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A thread on Deep Work by Cal Newport.
~90 things I learned/took from the book.
THREAD
~90 things I learned/took from the book.
THREAD
1- Deep Work:
Activities performed in distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.
Activities performed in distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.
2- Shallow Work:
Busy-work, often performed while distracted. These efforts do not create much value and are easy to replicate.
Busy-work, often performed while distracted. These efforts do not create much value and are easy to replicate.
3- Bill Gates has “Think Weeks” twice a year, during which he isolates himself and does nothing but read and think big thoughts
4- Spend enough time in a state of shallowness and you permanently reduce your capacity to perform deep work.
5- There's a massive economic and personal opportunity for those who can resist distraction and prioritize depth.
6- Your career is uncertain so long as your main professional skills could be captured in an Excel macro
7- To remain valuable in our economy you must master the art of quickly learning complicated things.
8- Deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy.
9- How to be more productive than 99% of people:
Uninterrupted and carefully directed concentration.
3-4 hours per day, 5 days a week.
Uninterrupted and carefully directed concentration.
3-4 hours per day, 5 days a week.
10- Those who can work with increasingly complex machines will thrive in the future. The rest will get left behind.
11- Winner-take-all effects will dominate the 21st century. Once the talent market is made universally accessible, those at the peak of the market thrive while the rest suffer.
12- There’s a premium to being the best.
Talent is not a commodity you can buy in bulk and combine. The superstars still win the bulk of the market.
Talent is not a commodity you can buy in bulk and combine. The superstars still win the bulk of the market.
13- Three groups will thrive in the future:
1. Those who can work well and creatively with intelligent machines
2. Those who are the best at what they do
3. Those with access to capital.
1. Those who can work well and creatively with intelligent machines
2. Those who are the best at what they do
3. Those with access to capital.
14- Two Core Abilities for Thriving in the New Economy
1. The ability to quickly master hard things.
2. The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed.
1. The ability to quickly master hard things.
2. The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed.
15- If you want to become a superstar, mastering the relevant skills is necessary, but not sufficient.
You need to produce good work.
If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.
You need to produce good work.
If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.
16- Mastery requires deliberate practice. There are few exceptions made for natural talent.
17- Deliberate Practice requires that:
1. your attention is focused tightly on a specific skill you’re trying to improve or an idea you’re trying to master;
2. you receive feedback so you can correct your approach to keep your attention exactly where it’s most productive
1. your attention is focused tightly on a specific skill you’re trying to improve or an idea you’re trying to master;
2. you receive feedback so you can correct your approach to keep your attention exactly where it’s most productive
18- Deep Work is a competitive advantage.
If you’re comfortable going deep, you’ll be able to thrive in our complex economy.
If you remain constantly distracted, you will get left behind.
If you’re comfortable going deep, you’ll be able to thrive in our complex economy.
If you remain constantly distracted, you will get left behind.
19- Batch hard but important intellectual work into long, uninterrupted stretches.
20- High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)
21- The best students study less than their lower-ranked peers. The best students understand the role intensity plays in productivity and maximized their concentration—radically reducing the time required to prepare for tests or write papers.
22- Unless your talent and skills absolutely dwarf those of your competition, the deep workers among them will outproduce you.
23- Don't obsess over CEOs and their routines.
You cannot extrapolate the approach of these executives to other jobs. To ask a CEO to spend four hours thinking deeply about a single problem is a waste of what makes him or her valuable.
You cannot extrapolate the approach of these executives to other jobs. To ask a CEO to spend four hours thinking deeply about a single problem is a waste of what makes him or her valuable.
24- Just because your current habits make deep work difficult doesn’t mean that this lack of depth is fundamental to doing your job well.
25- Deep work is not the only skill valuable in our economy, and it’s possible to do well without fostering this ability, but the niches where this is advisable are increasingly rare.
26- Generally speaking, as knowledge work makes more complex demands of the labor force, it becomes harder to measure the value of an individual’s efforts.
27- The Principle of Least Resistance:
In a business setting, without clear feedback on the impact of various behaviors to the bottom line, we will tend toward behaviors that are easiest in the moment.
In a business setting, without clear feedback on the impact of various behaviors to the bottom line, we will tend toward behaviors that are easiest in the moment.
