My takeaway
- Set aside dedicated time for focused work, minimize distractions, and train the brain to sustain concentrated attention.
- Minimize interruptions, cultivate focus, and develop the ability to engage in sustained, long-duration deep work.
Who would be interested in this?
1. Knowledge Workers: Professionals who rely on cognitive abilities and creativity to complete their work, such as writers, researchers, programmers, and scholars. They may be interested in learning how to cultivate deep work habits to enhance productivity and efficiency.
2. Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders: Individuals responsible for managing their own time and productivity, such as entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives. They may value strategies presented in the book for maximizing focus and achieving high-quality work results.
3. Students and Academics: Students at various educational levels as well as scholars and researchers seeking methods to improve study habits and research practices.
Outline
1. Introduction
- Introduce the concept of deep work, which refers to focused, undistracted work that pushes cognitive abilities to their limits.
2. The Value of Deep Work
- Discuss why deep work is becoming increasingly scarce and valuable in modern workplaces, due to the rise in distractions and superficial work.
3. The Scarcity of Deep Work
- Explore factors leading to the scarcity of deep work, including distractions from email, social media, and multitasking.
4. The Meaning of Deep Work
- Examine the benefits of deep work, such as increased productivity, creativity, and job satisfaction.
5. Rules of Deep Work
- Propose rules and strategies for cultivating deep work habits, including scheduling deep work time, reducing distractions, and embracing boredom.
6. Embracing Boredom
- Discuss the importance of embracing boredom for deep work and creativity.
7. Abandoning Social Media
- Challenge common beliefs and necessity of continuous engagement in social media, advocating for minimizing or abandoning social media to regain time for deep work.
8. Emptying the Shallows
- Emphasize minimizing shallow work (such as email and administrative tasks) to maximize time for deep work.
9. Establishing Personal Boundaries
- Advocate for establishing boundaries and limiting accessibility to protect time for deep work.
10. Conclusion
- Summarize key principles of deep work and encourage readers to prioritize focused, undistracted work in their careers.
The Importance of Deep Work As a Skillset
Deep work is considered crucial in several key areas:
1. Working with intelligent machines.
2. Being superstars in their respective fields.
3. Investors who allocate capital into new technologies that drive significant restructuring.
On page 19, two fundamental abilities are essential for thriving in the new economy:
1. The ability to master challenging tasks.
2. The capability to produce at an elite level, achieving both high quality and speed.
3. Access to capital and identifying great opportunities.
Page 22 emphasizes the importance of focusing your mind like a lens, allowing converging attention to intensify your intent on a dominant and absorbing idea.
Page 23 outlines the requirements for deliberate practice:
1. Your attention must be tightly focused on a specific skill or idea you're trying to improve or master.
2. You should receive feedback to refine your approach and maintain productive attention.
Learn From Adam Grant: Law of Productivity, Batching time, Undistracted Work and More
Adam Grant's law of productivity suggests that the high-quality work produced is proportional to the time spent multiplied by the intensity of focus. This means that the results achieved per unit of time working are maximized when one maximizes their intensity of focus during work.
According to the author's observations in his second book, "Straight A Student," where he interviewed approximately 50 high-performing undergraduates from competitive schools in the USA, he noticed that the top students often studied less than the students ranked just below them in terms of GPA. An explanation for this phenomenon is that these top students understood the critical role intensity plays in productivity and therefore maximized their concentration. Consequently, they significantly reduced the time spent without compromising the quality of their results.
Batching time into long, uninterrupted blocks and focusing attention on specific, manageable tasks within short time frames—like breaking down the process of essay writing into research, drafting, and refining for publication—can enhance productivity.
The concept of attention residue and its implications, as discussed by Sophie Leroy, a business professor at the University of Minnesota, explains that when you shift your attention from Task A to Task B, your attention does not immediately follow. Rather, a residue of your attention remains fixated on Task A, especially if your work on Task A was uncompleted and of low intensity before you switched. Frequent task-switching can lead to poorer performance.
It is more effective to work uninterruptedly on a single demanding task. Adam adopts an undistracted work strategy to minimize the negative effects of attention residue. Semi-distractions, such as checking email or leaving an inbox open on the screen, can also be detrimental to productivity.
The Importance of Prioritizing Deep Work in the Business World:
- Many other ideas are prioritized in the business world, including serendipitous collaboration, rapid connections, and maintaining an active social media presence.
- Despite its inapplicability for certain positions such as sales and CEOs determined by the work nature of such positions, the author argues for the importance of deep work in an increasingly distracting world.
