cover image for Deep Work

Deep Work

Cal Newport

8/10
Broad strokes are really good, mainly the idea that we need to have intentional deep work to do well without distractions. Also this is like a muscle and needs to be trained to do well. Also the concept that You probably aren't being as reflective as you should be with regards to the pro con situation of distractions like social media and such.
  • General Thesis is that its valuble to be able to focus deeply without distraction to think critically and problem solve (such as when writing code, publishing papers, writing books, etc)
  • Tech is restructing economy to re-prioritize, those who can work well/creatively with machines (because leverage), those who are the best at what they do (because you can hire anyone in the world via the web or distribute your content which is the best across the globe easily), and those with capital (because tech has a 0 cost of reproduction and scales so well that the potential return is enormous)
  • To be a winner like ^ need ability to quickly master hard things and the ability to produce with speed and quality
  • Batch things on a broad level
  • High quality work produced = time spend * deepness of focus
  • Attention residue, the proven concept where context switching leaves residue that keeps you from focusing until you finish it. Distractions to attention are bad, especially for unfinished tasks. We can't multitask. Do the thing well.
  • Reflect and push back to mimize activities that aren't fun or won't advance you career. Ie pointless meetings, random extra responsibilities etc.
  • Basically we don't always evaluate the trade offs of adopting new technologys anymore, we a assume newer is better without thought
  • Knowledge work is hard to find satisfying because the goals and metrics of success are so wishy washy. Like being a PM.
  • Business as a substitute for productivity.
  • Will power is a finite resource so using it to try and get to deep work isn't great. Instead rely on automatic habits so you don't have to use willpower
  • Division between what to do and how to do it.
  • Like a life goal retro? What did we try and do sine last meeting to achieve goal and what are we gonna do between now and next meeting / why / how did it go
  • Weekly review ^
  • Unconscious mind is better at processing vague and large problems. Conscious the opposite.
  • Downtime important to recharge
  • Limited capacity for Deep Work Only like 4 hours total
  • Shut down ritual for end of day
  • Embrace boredom, understand that focus is a muscle you have to develop it and multi tasking and short attention activities help deteriorate said muscle
  • Hmm, schedule when you're allowed to use the internet?
  • Basically we can't tolerate bordem because if bored look at smart phone
  • The goal is to not always look at your phone when you're doing something or bored. Resist the temptation for instant gratification
  • Memory palace with regards to memorizing a deck of cards as a training exercise, do a mental walk through of your house purposly pointing out 52 items, now associte each card with an image and then the image interacting with an item. IE first item is a placematt and first card is king of clubs, imagine the a caveman with a crown and a club standing on the placematt
  • Think long and hard about pro and CONS before adding new tools.
  • Think about overall goal of thjng you're doing. Limit to whats most important and very broad / high level.
  • List 3 most specific activities that help achieve that goal
  • Go through tools and ask whether tool has helped, hurt or did nothing for the activitie.
  • Only keep using if it helped, a lot more than it hurt
  • Try quitting services for 30 days. Don't tell people.
  • Then ask 2 questions, would last 30 days have been substantially better if I had the service? And did people notice and or care that I wasn't on.
  • Put more thought into your leisure time. Put forethought into what you want to do rather than defaulting to social media BS
  • Tldr humans like to auto pilot which means we're bad at knowing how much time we spend on things, tends to be more than we think on stuff like TV
  • Talk to boss and ask what you want in terms of deep vs shallow work ratio (can point to for why decline certain work)
  • Litmus test for is it deep work, how long would it take a college grad to learn what I'm about to do
  • Fixed schedule productivity, artificial limits on your work day. Forces you to schedule intelligently, to say no to unimportant and shallow things rather than trying to do it all.
  • For email, have a sender filter. I'll only respond to messages that are good for my schedule and needs. Changes defaulting expectations for sender.
  • FAQ, to filter.
  • Social conventions regarding email is bad, expectation of response and fast response is bad.
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