycling, cooking).
2. On focused projects, think about how to chunk the work between ‘deep work' focused sessions, and actively seeking collaboration to improve the overall end product.
3. Read the referenced Christensen book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution, as I've see these concepts being applied at work but not the source of the execution strategy before.
4. Try to ‘close the loop' more efficiently in email with more specificity in responses, try not to allow simple threads to get dragged out.
5. Extend ‘meeting free time' focused currently on output production (doc writing, launching campaigns, etc.) to include research time and more longer term thinking. I'm going to try the advice to not just disable notifications, but work offline completely sans internet for these time chunks.
5. Implement an end of day shutdown ritual to clear out any remaining threads, and schedule the next day. Cleaning up incomplete tasks to not dominate my attention until the following day.
It's a good non fiction/self improvement book if I see myself trying at least some of the things he's written about instead of say rolling my eyes as the author and me clearly don't share a planet. He's persuasive and makes a pretty good case for deep work and then provides some interesting ideas of to try and get there.
One rolling ny eyes moment though was when one of his examples was described as “dissapearing to his island for two months every summer to work” and I was like “while his wife took care of kids and other details “?!! of course.
Having said that, after the early-twentieth century people examples most of his case studies are much more applicable to real life and some of them ( sadly, in the single digits percentage ) are women, too.
One of the best productivity books out there. The only book to come close to Getting Things Done by David Allen in its effect on how I think about and experience my work and personal life.
Although it gets repetitive a bit in the middle, the gist of the book can be summarized as - Do deep work instead of the shallow. You have to actively work on your habits to keep yourself from spiraling into the distraction laden life that the current online culture has inculcated. All this sounds like common advice and a touch of self-help vibe in the title of this book may make you skeptical to pick it up, but the advices and strategies Cal Newport suggests is applicable to everyone in the 21st century. If you can't make it through the entire book, read at least few of his blog posts on Cal Newport: Blog .
Decent book, but I had much higher hopes for it, especially in regards to other people´s ratings of the book.
The subject is very interesting and the book details the benefits of deep work, as well as some points on how to do deep work.
However, I thought the book became kind of repetitive after a while, with too many examples of success stories, instead of examples on how to actually do deep work.
For me, albeit an exaggeration, the book pretty much tells you to really focus on the problems you face in your work, which will lead you to become much greater in that field.
The underlying meaning is simply put to stay focused on the task at hand and work through it, instead of giving up, which I definitely agree with the writer on is the main cause for most people failing at things, but I was expecting the book to be more about how to achieve deep work, not why it is important.
You shouldn´t need to read this but you probably do need to read this. I did.
I've always been fascinated by the idea of “flow”. The ability to dig deep into a topic and concentrate on it for long periods of time takes some time to nurture and practice to get good at - and when I stop practicing it gets more difficult. The focus on deep work and the advantages it can bring in this book range from learning, to execution to producing the best work you're capable of.
I love this book because not only does it discuss the concept about deep work (which basically boils down to - you do your best work and are the most productive when you're extremely focused) but gives solid tips on how to do it. I've written an in-depth review/run down of the book here: http://www.elizabethtai.com/blog/top-thoughts-from-deep-work-by-cal-newport and here http://www.elizabethtai.com/blog/how-im-structuring-my-life-for-more-deep-work
About the book: Deep Work is all about how the rise of technology has wrecked our ability to concentrate deeply on tasks – and how to overcome this blockade. This book illustrates different strategies that can help you improve the output of your work and get the most out of your free time.
About the author: Cal Newport is an assistant professor of computer science at Georgetown University specializing in the theory of distributed algorithms. Several publications, including Inc. Magazine, The Globe and Mail and 800-CEO-Read, have featured his most recent book, So Good They Can't Ignore You, on their lists for the best business book of the year.
My highlights:
Multitasking and distraction are the enemies of productivity. multitasking does not equal productivity
Completing small tasks and moving information around makes us feel busy and accomplished – but it's actually just preventing us from truly focusing.
There are different strategies for achieving deep work – all of which require intention. monastic approach. This strategy works by eliminating all sources of distraction and secluding yourself like a monk.
Bimodal approach, which involves setting a clearly defined, long period of seclusion for work and leaving the rest of your time free for everything else.
Rhythmic approach. The idea here is to form a habit of doing deep work for blocks of, say, 90 minutes and using a calendar to track your accomplishments.
Journalistic strategy is to take any unexpected free time in your daily routine to do deep work.
Define your space
Define boundaries
Make your deep work sustainable
Scheduling both work and free time is essential to restoring energy. scheduling everything you do, you'll free up time for being mindful of how you spend it. At the start of every workday, create a schedule that's divided into blocks of at least 30 minutes. In this schedule you should set both work and personal tasks like time to relax, eat or catch up on email.
Cultivate awareness about how you spend your time.
Plan your evenings and weekends ahead so you can take actions toward specific goals
Planning your evenings and weekends around activities other than those involving the internet
Mostly inspiring and interesting but some ideas seem half-baked, in particular the idea of so-called “productive meditation” which seems like a recipe for becoming an aloof and/or burnt out professor. The author also seems to cherry pick when to offer research instead of mere anecdotes to back up his points.
I've been following Cal Newport's blog, Study Hacks, for a while, so a lot of the ideas presented here were familiar, but it was still a great, great book with organization, depth, and insight that has inspired directly measurable improvements to my productivity and satisfaction with work.
