Last updated April 10, 2022

#literature/books/implemented Finished-Reading List

• Read How to Become a Straight-A Student, All things shining,

• Deep work is the ability to work to our utmost capacity

• People are starting to lose the ability to focus and partake in deep work due to social media and other distractions

• By spending enough time in a state of shallowness, you can permanently reduce your ability to perform deep work

• To succeed in such a competitive environment  we need to produce the best stuff you’re capable of doing

• Since deep work is becoming more rare and valuable, it is a highly desirable skill

Chapter 1 -  The Value of Deep Work

• Read race against the machine

There are three valuable groups:

High-skilled

• People who are able to work with complex machines (robotics)

Superstars

• People who are exceptional at a task; rather than paying someone for cheap who is inexperienced, you can hire an expert that will produce a higher quality product for more value

Owners

• Those with capital who are willing to invest in new technologies

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

• If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive, no matter how skilled or talented you are

• These two core abilities are dependent on your capability of performing deep work

Deliberate practice requires

1. Our attention being fully focused 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

• As a result, it’s important to eliminate distractions

• High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)

• When we switch from Task A to Task B, we leave some “attention residue” on Task A, resulting in poorer performance

• However, CEO’s must possess the opposite skill, the ability to multitask and efficiently manage others to do the deep thinking

• Deep work isn’t the only skill valuable in our economy, and it’s not completely needed, but it’s still super rare

Chapter 2 - Deep Work is Rare

• Even if you don’t physically react to distractions, your brain still does

• A culture of connectivity (constantly checking emails, text messages) are widely accepted because it is easier compared to doing research yourself and because you will feel a sense of productivity (despite doing no work).

• ex) You send a post to your friends about a new idea, and have them read it and tell you their opinion instead of doing it yourself

• The principle of deep work supports work cultures that save us from the short-term discomfort of concentration and planning, at the expense of long-term satisfaction and the production of real value

• We measure our productivity by accomplishments we do in a certain visible manner

• Since sending emails is fast and efficient, it may seem as if you’re super productive

• Society associates the internet with the revolutionary future of business and government

• Deep work is at a severe disadvantage in a technopoly because it builds on values like quality, craftsmanship, and mastery that are decidedly old-fashioned and non technological

• Deep work struggles to compete with the attractiveness of tweets, likes, etc,

Chapter 3 - Deep Work is Meaningful

• What happens to us determines how we feel

• Small details don’t matter as much as the large scale outcomes

• Who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love – is the sum of what you focus on

• Knowledge workers spend a lot of their time interacting with shallow concerns (emails), and by constantly checking their inbox, they put those things at the forefront of their attention

• To increase the time we spend on a state of depth, we must leverage our brain to maximize the meaning and satisfaction of the task at hand

• Humans are most captivated when immersed deeply in something challenging (flow)

• Deep work is suited to generate a flow state

• The task of a craftsman is not to generate meaning, but rather to cultivate in himself the skill of discerning the meanings taht are already there

• Much like being a blacksmith taking time to perfect their process, you don’t need a rarified job, but rather a rarified approach to your work

• Being committed to deep work extracts meaning from your job and helps you cultivate your skill

Part 2 - Rules

Rule 1 - Work Deeply

• We have a finite amount of willpower that becomes depleted as we use it

• To participate in deep work, we must add routines in our life designed to minimize how much we exert our willpower, so we can stay in a state of unbroken concentration

• We must choose a philosophy for deep work that suits our own lives and circumstances

Monastic Philosophy

• Maximize deep efforts by eliminating or reducing shallow obligations

• People who adopt this have a well-defined and highly valued goal, and must perfect this skill to do well in life. As a result, they want to spend as much time as they can to hone their skill

Bimodal Philosophy

• You divide your time, dedicating defined timeframes to deep pursuits and leaving the rest open to everything else

• Deep work will commence in during the deep time, and anything can happen during free time

• ex) 4 days to work, 3 days of free time in a week

• This philosophy can produce extreme productivity if the subject dedicates enough time to such endeavors to reach maximum cognitive intensity (when real breakthroughs occur), so the minimum time is one whole day

• To professionally advance, we must learn to give our time and attention, expecting nothing in return

Rhythmic Philosophy

• To start deep work sessions, we must turn them into a regular habit and create a rhythm for it

• We must combine a scheduling heuristic (do work everyday) with a noticeable reminder (calendar)

• A rhythmic philosophy will not allow for as deep thought as a binomial philosophy, but it works better with the reality of human nature

Journalist Philosophy

• Being able to shift into a work mode on a moment’s notice, which is beneficial for converting small chunks of spare time into times of productivity

• It takes experience and confidence to be able to switch instantaneously without majorly depleting your willpower

• To make the most out of deep work sessions, build rituals of strictness similar to the mentioned important thinkers