Obstacles to Deep Work in the Business World:
- Biases and mindsets within businesses often steer them away from deep work, along with obstacles like the metric black hole.
- Lack of depth in work may not only harm the bottom line but also influence other behaviors driven by previous values.
Proxy for Productivity:
- Many knowledge workers, lacking a clear indication of what it means to be productive and valuable in their jobs, turn to visible activities as proxies for productivity.
- In 2013, according to Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer, the perception was that if employees were not visibly busy, especially with tasks like checking email, they were assumed to be unproductive.
The Cult of Internet and the Rarity of Deep Work:
- Alissa Rubin, a successful and accomplished reporter who served as the New York Times (NYT) chief in Paris, gained recognition for her series of articles that investigated the French government's involvement in the Rwandan genocide.
- Rubin received regular notifications from the NYT social media desk to maintain an active presence on social media platforms to appease her followers, with a requirement to post something every two to four days.
- The author highlights Rubin's value as a reporter, emphasizing her ability to cultivate sources, gather facts, and write impactful articles. The author questions Rubin's motive in providing free, shallow content on Twitter and explores why such behavior is considered normal by many.
The Impact of Technology on Society:
- Neil Postman, a professor and communication theorist from New York University, warned that society was sliding into a toxic relationship with technology, a phenomenon he termed "techpoly." According to Postman, we tend to assume that high-tech is inherently good and fail to consider the tradeoffs associated with it.
- Postman's value lies in making such phenomena evident to all, challenging the prevailing culture of unquestioning acceptance of technology.
- Evgeny Morozov argued that the internet is no longer seen as merely practical tools but is associated with the optimistic future of business and government. Society idolizes technological gadgets as symbols of progress and the promise of a better world.
- This phenomenon explains why the NYT and many other media organizations compel their writers to engage in shallow content on social media platforms, distracting them from deep work. The discussion against the overuse of internet features has become marginalized and irrelevant.
Challenges to Deep Work:
- Deep work is built on values such as quality, craftsmanship, and mastery, which are often considered old-fashioned and non-technological.
- However, professionalism in using social media often undermines deep work. The importance of disrupting deep work is not yet measured or acknowledged.
- Currently, deep work competes with distractions like tagged photos, social media walls, and posts.
- Steve expresses skepticism about the impact of deep work on business without concrete metrics to support its benefits. He suggests that businesses may need to compromise the face value of social media for the sake of deep work.
- Shallow efforts aimed at pleasing the audience can also have value in popularizing a product and catering to platform algorithms.
- As a practitioner, Steve emphasizes the importance of weighing the pros and cons of spending time on social media and mindfully allocating time for deep work. He stresses the need to be aware of how a shift towards shallow work might impact productivity and outcomes.
- Such a mindset provides an advantage to those who are more aware and careful about their work habits.
Deep Work: A Source of Meaning
The Blacksmith's Craftsmanship:
Tic Furrer, a skilled blacksmith specializing in ancient and medieval metalworking practices, gained recognition through a 2012 PBS documentary. His meticulous craftsmanship and dedication to his art are evident as he overcomes numerous challenges in forging a weapon. The documentary captures a moment of profound admiration on Furrer's face as he gazes at his burning sword before extinguishing the flames, symbolizing the meaningfulness found in his work.
Challenges of Knowledge Work:
Similarly, knowledge workers face professional challenges aimed at creating value for many people, although their challenges differ from those of a blacksmith. Unlike the tangible tasks of a blacksmith, the challenges of knowledge work are often complex to define yet simple to execute, such as crafting presentations or responding to emails. These tasks exchange clarity for ambiguity, presenting a different set of obstacles for workers in the modern age.
The Connection Between Depth and Meaning:
The author posits that the connection between depth and meaning also exists in knowledge work. Embracing deep work can lead to a sense of fulfillment, akin to that experienced by Furrer in his craftsmanship. Just as Furrer finds meaning in his craft, knowledge workers can derive purpose from engaging in deep, focused work.
Managing Attention for Inner Well-being:
Research suggests that our brain constructs our worldview based on what we pay attention to. For instance, Stanford psychologist Laura Carstensen found that while young individuals' brains respond to both positive and negative imagery, older individuals primarily focus on the positive. Skillfully managing our attention can lead to significant changes in our inner world without altering external circumstances.