28- Richard Feynman refused to do administrative duties because he knew they would only decrease his ability to do the one thing that mattered most in his professional life: “to do real good physics work.”
29- Busyness as Proxy for Productivity:
Without metrics of what it means to be productive and valuable in their jobs, many people turn to doing lots of stuff in a visible manner.
Without metrics of what it means to be productive and valuable in their jobs, many people turn to doing lots of stuff in a visible manner.
30- We live in an era where anything Internet-related is understood by default to be innovative and necessary. Depth-destroying behaviors such as immediate e-mail responses and an active social media presence are lauded, while avoidance of these trends generates suspicion.
31- Your world is the outcome of what you pay attention to
32- Cultivate “concentration so intense that there is no attention left over to think about anything irrelevant, or to worry about problems.”
33- “the idle mind is the devil’s workshop’… when you lose focus, your mind tends to fix on what could be wrong with your life instead of what’s right.”
34- “The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” Also called Flow.
35- People were happier at work and less happy relaxing than they suspected. Human beings, it seems, are at their best when immersed deeply in something challenging.
36- Deep work is an activity well suited to generate a flow state. And Flow generates happiness.
37- The five most common desires people fight:
1. Eating
2. Sleeping
3. Sex
4. Taking a break
5. Surfing the web
You can expect to be bombarded with the desire to do anything but work deeply throughout the day and these competing desires will often win out.
1. Eating
2. Sleeping
3. Sex
4. Taking a break
5. Surfing the web
You can expect to be bombarded with the desire to do anything but work deeply throughout the day and these competing desires will often win out.
38- You have a finite amount of willpower that becomes depleted as you use it.
39- Add routines and rituals to your working life designed to minimize the amount of your limited willpower necessary to transition into and maintain concentration.
40- Monastic Deep Work:
Maximize deep work by eliminating shallow obligations.
Retreat from the rest of the world. Be inaccessible. Avoid the web like the plague.
Maximize deep work by eliminating shallow obligations.
Retreat from the rest of the world. Be inaccessible. Avoid the web like the plague.
41- Bimodal Deep Work:
Periods of isolated deep work, followed by periods of normal activity.
In a week, dedicate a 4-day weekend to depth and the rest to open time.
In a year, dedicate one season to contain most of your deep stretches.
Periods of isolated deep work, followed by periods of normal activity.
In a week, dedicate a 4-day weekend to depth and the rest to open time.
In a year, dedicate one season to contain most of your deep stretches.
42- The minimum unit of time for deep work in this philosophy tends to be at least one full day
43- People will usually respect your right to become inaccessible if your isolated periods are well defined and well advertised.
44- Rhythmic Deep Work
The easiest way to consistently start deep work sessions is to transform them into a simple regular habit. Generate a rhythm for this work that removes the need for you to invest energy in starting your work.
The easiest way to consistently start deep work sessions is to transform them into a simple regular habit. Generate a rhythm for this work that removes the need for you to invest energy in starting your work.
45- Jerry Seinfeld on being a better comic:
“the way to be a better comic is to create better jokes,” and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. "Your only job next is to not break the chain"
“the way to be a better comic is to create better jokes,” and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. "Your only job next is to not break the chain"
46- The journalistic approach to Deep Work
Fit deep work in wherever you can. Five minutes here, ten minutes there.
Fit deep work in wherever you can. Five minutes here, ten minutes there.
47- This approach is not for the deep work novice. The ability to rapidly switch your mind from shallow to deep mode doesn’t come naturally. Without practice, such switches can seriously deplete your finite willpower reserves.
48- "The single best piece of advice I can offer to anyone trying to do creative work is to ignore inspiration."
49- “Great creative minds think like artists but work like accountants.”
50- Create rituals.
- Your ritual needs to specify a location for your deep work efforts.
- Your ritual needs rules and processes to keep your efforts structured.
- Your ritual needs to ensure your brain gets the support it needs to keep operating at a high level of depth.
- Your ritual needs to specify a location for your deep work efforts.
- Your ritual needs rules and processes to keep your efforts structured.
- Your ritual needs to ensure your brain gets the support it needs to keep operating at a high level of depth.
51- By leveraging a radical change to your normal environment you increase the perceived importance of the task. This boost in importance reduces your mind’s instinct to procrastinate and delivers an injection of motivation and energy.