Your ritual must address:

• Where you’ll work and how long

• How you’ll work once you start to work

ex) Not check phone, set goals as to how much work you want to be done

• How you’ll support and maintain your work ethic

ex) coffee, exercise

• By leveraging change and putting an investment into your deep work task, you can increase your perceived importance of the task, reducing procrastination and boosts motivation

• Have the ability to share ideas and learn from others on a regular basis, but also have the ability to commence in deep work

• Collaborative deep work can outperform solo deep work, so consider ways you can incorporate it into your life, but also don’t do it just because

4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX)

1. Focus on the Wildly Important

• The more you try to do, the less you will accomplish

• Focus on one sole task during your deep work

2. Act on the Lead Measures

• Lag measures are the thing you’re trying to improve, while lead measures are the new behaviors that will improve the lag measures

• Lead measures help you improve your behavior to positively impact our long-term goals

ex) Focusing on time spent doing deep work instead of the result

3. Keep a scoreboard

• Keeping track of progress provides motivation

• Keep track of how much hours you spend in deep work, and when in those hours you achieved breakthroughs

• Helps you see how much hours you need for each result, which may motivate you to put in more work to see faster results

4. Create a Cadence of Accountability

• Review your progress weekly to adjust and improve for the future

The 4DX method encourages consistency

Laziness

• At the end of the day after doing all your deep work, you can “shut down” all consideration of work-related issues until the next day

Shutdowns are valuable because:

1. Downtime aids Insights

• Downtime allows our unconscious to chip away at problems

• Our conscious mind is helpful for calculations, while our unconscious mind is useful for more open-ended problem solving

• Allowing your unconscious mind to run diversifies your thinking strategy

2. Downtime Helps Recharge the Energy Needed to Work Deeply

• You can restore your concentration if you take breaks (walking in nature, other relaxing activities)

3. Work That Evening Downtime Replaces Usually Is Not Important

• The amount of intense concentration people can exert usually ranges from 1-4 hours

• During shutdown, you must cut off all professional concerns by enforcing a strict shutdown ritual

• If you have uncompleted tasks, create a plan beforehand for you to work on them the next day

• Leave things where you will work on them the next day

• Find a way to establish that your “shutdown period” has started (verbally)

• ex) Last look at emails, transfer unfinished tasks into an official to-do list, skim through all the tasks to ensure everything will be handled on time, then make a plan for the next day, then say “shutdown complete”

• Unresolved issues tend to linger in our minds and deplete willpower without us noticing, however, this can be solved by simply planning when we will work on it next

Rule 2 - Embrace Boredom

• The ability to concentrate intensely is a skill that must be trained

• To achieve our utmost concentration, we can’t actively try to flee boredom by finding distractions

• If you force yourself to fill up times of boredom, you’re most likely a mental wreck, and would have troubles engaging in true deep work

• Instead of taking breaks from distraction, take breaks from focus

• Schedule when you will engage in your desired distracting activity. By doing this, you are training your brain to tolerate the absence of gratification, having to wait until a certain time to get it.

• This works even if your job requires a lot of distractions (internet use, email replies)

• You must keep the times outside these blocks absolutely free from distractions

• If you can’t resist the temptation to experience distraction, try to wait 5 minutes before you do it

• Scheduling it outside of work also helps your concentration training

• To succeed with deep work, we must rewire our brains to be comfortable with resisting distracting stimuli

• Another strategy is to identify a deep task that’s important, and to estimate how long it would take. Next, cut that time drastically. As a result, you are forced to skip out on distractions to work solely on the task

• “Roosevelt dashes” help us increase the level we can reach and train our resistance to distraction

• Productive meditation is to take time in where you are physically but not mentally occupied (walking, running), and focus your attention on a well-defined problem, and bring your attention back to that problem when your mind wanders

• When other things wander into your mind, organize a time on when you will deal with those

• Also be sure to not focus on previously established thoughts, and focus on forming new ones

• When performing productive meditation, have a structure for the process

• Begin with a review of the relevant information/variables regarding the problem

• Figure out what you can figure out from those variables

• Review the conclusion you came up with

• The memory palace method is a good way to not only memorize things, but to engage in deep attention

Rule 3 - Quit Social Media

• Instead of quitting the internet, we can understand that some aspects of it are extremely beneficial to our success and happiness, while we should reject the state of distracted hyperconnectedness

• The “Any Benefit” approach to network tool selection implies that we can use a network tool if it poses any benefit to us

Craftsman Approach to Tool Selection

• Identify the core factors that determine success and happiness in your professional and personal life, and adopt a tool only if it’s positive impacts on these factors substantially outweigh its negative impacts

• This form of tool selection requires practice and experimentation

• To put this in effect, identify the high-level goals in your personal and professional life. Then, think of 2-3 important activities that can help you satisfy the goal that aren’t too general or are one-time ations (ex. Regularly take note of stock charts). Next, consider the network tools you currently use, and ask whether the activities you mentioned above are positively or negatively impacted by this network tool.