Focusing on the Positive:
Considering the power of attention, it prompts reflection on how our perspective may change based on where we direct our focus. By spending more time on deep work, such as reflecting and constructing our mental models, we can purposefully ignore minor, less pleasant matters. Training our minds to focus on the positive aspects of our environment, even amidst challenges, can enhance our subjective experience and maximize meaning and satisfaction in our work and lives.
Unlocking Inner Satisfaction through Deep Work
The Power of Flow:
A psychological argument emerges regarding the concept of depth in work. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) provides fresh insights into our emotional experiences throughout the day, as highlighted by Csikszentmihalyi and Larson. Through journaling, they capture subjects' experiences at selected intervals, revealing a recurring phenomenon known as flow. This theory suggests that the most fulfilling moments occur when individuals are fully engaged in a challenging and worthwhile effort, pushing their minds and bodies to their limits.
Finding Fulfillment in Challenges:
Interestingly, their research indicates that individuals often find it easier to enjoy structured tasks within a job rather than free time filled with fewer constraints. Jobs with built-in goals, feedback mechanisms, and challenges tend to keep individuals deeply immersed and focused, leading to higher levels of happiness compared to leisure time.
The Pursuit of Happiness at Work:
Surprisingly, studies show that people report higher levels of happiness while working compared to when they are relaxing. The key lies in immersing oneself deeply in a challenging task, a concept supported by Csikszentmihalyi. This suggests that happiness is not merely about pleasure but also about the mind being sufficiently stimulated and challenged.
Balancing Pleasure and Challenge:
Gallagher emphasizes the importance of focusing on positive aspects, highlighting the role of pleasure in achieving happiness. Conversely, Csikszentmihalyi's theory underscores the significance of challenging experiences that stretch individuals slightly beyond their comfort zones. Both theories converge on the idea that immersing oneself deeply in work, where challenges are present but manageable, leads to greater inner satisfaction and happiness.
A Philosophical Argument for Depth
Descartes's Skepticism and Its Ramifications:
In Dreyfus and Kelly's book "All Things Shiny" (2011), Descartes's skepticism is portrayed not just as a philosophical stance but as a radical belief that challenges the very foundations of truth. This skepticism, though born from the Enlightenment era with its ideals of human rights and liberty, ultimately leads to a world devoid of sacredness and meaning, according to Dreyfus and Kelly. It strips away the divine authority that once bestowed truth upon the world, leaving behind a realm that is nearly uninhabitable due to its lack of inherent significance.
Craftsmanship as a Response to Nihilism:
Dreyfus and Kelly propose craftsmanship as a remedy to the modern sense of nihilism, aiming to reintroduce a sense of sacredness into our lives. They highlight examples like the craftsmanship of wheel makers, who imbue their work with intrinsic value beyond mere material worth. By focusing on the skill and the purpose behind the task rather than its materialistic aspects, craftsmen find a deeper meaning in their work, freeing themselves from the shackles of nihilism and autonomous individualism.
Finding Sacredness in Work:
The satisfaction evident on Furrer's face as he works to extract value from raw materials can be interpreted as a manifestation of sacredness, a quality often elusive in modern society's mundane pursuits. Even in roles traditionally viewed as mundane, such as consultants, marketers, or lawyers, there is potential for craftsmanship. By honing skills and approaching tasks with respect and care, individuals can infuse meaning into their daily professional lives.
Challenging Mundanity and Seeking Meaning:
But what if one's job seems too mundane to offer such satisfaction? Some might argue that only work in a noble pursuit or entrepreneurial venture can provide true fulfillment. However, this perspective may stem from a flawed understanding of job specifics. Meaning is not derived solely from the nature of the job itself but also from the skills involved and the appreciation for craftsmanship inherent in the work.
Embracing a New Approach to Work:
Rather than seeking radical changes in our professions, Dreyfus and Kelly advocate for a shift in mindset. By applying a rarified approach to our work, one grounded in craftsmanship and appreciation, we can find meaning and sacredness even in the most seemingly mundane tasks.
Eudaimonia Machine and what to take away
According to a conversation between the author and David Deeane, the Eudaimonia Machine is an architectural structure embodying the Greek concept of eudaimonia, which is a state aimed at achieving human potential in full. It consists of a one-story narrow rectangle comprising five rooms designed to support deep and impactful work. The first room, called the "gallery," fosters a culture of healthy stress and peer pressure to inspire users. The second room, known as the "salon," stores records of all work production along with the resources used in the previous work, serving as the "hard drive" of the machine. The third room, the "office space," contains a conference room with a whiteboard and some cubicles with desks, intended for low-intensity activity like all shallow work. An administrator helps users improve their work habits for increased efficiency. The final room, the "deep work chambers," includes a six by ten feet room with insulation and special walls to ensure total focus and uninterrupted work flow. Users spend 90 minutes inside with 90-minute breaks and repeat the cycle 2-3 times, after which they run out of cognitive energy for the day.