52- Nobody likes open offices.
The professors at MIT—some of the most innovative technologists in the world—wanted nothing to do with an open-office-style workspace.
The professors at MIT—some of the most innovative technologists in the world—wanted nothing to do with an open-office-style workspace.
53- The 4 Disciplines of Execution:
1. Focus on the Wildly Important
2. Act on the Lead Measures
3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
4. Create a Cadence of Accountability
1. Focus on the Wildly Important
2. Act on the Lead Measures
3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
4. Create a Cadence of Accountability
54- Focus on the Wildly Important
Identify a small number of ambitious outcomes to pursue. "Try to say ‘yes’ to the subject that arouses a terrifying longing, and let the terrifying longing crowd out everything else.”
Identify a small number of ambitious outcomes to pursue. "Try to say ‘yes’ to the subject that arouses a terrifying longing, and let the terrifying longing crowd out everything else.”
55- Act on the Lead Measures
The one metric that matters: time spent in a state of deep work dedicated toward your wildly important goal.
The one metric that matters: time spent in a state of deep work dedicated toward your wildly important goal.
56- Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
“People play differently when they’re keeping score.”
Keep track of the number of hours spent in deep work. It helps set expectations for how many hours are needed in the future.
“People play differently when they’re keeping score.”
Keep track of the number of hours spent in deep work. It helps set expectations for how many hours are needed in the future.
57- Create a Cadence of Accountability
Have a weekly review in which you make a plan for the workweek ahead. Celebrate good weeks, understand what led to bad weeks, and figure out how to ensure a good score for the days ahead
Have a weekly review in which you make a plan for the workweek ahead. Celebrate good weeks, understand what led to bad weeks, and figure out how to ensure a good score for the days ahead
58- Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets… it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.
59- Downtime Aids Insights
Providing your conscious brain time to rest enables your unconscious mind to take a shift sorting through your most complex professional challenges. A shutdown habit diversifies the type of work you deploy.
Providing your conscious brain time to rest enables your unconscious mind to take a shift sorting through your most complex professional challenges. A shutdown habit diversifies the type of work you deploy.
60- Downtime Helps You Recharge
Walking in nature provides a mental respite as can most other relaxing activities so long as they provide freedom from directed concentration.
Walking in nature provides a mental respite as can most other relaxing activities so long as they provide freedom from directed concentration.
61- Trying to squeeze a little more work out of your evenings might reduce your effectiveness the next day enough that you end up getting less done.
62- For a novice, somewhere around an hour a day of intense concentration seems to be a limit, while for experts this number can expand to as many as four hours—but rarely more.
63- Top performers average around three and a half hours per day in a state of deliberate practice, usually separated into two distinct periods. Lower performers spend less time in a state of depth.
64- Once your workday shuts down, refuse the intrustion of any professional concern.
65- Support your commitment with a strict shutdown ritual at the end of the workday to maximize the probability that you succeed.
66- When you work, work hard. When you’re done, be done.
67- Once your brain has become accustomed to on-demand distraction it’s hard to shake the addiction even when you want to concentrate
68- Don’t Take Breaks from Distraction. Instead Take Breaks from Focus
Instead of scheduling the occasional break from distraction so you can focus, you should instead schedule the occasional break from focus to give in to distraction.
Instead of scheduling the occasional break from distraction so you can focus, you should instead schedule the occasional break from focus to give in to distraction.
69- Schedule in advance when you’ll use the Internet, and then avoid it altogether outside these times. Until the next time you’re allowed to use the Internet, absolutely no network connectivity is allowed.
70- The constant switching from high-value activities to entertaining low-value activities teaches your mind to never tolerate an absence of novelty
71- Whenever you're tempted: enforce at least a five-minute gap between the current moment and the next time you can go online.
72- To simply wait and be bored has become a novel experience in modern life.
73- Work Like Teddy Roosevelt:
“The amount of time he spent at his desk was comparatively small, but his concentration was so intense, and his reading so rapid, that he could afford more time off [from schoolwork] than most."
“The amount of time he spent at his desk was comparatively small, but his concentration was so intense, and his reading so rapid, that he could afford more time off [from schoolwork] than most."
