I have recently discovered Cal Newport when his book Deep Work was referenced in another book which currently slips my mind. Based on the title and my recent pursuits of focusing on my content ratio I was intrigued. Also possibly because I have been pondering the next step in my career with my current employment being somewhat uncertain. I read the description on Amazon and ordered myself a copy. On Lewis Howes’ YouTube page he conducted an interview with Cal and instantly Cal reminds you of the typical short, shy, top-of-the-class student who you secretly scathe because of their grades and academic success. These kids have always seemed to also have all aspects of their life figured out and are confident with who they are, where they are at, and where they are going. Cal is all of these things and more. He has an amazing way of constructing and explaining his thoughts. He has accomplished this confidence and understanding of those thoughts directly due to the methods outlined in his book Deep Work.
Deep Work starts out by deducing our modern economy as primarily consisting of “knowledge workers”. Knowledge work is any job not physically producing a product or service. In traditional terms people can relate this to non-value added employees. This is largely due to the manufacturing exodus over the past 30 years and our ever increasing digital integration. With distractions abundant the vast majority of knowledge workers are addicted to short-term fulfillment leaving their portfolio of valuable work relatively empty. I happen to talk about a version of this in the GO-AUF: EP6 – Your Content Ratio episode. Newport asks the reader questions such as, in our “oh shiny thing” environment, what is your edge? What are you sacrificing by succumbing to these distractions? Can you control them to determine where you will land in life?
The answer to these questions is your ability to do deep work:
“Deep Work: professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate (p.3).”
When reached, deep work requires the mental strain that is necessary to improve your abilities. Newport gives a plethora of examples including Carl Jung, Bill Gates, J.K. Rowling, Mark Twain, and Woody Allen. All of these successful individuals deployed deep work methods to produce their highly valuable work. The opposite of deep work is shallow work. This is largely defined in Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows which means “non-cognitively demanding, logistical style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate (p.6).” And hence most knowledge workers regularly fall into this trap. Those “few who cultivate [deep work] and make it the core of their working life will thrive because it has become exceedingly rare (p.14.”
In Part 1 of the book Newport dives right in to proving why deep work is valuable, rare, and meaningful. He combines modern knowledge workers into three categories: high skilled, superstars, and owners. The two latter categories are the most immediately achievable (unless you have a seriously large sum of money sitting around). High skilled workers are “those who can work well and creatively with intelligent machines (p.24).” Superstars are “those who are the best at what they do (p.24).” Anyone can start purposefully pursuing these tomorrow with simple changes in their mindset and daily rituals. In the new economy there are two core abilities: to quickly master difficult things and the ability to produce at an elite level in both quality and speed (p.29). Both depend on your ability to perform deep work. Using methods such as deliberate practice and the Law of Productivity (high-quality work produced = time spent * intensity of focus) are key to mastering the two core abilities. Even a semi-distraction in thought can be devastating to performance. The Principle of Least Resistance where “in a business setting without clear closed loop feedback on the impact of our behaviors on the bottom line we tend toward behaviors that are easiest in the moment (p.58).” This behavioral principle “protects us against the short-term discomforts of concentration and planning at the expense of long-term satisfaction and production (p.60).” Cal raises a connection that I talked about in GO-AUF: EP – Your Information Bubble in such that our brains construct our world view by what we pay attention to. Therefore, the “longer you spend in a state of deep work, over time, your mind will understand your world as rich in meaning and importance (p.79).” I personally found a lot of direct correlations with myself and my work environment to the concepts and practices that Newport outlines in Part 1 of Deep Work.
Part 2 outlines four rules to help achieve more consistent and productive deep work habits to propel yourself into unmatched success. Work deeply, embrace boredom, quit social media, and drain the shallows are those four rules laid out with direct applicable experiences and actions that the reader can implement immediately. I won’t go into detail what these exactly are (you have to pick up the book yourself for that) however, I am always asking the author or speaker for more actionable advice in their work. Deep Work definitely satisfied my harsh requirements in that respect. I found Cal to be very relatable and down to earth where the examples he gives can find commonplace in most of our daily lives. From the day the book arrived I could not put it down. I finished it in under a week (I’m usually reading 2-3 books at a time) and have gone through it a second time to make extensive notes on all of the details. There is just that much packed into this book. This has me wholly convinced that deep work is something that is thoroughly missed in our modern knowledge work careers. I have already implemented some methods this week and plan on again reviewing my notes to construct an even more robust process to incorporate deep work in all aspects of my life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who falls under the blanket of knowledge workers, those who find themselves reaching for their phones every time they have a minute of downtime, and those who are feeling purposeless in their respective careers. To close out, I want to leave you with a quote from the conclusion in which Cal eloquently summarizes the book:
“A commitment to deep work is not a moral stance and its not a philosophical statement – it is instead a pragmatic recognition that the ability to concentrate is a skill that gets valuable things done (p.258).”
You can grab yourself a copy of Deep Work by Cal Newport on Amazon