To simulate the effectiveness of the Eudaimonia Machine and achieve the maximum potential of my professional life, I intend to use strategies that help me incorporate deep work into my day-to-day routines. One of the main obstacles to going deep is the regular and strong urge to turn attention to something superficial. Your willpower is likened to an easily tired muscle, operating under the premise that it can be exercised freely. We are constantly bombarded by stimuli that evoke desires to do anything other than deep work.
As explained in a paper written by Roy Baumeister, individuals have a limited amount of willpower that becomes depleted as they use it. This depletion of willpower presents a challenge when trying to sustain focus on deep work amidst distractions and temptations to engage in shallow activities. Therefore, it is crucial to develop strategies and habits that conserve and replenish willpower, allowing for sustained periods of deep work and optimal productivity.
Four Types of Deep Work Methodologies
Knute deploys monasticism to prioritize deep work and minimize other types of work. He follows a rhythm similar to Chapel's, suggesting the same daily routine, working during consistent hours.
To manage and plan your deep work schedule ahead of time is crucial for managing your limited willpower. It's important to be mindful and select a working philosophy that aligns with your circumstances. For example, Donald Knuth's monastic philosophy aims to delve to the bottom of things by maximizing deep efforts and radically minimizing obligations. Attempts to convince him of the intangible returns of using Twitter and email to reach a large audience would fail since they don't fit his goal of understanding specific corners of computer science fully and writing about them in an accessible manner.
Similarly, Neil Stephenson organizes his life by breaking it into many long and uninterrupted time chunks, maximizing productivity as productivity drips once these chunks get isolated and fragmented. However, this philosophy may not suit all knowledge workers, especially those whose work processes are more complex and whose contributions are more discrete, clear, and individualized.
Carl Jung, for instance, locked himself in a rustic stone house outside Vollibgton to intensify his intellectual deep work in competition with Sigmund Freud. He deployed a bimodal philosophy of deep work, dividing his time and devoting some clearly defined monastical time to deep pursuits while leaving the rest open to other activities. At least one day, only enough time is dedicated, the state in which extreme productivity and real breakthroughs occur.
Adam Grant exemplifies this bimodal approach by compiling all his courses into one semester and focusing the other on deep work. However, the outside world often demands less time than we think it needs. Hence, it's suggested to make these deep work periods well-defined and well-advertised.
The rhythmic philosophy of deep work scheduling involves creating better habits and routines. For instance, comedian Seinfeld writes every day and marks it on the calendar with a big red X, enjoying the feeling of seeing a chain and having motivation to not break the chain. This technique is popular among writers and fitness enthusiasts as it establishes a rhythm of work that removes the need to expend energy in deciding when to go deep.
Brian Chappell writes his dissertation while maintaining a full-time academic job by scheduling deep work in 90-minute chunks and starting work every morning at 5:40 AM. This approach eliminates decision fatigue and laziness.
Walter Isaacson exemplifies the journalistic philosophy of deep work scheduling, shifting into a writing mode as required by deadlines. It requires training and competency, reminding us of Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory, where competency is essential for achieving a flow state.
The author of this text employs an adaptive approach to deep work scheduling, utilizing free stretches of time whenever they arise and planning at the beginning of the week while refining plans at the start of each day.
Learn from Charles Darwin: Form your unique routines
According to Francis, Charles Darwin's son, when Charles Darwin perfected his work on "On the Origin of Species," Darwin would rise at 7 to take a short walk, eat breakfast alone, and retire to his study from eight to nine-thirty. The next hour was dedicated to reading his letters from the day before. After that, he returned to his study from 10:30 until noon. After this session, he would mull over challenging ideas on a prescribed route at the greenhouse and then circled a path on his property. He walked until satisfied and concluded his walk/workday.
Darwin deployed strict and idiosyncratic rituals to minimize the efforts needed to transition himself to go deep again and again, enabling him to delve easily and stay there longer.
Darwin didn't wait for inspiration; he worked systematically to make it happen, relying on his established rituals and systems. When devising a work ritual, he understood that the right one depends on the person and project.
Generally, you can ask yourself:
- Where will you work and for how long?
- With that information, you can designate a door-shut place or a cleaned-off desk for your deep work efforts.