74- Always keep your self-imposed deadlines right at the edge of feasibility. You should be able to consistently beat the buzzer, but to do so should require teeth-gritting concentration.
75- Productive Meditation:
A period in which you’re occupied physically but not mentally—walking, jogging, driving, showering—and focus on a single well-defined professional problem. Continue to bring your attention back to the problem at hand when it wanders or stalls.
A period in which you’re occupied physically but not mentally—walking, jogging, driving, showering—and focus on a single well-defined professional problem. Continue to bring your attention back to the problem at hand when it wanders or stalls.
76- The biggest difference between memory athletes and normal people is not their memory, but their ability to focus.
77- Why visualization works:
We’re not wired to quickly internalize abstract information. We are, however, really good at remembering scenes.
We’re not wired to quickly internalize abstract information. We are, however, really good at remembering scenes.
78- The Any-Benefit Approach to Tool Selection:
You’re justified in using a network tool if you can identify a single possible benefit to its use.
You’re justified in using a network tool if you can identify a single possible benefit to its use.
79- If you’re a knowledge worker, you should treat your tool selection with the same level of care as other skilled workers, such as farmers. Adopt a tool only if its positive impacts on these factors substantially outweigh its negative impacts
80- Tool Selection:
1. Identify factors that determine success and happiness
2. List for each 2-3 important activities.
3. For each tool you use, ask if it has a positive, negative or neutral impact
4. Keep only the tools where the positive impact outweighs the negative one.
1. Identify factors that determine success and happiness
2. List for each 2-3 important activities.
3. For each tool you use, ask if it has a positive, negative or neutral impact
4. Keep only the tools where the positive impact outweighs the negative one.
81- 20% of social activities provide the bulk of the benefit.
82- Stuff accumulates in people’s lives because when faced with the elimination it’s easy to worry, “What if I need this one day?”
83- Put more thought into your leisure time.
Don’t default to whatever catches your attention at the moment, but instead dedicate some advance thinking to the question of how you want to spend the 16 hours outside of your working life.
Don’t default to whatever catches your attention at the moment, but instead dedicate some advance thinking to the question of how you want to spend the 16 hours outside of your working life.
84- Very few people work even 8 hours a day.
You’re lucky if you get a few good hours in between all the meetings, interruptions, web surfing, office politics, and personal business that permeate the typical workday.
You’re lucky if you get a few good hours in between all the meetings, interruptions, web surfing, office politics, and personal business that permeate the typical workday.
85- A nontrivial amount of shallow work is needed to maintain most knowledge work jobs. You might be able to avoid checking your e-mail every ten minutes, but you won’t likely last long if you never respond to important messages.
86- For someone new to deep focus, an hour a day is a reasonable limit. For those familiar with the rigors of such activities, the limit expands to something like four hours, but rarely more
87- Once you’ve hit your deep work limit in a given day, you’ll experience diminishing rewards if you try to cram in more.
88- Evaluate activities by asking: How long would it take (in months) to train a smart recent college graduate with no specialized training in my field to complete this task?
89- Be incredibly cautious about the use of the most dangerous word in one’s productivity vocabulary: “yes.”
It should take a lot to convince you to agree to something that yields shallow work.
It should take a lot to convince you to agree to something that yields shallow work.
90- Most are okay to not receive a response if they don’t expect one
91- Do not reply to an e-mail if:
• It’s ambiguous or makes it hard for you to generate a reasonable response.
• It’s not a question or proposal that interests you.
• Nothing really good would happen if you did respond and nothing really bad would happen if you didn’t
• It’s ambiguous or makes it hard for you to generate a reasonable response.
• It’s not a question or proposal that interests you.
• Nothing really good would happen if you did respond and nothing really bad would happen if you didn’t
92- “Develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll never find time for the life-changing big things.”
93- Gates worked with such intensity for such lengths during this two-month stretch that he would often collapse into sleep on his keyboard in the middle of writing a line of code. He would then sleep for an hour or two, wake up, and pick up right where he left off.
94- A commitment to deep work is not a moral stance and it’s not a philosophical statement —it is instead a pragmatic recognition that the ability to concentrate is a skill that gets valuable things done.
95- “I’ll live the focused life, because it’s the best kind there is.”
Make sure to check out the other book notes I've compiled on my blog!
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https://anthonyjcampbell.com/books
