Review: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!! This book has changed me to the core haha in a good way!

This book is about completely isolating yourself from any distractions, booking time out of your schedule, and really focusing on your work. No social media, no phones, emails, no noises, nothing. Being able to decipher between deep work and shallow work and what to focus on. Deep work is a skill that must be practiced and to form a habit of.

What I learned from this book:
- Meditation room, isolation is focus - author locked himself in a shed in New York to write Tom sawyer, JK Rowling used computer to write HP but was away from social media
- Less people are being hired full time with benefits and there’s a rise on contracted talent, so that being the best is more valuable today than it use to be. You look for the best in certain fields and pay a premium for it, once the job or project is done you part ways and move onto the next one. Instead of sitting by a desk and being average. So it’s good for high performers and it’s not good for average people who cruise their jobs and just want something stable
- In terms of multitasking, when you switch from one task to another, your attention leaves a residue leaving a part of your brain stuck at the last task
- Deep work doesn’t really apply to high executives and sales people because the high executives should elect a few people to think deep and propose solutions to issues and executive to make a decision based upon their deep thoughts. Sales people have to always be connected to customers at all times for a prompt response
- Office IM’s, and open concept layouts are collaborative yet they are distractive
- Scientist writer Winifred Gallagher summarizes: “What you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love - is the sum of what you focus on.” “What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore - plays in defining the quality of our life.”
- "you have a finite amount of willpower that becomes depleted as you use it. Your will, in other words, is not a manifestation of your character that you can deploy without limit; it’s instead a muscle that tires.”
- ...”the monastic philosophy of deep work scheduling. This philosophy attempts to maximize deep efforts by eliminating or radically minimizing shallow obligations. Practitioners of the monastic philosophy tend to have a well defined and highly valued professional goal that they’re pursuing, and the bulk of their professional success comes from doing this one thing exceptionally well.”
- “Jung’s approach is what I call the bimodal philosophy of deep work. This philosophy asks that you divide your time. Dedicating some clearly defined stretches to deep pursuits and leaving the rest open to everything else. During the deep time the bimodal worker will act monastically seeking intense and uninterrupted concentration. During the shallow time, such focus is not prioritized.”
- It’s not as effective to schedule your deep work session on an ad hoc basis, it’s best to have it in the same time frame so it’s like a habit and it’s easier to get into it faster. Also consistency is key too
Where you work and for how long? How you’ll work once you start to work? How you’ll support your work?
- “When you work, work hard. When you’re done, be done. You’re average email response time might suffer some, but you’ll more than make up for this with the sheer volume of truly important work produced during the day by your refreshed ability to deep dive deeper than your exhausted peers.” It’s important to have shut down/peaceful/no work time to allow your brain to rest and your muscles to refuel”

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