- It's important to design a time slot to keep the session a discrete challenge rather than an open-ended slog.
The best workers do not rely solely on perfect willpower to resist distractions. Instead, they intentionally isolate themselves from potential interruptions.
How will you work once you start? The ritual needs to dictate rules and processes to keep your efforts structured. If you need to mentally resist distractions and ensure you're working hard enough, relying solely on willpower will deplete your reserves quickly.
How will you support your work?
- Consider factors like having a coffee, food, or sufficient room ventilation, and incorporating walk exercises before or between sessions.
- Ensure these support systems are in place before starting your sessions to minimize interruptions and maintain focus.
To get your mind in focus, you need the right strategy and commitment. The answers to these questions provide what you need to get started and maintain productivity.
Deploy Grand Gesture Strategy
Implement a radical change to your normal environment or make a significant commitment of effort and money to increase your perceived importance of the task. This boost can reduce your tendency to procrastinate and infuse energy into your work.
For example, JK Rowling went to The Balmoral, a luxurious hotel in Scotland, when she was finishing "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows," where she was located quite close to Edinburgh Castle, where she got inspiration to dream up Hogwarts.
Bill Gates famously left behind his normal work and family obligations to retreat to a cabin with a stack of papers and books to think deeply without distractions, and he called this "Think Weeks." As a result, he gained a satisfying level of concentration and came to the conclusion that the internet would profoundly impact the industry.
Physicist William Shockley locked himself in a hotel room in Chicago and spared no effort to travel there for a conference. He did not come out of the room until he completed his detailed design work when he was working on his invention of the transistor.
Peter Shankman needed to concentrate on his work to meet a two-week deadline and booked a round-trip business-class ticket to Tokyo. He wrote during the entire flight and drank an espresso in the business class lounge once he arrived in Japan. He then flew back. He deemed the 30-hour trip worthy with a completed manuscript in hand. According to his blog post, he described the scenario as leaving nothing to distract him with things out of sight.
The author's 4DX framework for executing deep work includes several key principles:
#1 Focus on the wildly important: Identify a small number of ambitious outcomes to pursue during deep work hours. Set specific goals that yield tangible and substantial benefits, generating a steady stream of enthusiasm. As David Brooks describes in his book "The Art of Focus," strive to say yes to the subject that arouses a terrifying longing and let that longing crowd out everything else.
#2 Act on the lead measures: Lag measures can be too late to change behavior. Use lead measures to track new behaviors that will drive success on the lag measures. By focusing on improving behaviors you directly control in the near future, you ultimately have a positive impact on your long-term goals. For example, a lag measure for a bakery might be customer satisfaction scores, while a lead measure could be the number of customers who receive samples. In the context of deep work, a lead measure could be the time spent in a state of deep work dedicated toward your wildly important goal. Using lead measures ensures your metrics are relevant to your long-term goals and profoundly influences your daily behavior, potentially generating noticeable changes in your long-term metrics.
#3 Keep a compelling scoreboard: Teams are more willing to invest effort when they see success with lead measures. A physical scoreboard creates a sense of competition that drives focus on these measures, even amidst competing priorities. For instance, the author used a scoreboard in his solo work. Each week, he tracked the hours spent in deep work with tally marks. He circled tally marks corresponding to milestone achievements. This approach allows him to closely link work hours with tangible results and calibrate expectations for the amount of deep work needed per result, motivating him to maximize deep work hours each week.
#4 Create a cadence of accountability: When working in teams, establish a rhythm of regular and frequent meetings. During these meetings, team members review the scoreboard, commit to specific actions to improve scores before the next meeting, and discuss outcomes from commitments made at the last meeting. Meetings should be short but frequent enough to have a noticeable effect. For individual accountability, conduct weekly reviews to examine the scoreboard, celebrate successes, analyze what led to bad weeks, and strategize ways to ensure a good score in the days ahead.
The Art of Having a Rest
According to an article from The New York Times blog, essayist and cartoonist Tim Keizer used isolation—escaping to an undisclosed location without TV and internet—and remaining unresponsive to minor obligations to facilitate deep work sessions paradoxically during leisure time.
According to an article written for the New York Times blog, the essayist and cartoonist Tim Keizer utilized blocks of time to escape to an undisclosed location without television and internet, remaining unresponsive to minor obligations. These leisure periods paradoxically support deep work sessions.
