Deep Work

“Deep work is necessary to writing every last drop of value out of your current intellectual capacity”

The book Deep Work by Cal Newport was written for people that want to maximize their productivity in the least amount of time. Learn a new skill or just simply get more done in an ever-increasing distracted world.

No other book has influenced the way I look at work and continue studying more than this piece of literature. Although no book is perfect, I would gladly place this book amongst the golden nuggets of productivity books. I find the case studies found in this book to be beneficial.

My understanding of how much time I can actually be productive increased gradually after reading the book as I focused on developing a habit of “Deep Work”. Gradually day by day I increase the time I focus on my goals, and in that time, only focus on one thing at a time to prevent a so-called “Shallow Work” habit.

Deep Work — Tasks that create new value and hard to replicate, push cognitive capabilities to their limit, performed free from distractions.

Shallow Work — Tasks that do not create much new value, easy to replicate, often performed while distracted

Cal Newport argues in his book we should all strive to limit Shallow Work and train ourselves to maximize our potential by focusing on Deep Work.

In an undistracted Deep Work session, you can learn a new skill faster and leverage your current skills to produce more valuable work.

With the rise of tools and social media, our personal and professional lives are increasingly fragmenting our attention.

Practicing a Deep Work habit is also a stepping stone into a flow state which is a source of great satisfaction and value.