• A network tool may overall have positive impacts, but you must evaluate whether those impacts are relevant to your goals

Law of Vital Few

• Usually, 80 percent of a given effect is due to just 20 percent of the possible causes

ex) 80% of a nation’s wealth is because of 20% of the population

• As a result, 80% of our progress is a result of only 20% of our habits

• We can still spend time on those 80% productive habits, but that would take away time we can spend on our 20% super productive habits

• Therefore, by abandoning a networking tool we lose it’s small benefits, we now have free time to work on better activities

• We can ban ourselves from using certain social media for a few days to see whether the change positively or negatively impacts you, and whether people cared if you stopped using it. If the answer is no twice, then get rid of it.

• During free time, instead of mindlessly doing whatever you see first, ask yourself what you want to do during your free time

• If you give your mind something meaningful to do during all your waking hours, you will feel more fulfilled, and spend the next day more relaxed in comparison to web surfing

• If you want to eliminate the use of addicting entertainment, give your brain a health alternative to continue training your concentration

Rule 4 - Drain the Shallows

• When you have fewer hours, you tend to spend them more wisely

• Like mentioned earlier, the amount of time we can spend focusing on things can range from 1-4 hours, and will receive diminishing rewards as you try to cram more

• You can batch similar things into generic task blocks, and determine what tasks you want to do in that block

• Every minute of your day should be part of a block

• If your time estimates are off, just spend time rescheduling the rest of the day

• The aim of this is to always maintain an idea on your day’s plan

• If you’re unsure on how long something will take, assign an alternative task for when you are finished

• Overestimate the time it will take you to do these things, as many distractions tend to pop up throughout the day

• However, if you come across something important, feel free to completely change your schedule

• Scheduling our day helps us determine how much time we are spending on shallow activities

• Shallow work: Non cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. Not much value provided, and easy to replicate.

• To determine whether a task is shallow or not shallow, think about how long it would take a beginner to perform your task

• Ask your boss how much time you’re given for shallow work, and stick to that time

Importance of a fixed schedule

• A fixed schedule is important to reduce shallow work and encourage deep work, and make us reflect on the activities we do in a day

• Set your default when asked to do a favor to no

Become hard to reach

1. Make people who send you e-mail do more work

• If you have an offer, opportunity, or introduction that might make my life more interesting, e-mail me at interesting [at] calnewport.com. For the reasons stated above, I’ll only respond to those proposals that are a good match for my schedule and interests.

• Set up an FAQ or other schemes to weed out the generic emails

2. Do more work when you send/reply to emails

• Figure out what the previous email was asking for, and think of how you can best fulfill it

• Take time to describe the process you identified, point out the current step, then emphasize the step that comes next

ex) I’d love to catch up over dinner! I’m available from Mon-Tues, and I would recommend restaurants x and y. If that works, let me know. If it doesn’t call me and we can better come up with a time and place.

• Crafting similar style emails will reduce the future emails coming into your inbox, reducing the overall time you spend

3. Don’t respond

• It’s the sender’s responsibility to convince the receiver that a reply is worthwhile

• Don’t reply to an email if

• It’s ambiguous or otherwise makes it hard for you to respond

• Not a question/proposal that interests you

• Nothing good or bad would result if you responded

Application

• Find a method for deep work that suits me best

• Minimum 1 hour deep work sessions, but with allowance to keep going if I’m making good progress or if I’m almost done, followed by 30 minutes of break time

• Try to at least 6 hours a day for deep work, but aim for 8

• Deep work includes reading, learning, doing homework, coding, writing scripts, and video editing

• 1 hour will be allotted for reading

• 1 hour will be allotted for writeup and video editing

• 4 hours will be allotted for doing homework

• My shutdown time will begin at 11pm, and I will go to bed at around 12-12:30

• I’ll only utilize twitter, snapchat, and instagram to talk to friends or conduct productive research

• If someone asks me to help them with something that is either vague or out of my interests, I’ll send them one reply either redirecting them to another source or saying I’m busy

• I’ll use sectograph to plan a schedule for the day, and adjust is as the day goes on

• The beginning of the day will be for rhythmic philosophy (morning routine), while later on will consist of a bimodal philosophy (ex. Studying then watching anime). On top of the 1 hour I will spend doing write ups at the end of the day, when I finish a task early, I will spend that time doing minor tasks I need to do but are not worthy of an hour’s worth of work

• At the end of each week, I will evaluate my productivity and progress, and will seek ways for improvement for the next week

**