Theoretical basis: According to Dutch psychologist Dijksterhuis, certain decisions are better left to your unconscious mind to unravel, especially those involving a large amount of vague and conflicting information without the application of strict rules. There is no effective way to consciously work through these decisions, which often leads to poorer outcomes. It's better to allow the relevant information to percolate in your mind while focusing on something else. Dijksterhuis illustrated this effect by providing subjects with necessary information before making a car purchase decision. Half of the subjects were instructed to carefully deliberate on the information before deciding, while the other half were distracted by easy puzzles immediately after processing the information and were then forced to make a decision without conscious deliberation. Surprisingly, the distracted group performed better.
In this analogy, the conscious mind is likened to a home computer, while the unconscious mind is compared to a Google data center.
Establishing a habit of mental shutdown diversifies the types of work I engage in and paradoxically increases the hours of productive work.
Deep thinking recharges the energy needed to work deeply. According to a 2008 paper published in a psychology science journal, when people take a walk in nature rather than in the city, they perform 20% better on tasks that require concentration. Walking in the city drains directed attention resources as one navigates through busy traffic and slow pedestrians, constantly making decisions about how to pass. Conversely, walking in nature with its rich stimuli allows your focused attention mechanism to replenish.
Furthermore, according to the researcher, even walking in nature when in a poor mood can improve performance. The implication is that one doesn't necessarily have to be in nature to achieve a mental shutdown; an improved outcome can be attained by activities such as dining with a friend.
Constantly checking email interrupts the rest required for deeper relaxation, hindering the restoration of attention. Only the confidence that you have completed your work for the day can convince your brain to rest and recharge for the next day.
The Art of Time Management of the Deep and Shallow
According to a researcher named Clifford Nass in an interview with NPR, people who multitask all the time lose the ability to control their attention to filter out irrelevancy and manage working memory.
Nass discovered that when your brain gets used to ongoing distraction, it becomes addicted to it and cannot concentrate when you want to. The brain gets rewired to a pattern that is not suitable for deep work, even if you schedule time to practice this, according to Nass's research.
Strategy #1: Don’t take breaks from distraction, take breaks from focus.
Use this strategy to rewire your brain to be conducive to staying on task and confronting this reality.
Contrary to taking a digital detox (the idea of taking occasional breaks, like one day a week or an hour a day away from the screen and distractions, to remind you what you miss), the author suggests scheduling occasional breaks from distractions so you can focus. For example, schedule beforehand when you will use the internet and then avoid it outside these times. Keep a pad near your PC at work and record the next time you are allowed to use the internet. Define specific times exclusively for internet use.
Why: This reduces the opportunity of switching from low-stimulus/high-value activities to high-stimulus/low-value activities that expose people to the absence of boredom, which challenges and expands your cognitive capacity, instead of isolating a distracting service itself, as the practice of digital detox involves.
Part 1: This strategy works when your job requires internet usage and prompt email replies. Even within a two-hour time span, you could benefit from this strategy by isolating 90 minutes of work that does not require internet usage.
Part 2: Regardless of how you schedule internet blocks, you must keep the time of these blocks free from internet use. Don’t take the bait when you want to switch to the internet outside of your block and switch your attention back shortly after getting interrupted.
Tactics to achieve this:
- Switch to another offline activity within an offline block when you can.
- Force yourself to take a 5-minute break between your offline block and impromptu online activities. By doing so, you separate the reward from the sensation and benefit from remaining in control during this process.
Part 3: Schedule internet use at home as well as at work to help your concentration training. When scheduling internet use after work, allow time-sensitive communications into your offline blocks, such as sensitive information retrieval. If you need the internet to entertain yourself, make it a longer time block and refuse to give yourself the opportunity to switch back and forth to avoid boredom.
In the context of concentration training, standing in line to endure boredom can be beneficial.
It is key to rewire your brain to be comfortable resisting distracting stimuli. Deploy strategies to eliminate opportunities for stimuli to hijack your attention.
Work like Teddy Roosevelt
On page 99, it's paradoxical to observe how T.R. achieved the publication of his first book, "Summer Birds of the Adirondacks," while dedicating his attention to activities like boxing, wrestling, ballroom dancing, and studying naturalism according to Edmund Morris. Morris noted that although T.R. spent little time at his desk, his concentration was so intense that he needed more time off than most. He dedicated only a quarter of his day to meeting academic requirements. In fact, he managed to earn five out of eight possible grades in his freshman year.
Understanding how T.R. structured his day, consider an eight-hour period from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Subtract time spent in recitations, classes, athletic training, and lunch, and then study intensively during the remaining fragments of time.
