Deep Work by Cal Newport

Deep Work: Rules for focused success in a distracted world

“Great minds like Caro and Darwin didn’t deploy rituals to be weird; they did so because success in their work depended on their ability to go deep, again and again.” – Cal Newport

The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is increasingly valuable to perform deep work. Those who learn to do deep work early in life will thrive in their working life. Many of us are allowing the trivia of this world to take over our lives, and this prevents us from doing splendid work.

The first thought that comes to my mind is that of multitasking. Often this is a subconscious action, we will have the TV on in the background, we may not switch off the notifications on our mobile device, or we literally try to complete two tasks at a time. Multitasking is not good for productivity. This habit of multitasking often leads to shallow work or work that is done but does not create much real value. Multitasking reduces our productivity and fragments our concentration.

Cal Newport has also written the book Digital Minimalism, discussing the effect technology has on our lives. He refers to our mobile devices and the variety of applications we may load on our devices, and how many of these add true value to our lives. Often the primary cause of distraction in our lives is created by the application we have on our mobile devices.

In Deep Work, Newport discusses four rules of deep work, Rule One is to Work Deeply – In order to work deeply, Newport recommends altering our routines and rituals around work. We need to create routines and rituals around our work that lead to deep work. Rule Two relates to boredom and here he recommends embracing boredom. Our devices have caused us to be constantly online, always able to fill up any free time, by reaching for our device. Here Newport recommends embracing the boredom, using these moments to think and breathe, to feed the brain with downtime so it is ready for deep work. Rule Three is related to social media, and he recommends “Quit Social Media”, he literally advises giving up social media as we fritter away many ‘productive’ hours on Social Media that does not add value to deep work and life. Finally, Rule Four is “Drain the Shallows” the aim of this rule is to create big chunks of time for “deep work”. He recommends scheduling our days, accounting for every minute of work time, to create a mindfulness of what you are doing with your day.

He also discusses four strategies:

• Monastic Approach (eliminating all sources of distraction and scheduling your day);
• Bimodal Approach (We should alternate between deeply engaged and normally engagement);
• Bimodal Approach (We should alternate between deeply engaged and normally engagement);
• Journalistic Strategy (Almost opposed to rhythmic, you schedule deep work whenever you have time, like a journalist working towards a deadline.)

Deep work involves distraction-free time, deep concentration, and focus on the task at hand. Cal Newport confirms that to produce at your peak you need to work for extended periods of time, distraction-free and with your full concentration.

Tip for Parents: As parents, we have the responsibility of ensuring our children have the skills required to perform in later life. Deep work is one such skill and needs to be taught. We need to assist them to create blocks of time for deep work. The result of deep work will be more time to create moments of boredom when they can allow themselves to dream and enjoy time with friends and family.