Why this book

This week, my focus is on Deep Work by Cal Newport.

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This book has been on my radar for quite some time. I am captivated by the notion of flow and the satisfaction derived from being fully engaged in studying. Distractions leave me feeling frustrated, and I detest the overwhelming influence that email notifications, Slack messages, endless scrolling, and other digital temptations have over me.

Consequently, Deep Work was among the first titles I added to my 2022 reading list, and I’m thankful to have tackled it early in the year. The insights gained are immensely beneficial and will aid me in my ongoing project.

I have always admired those effortlessly productive individuals I encounter occasionally. Not the types who sacrifice their health and relationships through all-nighters for the sake of productivity, but rather those who seem to possess an abundance of time in their day, maintain a harmonious work-life balance, and produce quality work calmly rather than chaotically. Their productivity reflects a state of thriving rather than stress.

I aspire to embody that form of productivity, and Deep Work offers valuable research and strategies to achieve it.

A quote that sums it up

One quote resonated deeply with me:

"When you switch from Task A to Task B, your attention doesn’t instantly transition; a residue of your attention lingers on the original task."

When we succumb to distractions, we don’t merely waste time; we compromise our ability to engage in deep work moving forward—even after the distraction has passed. The implications of this are profound. If distractions occur regularly throughout your day, you may never fully tap into your potential for focus and deep work, as a part of your mind remains tethered to the distraction.

In short: multitasking is ineffective.

This is the crux of Deep Work: distractions are more pervasive and deceptive than one might assume. Thus, we must be steadfast in eliminating and addressing distractions.

In examining the distractions that detract from deep work, it's crucial to recognize that they manifest in various forms. Meetings, emails, communication tools, news, social media, and countless other sources serve as potential interruptions. Some distractions (like email and communication tools) are branded as productivity aids and may even provide a gratifying sense of accomplishment when managing your inbox. However, maintaining a tidy inbox may distract you from larger, more significant objectives.

Key insight

Deep Work is divided into two sections. The first elucidates what deep work entails and its significance. Hopefully, the quote above conveys some understanding of this section. Engaging in deep work is the only way to unlock your full potential and enhance your capacity for meaningful and valuable work.

The second section provides practical tools and guidelines for cultivating the habit of deep work. Newport suggests four principles for enhancing deep work, all of which merit reflection and consideration for implementation in your life.

Work Deeply

The initial principle of deep work is to work deeply. This may seem somewhat circular or reminiscent of Shia LaBeouf.

The essential takeaway here is that we are predominantly shaped by our habits and routines. These routines and habits can be modified to foster an environment conducive to deep work.

The key to forming a deep work habit is to transcend mere good intentions and implement routines and rituals in your work life to minimize the willpower needed for unbroken concentration.

Therefore, if you aspire to work deeply, begin by designing a life that facilitates deep work. This involves examining your calendar and scheduling, adjusting notification settings on your devices, and the physical placement of distractions like your phone. Each of these factors can be rearranged to lessen interruptions and ease the transition into a state of deep work.

Embrace Boredom

This principle was somewhat surprising and even counterintuitive. It revolves around the stimulation level that your brain experiences. Most distractions from deep work—emails, notifications, smartphones, the 24-hour news cycle, and social media—are highly stimulating. We often view stimulation positively, but there’s a downside. Excessive stimulation becomes addictive for our brains. Consequently, when it's time to focus deeply, we may find ourselves unable to do so.

The remedy for this is boredom. Reducing stimulation is essential. Historically, this was the brain's default state.

We've all experienced the discomfort of boredom—lack of new stimuli. Our instinct is to reach for our phones to engage with something stimulating, creating an instant influx of stimuli. This immediate response rewires our brains to seek constant stimulation, which is incompatible with deep work and concentration.

Consider a moment when you were without your phone or prior to owning one. You likely felt bored, and that was entirely acceptable. It probably led to deeper engagement with your thoughts and introspection, which is much more favorable for achieving deep work.