To implement this strategy, inject occasional bursts of Rooseveltian intensity into your own workday. Identify a high-priority deep task and estimate how much time you typically allocate for such obligations. Set yourself a challenging deadline and commit publicly to it if possible, gradually shortening the timeframe as you train your intensity.
Try this no more than once a week, ensuring you always meet your deadlines and push yourself out of your comfort zone, believing that you can improve over time.
The goal of productive meditation is to occupy yourself physically and focus your attention on a single well-defined professional problem. This might involve two or three such sessions daily or weekly.
To combat distractions and mental looping, gently remind yourself when your attention starts to slip away that you can return to that thought later, then redirect your attention back.
Looping occurs when your mind seeks to conserve energy by repeating simple solutions instead of delving deeper into the problem. To avoid looping, recognize when you're stuck in a loop, redirect your attention to the next step.
Structuring your deep thinking process can be challenging, but it's helpful to start with a careful review of relevant variables for solving the problem and storing these values in your working memory, akin to milestones. Once the relevant variables are identified, define the specific next-step question you need to answer using these variables. By doing so, you set a specific target for your attention.
Finally, consolidate your gains from deep thinking by clearly reviewing the identified answer, then push yourself to the next level of depth by starting the process over.
Learn From Memory Elite Athlete: Enhance Your Memory
According to a research leader at the Memory Lab at the University of Washington, Henry Roediger, in a New York Times blog post, the key difference between memory athletes and the rest of us lies in a cognitive ability that is not a direct measure of memory but of attention.
A misunderstanding of many hardworking but inefficient students is that "We are not wired to interpret abstract information. We are good at remembering scenes." Your mind can store (and retrieve) a lot of detailed information if it's stored in the right way.
To apply the memory palace technique, the author recommends you to imagine yourself walking through five rooms in your home in a specific route. In each room, imagine an image you see. Then, fix your attention on a collection of ten items in each of these rooms. According to Ron White, for high-volume memorization tasks, use large items instead of small ones. Next, build an order for looking at each of the items in each room. You can use this method to remember 50 items. Then, associate visualizations with those things you need to memorize. Find logical associations between things and the corresponding image. Then, think about the visualization near each of the items every time you need to remember something.
For example, think about Donald Trump wiping mud off his loafers on the entry mat in your front hallway.
Then, walk several times in a row to lock in the imagery.
To achieve memorization each time, you need to perform a mental walkthrough one more time, connecting each memorized person or thing to its corresponding card as you turn your attention to it.
Your ability to concentrate is only as strong as your commitment to train it.
This practice is way better than digital Detox
The chapter begins with the story of Baratunde Thurston, a DM consultant and author known as one of the most connected individuals globally, with over 59,000 Gmail conversations and 500 annual Facebook posts. Despite his prolific online presence, he embarked on a 25-day retreat from social media. Surprisingly, he found it easier than expected to adapt to his new, simpler lifestyle. Thurston experienced reduced stress from not constantly learning new things and discovered a newfound enjoyment in food without the lens of Instagram. He lamented that the end of his retreat came too soon.
The author categorizes social networks and infotainment sites as two types of online distractions, labeling them as "new tools." Recognizing these tools as fragmenting our time and reducing our ability to concentrate, the author advocates for taking back control over our lives—both our time and attention—from the myriad distractions that vie for them.
While acknowledging the roles these tools play in our lives, the author emphasizes the need for stricter criteria when allowing a site access to our time and attention (personal knowledge), advocating for selective use of such tools.
Many internet users justify their online presence with reasons such as entertainment, skill improvement, and network effects (interacting with people they know).
The author criticizes the prevailing "any benefit" mindset towards new tool adoption, arguing that people often overlook the negative effects and opportunity costs associated with these tools.
The author suggests a broader consideration of the skilled labor context, encouraging a more thoughtful approach to selecting tools that align with larger goals.
Drawing a parallel to traditional skilled laborers like blacksmiths or artists, the author proposes treating digital tools with applied sophistication and skepticism.
The author coins the term "craftsman approach" to tool selection, aligning the choice of tools with the overarching goals of one's craft.
Using the example of Pritchard, a farmer from Maryland, the author illustrates how individuals should carefully assess the impact of tools on their priorities, rather than relying on a simple formula or following others.
Ultimately, the author emphasizes that the selection of tools should be driven by individual needs and goals, akin to a craftsman selecting tools to enhance their craft.
Three strategies to ensure a craftsman’s approach include the following steps:
1. The first step is to identify the main high-level goals in both your professional and personal life. It's important to limit the number of goals in each area to maintain focus and clarity.
