Deep work by Cal Newport
Main Idea
Essentialy proves to us that deep work is essential for development as a knowledge worker, and it also tells one that is a rare skill and it is becoming harder and harder to find due to our tendency to get distracted, primarily by social media and the internet at large. It also proves that we as humans are the happiest when we are in a state of flow that is deep work. The following are the rules for deep work
The Rules
Work Deeply
Embrace Boredom
Quit Social Media
Drain the shallows
1.Work Deeply
We only have a finite amount of willpower and concentration so we must preserve it through rituals and habits. This chapter went into depth about the different types of deep work one can employ such as monastic way, bimodal, rhythmic, and journalistic.
Monastic
It is when one fully withdraws from the world of distractions to focus on a desired goal, this doesn’t work for people who do not have a solid career or enough confidence in their skills, it works well for the dedicated few.
Bimodal
This is when one goes into a phase of deep work for a couple weeks or months then goes back into the world of distractions and so on, this has worked wonders for many people like Carl Jung and JK Rowling both of them would leave their homes for months or weeks to work deeply.
Rhythmic
I believe this will work the best for me as it allows one to work deeply for a few hours then go back into the normal world. I can implement this into my schedule by waking up a 3 hours before I normally do so I can focus on deep work and spend the rest of the day reading books, working out and trading. This also builds a habit of deep work which can help me go on long streaks. The comic, Jerry Seinfeld would write at least one joke everyday, and then after a week or so of crossing out everyday he would try his best to keep the streak going.
Journalistic
This is the process of getting into deep work whenever you have the extra time, this can only aid if you can just switch into deep work mode.
There are four disciplines that will help you have the best deep work sessions
Set specific goals
Track leading measures that tell you if you are going on the right path like how many hours of deep work was I able to do.
Keep score of your leading measure such as hours in deep work.
Make sure you are reviewing them once per week.
Protect your down time as it can lead to breakthroughs so essentially work deeply then relax and enjoy a good book or talk to family and friends.
2.Embrace Boredom (Learn to memorize a deck of cards)
Basically if you cannot cope with the slightest sense of boredom then one cannot become deeply focus with their work. Work with great intensity, meaning give yourself a time constraint and using Parkinson’s law one can make the most of their time. Roosevelt had many ambitions but still had good marks because of the intensity of his work.
💡 Do not take Breaks from Distractions instead take breaks from focus
When thinking about Deep things we have a tendency to loop things so I recommend writing the things one is thinking about down, you can start by writing the variables then trying to work the problem out loud by writing it.
Learn to memorize a deck of cards as it will increase one's attentional focus
3.Quit Social Media
The book went into some techniques when composing an email to keep the message from going back and forth, such as telling them everything they need to know such as dates you are available and so forth instead of going back and forth and also I believe proposing to call them and figure it out is also and not replying if the question is too open ended. In my life, I haven't really been a fan of emails, I get my message across really well by composing loom, which is a short video explaining things. Meetings in person are best for discussing important things in my experience.
4.Drain the Shallows
Essentially, working backwards so setting a time constraint of like 40 hours then making sure everything fits into that 40 hours instead of going overboard, a lot of famous authors finish their work by 5 30 as they have very productive hours so they are not caught in the shallow, redundant work. I believe this will happen automatically to some degree if one employs the idea of deep working. Scheduling ones day can also be very beneficial as it will drown out the hours spent doing essentially nothing for example I spent like an hour and a half just listening to music instead of working hard. One can find it beneficial to do the deep work first then the shallow things, as one has limited concentration and will power if you save the most important deep working tasks last then you may run out of will power and concentration to do them. Become hard to reach this is fine because I am not famous I’ll look into this more once I reach that level of stardom.