In a world where network tools like Facebook are designed by the smartest engineers to make you addicted to their services, how do you make sure you get deep meaningful work done? Newport does a great job in summarizing a lot of the problems we face in our new distracted world and what steps to take to win back thoughtful work. Like all things, this requires planning, practice and a conscious effort to do more with our time without expending more of it.
This book is well worth your time if you keep checking your phone, can't do something for 5-10 mins without going to Facebook, Snapchat etc.
This is a book about how to live disguised as a productivity book. If the only thing you're interested in is how to squeeze more work into every day, there are better resources such as David Allen's classic Getting Things Done. If you want more than that, don't miss Deep Work.
The message that stood out most to me was the connection between doing deep work and generally finding meaning in work. This idea seems to be a carry over from Newport's earlier book, So Good They Can't Ignore You, but since I haven't read that book, this was my first exposure to it.
Passion is often trotted out as the show horse we're all to chase if we're to find happiness and success in our careers. In Deep Work, Newport convincingly argues that it's actually skill and mastery that lead to passion and not the other way around. When we work at something long enough to get good at it, we find inherent satisfaction in doing it. This is partly due to Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi's very influential concept of “flow.” Flow the state we attain when we work at something that is right at the fine edge between too hard and too easy. We block out all other stimuli and go into a state of meditative work in which time passes quickly and in a deeply satisfying way. If we practice something enough to easily enter this flow state, we begin to associate these positive experiences with the work and develop a passion for the work.
Additionally, when we create work we're passionate about, it can lead to an overall happier life. This is part of the idea behind another book, Rapt, which again, I haven't read, but is summarized briefly in Deep Work. The core idea is that we are what we think. When we spend time focusing on pleasant or positive aspects of our experiences, we start to frame everything that happens in our lives in a way that is congruous with the positive things we're focusing on. It seems like a pretty obvious conclusion, but when placed alongside the idea of creating passionate work, it's easy to see how important it is to do work we're good at. It is a direct contributor to our overall happiness.
Happiness is great, but there are a couple other things we want from work, both of which circle back to make happiness itself easier to find. Obviously, the first is money. Once the money is flowing, we seek meaning. Newport makes arguments for how deep work can lead to both of these.
Money is the easy one. Robots are taking over the world. If your job can be done by someone with less than a college education, it's very likely that at some point in the not too distant future, it'll be automated by a robot. If you can become someone who builds or works with these robots in a way that increases automation, you will probably make a lot of money. If you don't do that, you can still make money by being one of the best in your field, whatever you field may be. In order to do either of those though, you're going to have to be able focus deeply and produce a lot of good work quick. This comes at a time when people who can do deep work are fewer and fewer. As Nicholas Carr shows in The Shallows, the increasingly distracted world we live in means that many people's brains are permanently altered so as to render them incapable of extended periods of focus and concentration.
It should be said that while deep work is one way to greatly increase your probability of making money, there ways to do it without deep work. For example, having capital to begin with and investing it or there are some forms of management where deep work isn't as much of a requirement. In most other fields though, the ability to work deeply is increasingly rare and increasingly necessary.
We also crave meaning. For a long time, meaning was found principally in the domain of religion, usually state run, or in the government of the state you happened to have been born into. This is argued in the book All Things Shining by Harvard philosophy chair Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly. This is another book that I've added to my queue, so I won't take on the argument directly, but rather quote from Deep Work to make the point. Here's how Newport describes the loss of religious or state imbued meaning:
From Descartes's skepticism came the radical belief that the individual seeking certainty trumped a God or king bestowing truth. The resulting Enlightenment, of course, led to the concept of human rights and freed many from oppression. But as Dreyfus and Kelly emphasize, for all its good in the political arena, in the domain of the metaphysical this thinking stripped the world of the order and sacredness essential to creating meaning. In a post-Enlightenment world we have tasked ourselves to identify what's meaningful and what's not, an exercise that can seem arbitrary and induce a creeping nihilism. “The Enlightenment's metaphysical embrace of the autonomous individual leads not just to a boring life,” Dreyfus and Kelly worry; “it leads almost inevitably to a nearly unlivable one.”
Craftsmanship, Dreyfus and Kelly argue in their book's conclusion, provides a key to reopening a sense of sacredness in a responsible manner. To illustrate this claim, they use as an organizing example an account of a master wheelwright—the now lost profession of shaping wooden wagon wheels. “Because each piece of wood is distinct, it has its own personality,” they write after a passage describing the details of the wheelwright's craft. “The woodworker has an intimate relationship with the wood he works. Its subtle virtues call out to be cultivated and cared for.” In this appreciation for the “subtle virtues” of his medium, they note, the craftsman has stumbled onto something crucial in a post-Enlightenment world: a source of meaning sited outside the individual. The wheelwright doesn't decide arbitrarily which virtues of the wood he works are valuable and which are not; this value is inherent in the wood and the task it's meant to perform.
As Dreyfus and Kelly explain, such sacredness is common to craftsmanship. The task of a craftsman, they conclude, “is not to generate meaning, but rather to cultivate in himself the skill of discerning the meanings that are already there.” This frees the craftsman of the nihilism of autonomous individualism, providing an ordered world of meaning. At the same time, this meaning seems safer than the sources cited in previous eras. The wheelwright, the authors imply, cannot easily use the inherent quality of a piece of pine to justify a despotic monarchy.
All Things Shining
Deep Work
Deep Work
I read this a few years back and remember not loving it. But these days I'm definitely lacking deep work and am trying to accomplish harder things, and figured I should give it another go. It's still not an amazing book, but it's inspiring and well written and you could do worse than reading it.