It's the constant shifting from low-stimuli/high-value activities to high-stimuli/low-value activities at the slightest hint of boredom that conditions our minds to reject any absence of novelty.

While it may sound counterproductive to embrace boredom, there are effective ways to become comfortable with it again: meditation, nature walks, exercise without distractions, and engaging in deep work. Allow yourself to adapt to lower levels of stimulus and let your mind explore avenues it wouldn't typically venture.

Quit Social Media

This principle is likely the most apparent yet crucial. Few distractions undermine deep work more than social media while offering minimal value to our lives. Your emotions may protest, yet your intellect may recognize the truth.

If you believe you derive substantial benefits from social media, it’s vital to consider those benefits against their costs. Social media significantly alters our brains, making us uneasy with boredom, consumes time better spent on meaningful work, and distracts our focus—even after we’ve disengaged from it.

If you wish to explore deep work, consider stepping away from social media.

Drain the Shallows

We’ve all experienced heightened productivity when deadlines loom. This is often when we enter a state of deep work.

Another perspective on this is Parkinson’s Law, which states that tasks expand to fill the time allocated to them.

This insight explains the productivity of those individuals I previously mentioned. They’ve eliminated shallow tasks and limited their focus to deep work, leading to an efficient workflow and ample time for a fulfilling life outside work.

Newport shares numerous examples of individuals and organizations that have successfully drained the shallows to promote deep work and maintain time outside of work. Many have drastically reduced email and meeting frequencies or set aside significant periods for innovative pursuits instead of routine tasks.

Many of these concepts relate to the limits of our focus and time. You only have so many hours in a day and a finite focus. Thus, prioritize significant tasks and ruthlessly eliminate everything else. The outcomes will be improved, you'll experience greater satisfaction, and you'll have more time for leisurely pursuits.

Who should read this book

This book is for you if:

• You're a student
• You work in an office environment
• You own a smartphone
• You engage with social media
• You use Slack
• You rely on email
• You frequently switch tasks
• Your work is meeting-heavy
• You often work long hours
• You struggle with boredom
• You find yourself habitually refreshing pages or apps

In essence, everyone should read this book. In today's world of smartphones and social media, we are all deeply distracted. Understanding how to regain focus and delve into deeper work is essential for creating value and leading a fulfilling life. Prioritizing this should be a goal for nearly all of us.

What I plan to implement

I relish the feeling of checking items off my to-do list and rapidly responding to emails to achieve Inbox Zero. It feels rewarding, but this is somewhat misleading. These tasks aren't truly deep work and don't bring me closer to my objectives.

Many of my goals this year require extended periods of undisturbed deep work: reading, writing, brainstorming, creating and editing videos, and developing other content. Here are a few strategies from Deep Work that I intend to adopt to reach these goals.

Certain apps are heading to the trash bin

I will be deleting any apps from my phone that feature infinite scroll or pull-to-refresh functionality as I write this. This includes LinkedIn. They provide minimal value and significantly detract from my ability to engage in deep work.

Taking scheduling to the next level

I excel at calendaring—it's well-organized, color-coded, and comprehensive. However, after reading Deep Work, I recognize that I primarily allocate time for low-value, shallow activities like meetings. I intend to start reserving blocks of time in my calendar specifically for deep work, ensuring that I don’t let a day pass without engaging in meaningful tasks.

Unimportant to-dos are getting batched

Some to-dos are necessary but of low value—emails, for instance. I need to respond to a fair number of emails daily, but I can decide how and when to address them. I typically treat them as top priorities, interrupting whatever I'm doing to respond, which disrupts deep work.

Instead, I can batch all email-related tasks to reduce their distracting impact throughout the day. I plan to set aside time at the end of each day (or every other day) to review and respond to emails. No more keeping Gmail open during the day. I’m curious to see how much time this will consume at day’s end—it will likely reveal how much of a time and focus drain email has been throughout the day prior to batching.

Up next

Next, I will read The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. If you're interested in purchasing it and reading along, consider using the affiliate link to support me!

Previous reads

• How to Win Friends & Influence People
• Think and Grow Rich!
• The E-Myth

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