2. Next, list the two or three most important activities that will help you satisfy these goals. These activities should be specific enough for you to clearly visualize doing them and should be tied to a concrete outcome. For instance, rather than stating vague goals like "do better research" or "finish papers on broadcast lower bounds," think of activities such as "regularly reading and understanding cutting-edge research in the field."
3. The next step involves considering the new tools you use and how they impact your key activities. Evaluate whether these tools have significant positive, negative, or minimal effects on your daily tasks and overall success. It's crucial to ensure that the benefits of using these tools outweigh any potential drawbacks.
An example of applying this approach in a professional context could be a goal to craft well-written, narrative-driven stories that transform the way people understand the world. Key supporting activities for this goal might include researching patiently and deeply and writing carefully with purpose. One might choose to abandon certain distractions like Twitter to focus on activities that directly align with this goal, understanding that investing time in quality research and writing will ultimately build reputation and professional success, potentially eliminating the need for additional exposure platforms like Twitter, as seen with Michael Lewis.
This approach can also be used to evaluate whether a tool fits your personal life. For instance, a personal goal to maintain close and rewarding friendships with a group of important people might involve activities such as regularly connecting meaningfully with these individuals and making nontrivial sacrifices to improve their lives.
The author suggests that if many Facebook users adopt this approach, most of them will likely drop it (but not everyone), indicating that some individuals may find that certain tools or platforms do not align with their goals or priorities when evaluated through this intentional, craftsman-like approach.
Schedule every minute every day. This may encounter challenges daily.
1. Your estimate may prove to be incorrect. 2. Unexpected new obligations may arise, which can disrupt your schedule.
Solution: Create a revised schedule for the remaining time in the day if your schedule changes.
Feel free to do this more. The goal is to maintain accountability for your time spent.
People should use timetables with flexibility. To exercise your flexibility, ask yourself throughout your day: What makes sense for me to do with the time that remains?
Without structure, it's easy to fall into superficial tasks.
Requiring deep work means treating your time with respect.
To determine the depth of a task, use this question: How long would it take, in months, to train a smart recent college graduate with no specialized training in my field to complete this task?
Ask your boss for a budget for shallow work. First, define what constitutes deep and shallow work (by asking yourself). Then try to adhere to this budget.
If there are no entry-level jobs, aim for a 30-50 percent range. Fifty percent is the upper limit for unskilled tasks. Adhering to this requires behavioral changes. You'll need to say no to projects infused with shallowness while aggressively reducing the amount of shallowness in your existing projects. These changes allow you to have capacity for core shallow obligations while placing a hard limit on less urgent obligations allowed into your schedule.
Initiate a conversation to gain support from your workplace and discuss a shallow-to-deep work ratio to clearly outline the impact.
A job that doesn't support deep work will not help you succeed in our current economy focused on deep work.
Commit to Fixed-Schedule Productivity. The author's advice, "Do not work past five-thirty," shifts you into a scarcity mindset and helps you stay sharp in organizational efforts. Default to saying no to shallow obligations. Protect your time window. Then work backward to find productivity strategies that allow you to adhere to this commitment.
Email Tactics
1. Make it harder to reach you.
- Make the sender do more work. Use a sender filter to establish expectations that you might not respond, which earns you more credit when you do respond.
- Alternatively, use a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to ensure contact only occurs when those whose questions are not answered in the FAQ need to reach out. Then ask them to fill out a survey that allows people to further screen for connections that seem relevant to your expertise.
- Lastly, use a small fee to screen out those individuals who are not serious.
2. Put more work into an email.
- Deliberately design your responses to save time later.
- Start by identifying the project implied by the message.
- Take a minute or two to think through the process required.
- Clearly describe this process and where you stand.
Apply a process-centric approach to emails to minimize both the number of emails you receive and the amount of mental clutter they generate. According to David Allen, this closes the loop immediately. When a project is initiated by an email you send or receive, it occupies your mental landscape, becoming something "on your plate" that needs to be addressed.
Reclaim your mental real estate by working through the whole process, adding any relevant commitments to your task list and calendar, and bringing the other party up to speed. This frees up mental power for deep thinking.
3. Don’t respond.
- People generally don’t care, and we should adjust to this new normal.
Do not reply if the following applies:
1. It is ambiguous or makes it hard for you to generate a reasonable response.
2. It's not a question or proposal that interests you.
3. No very good or bad outcome would result from a response.
These sentences are structured to convey the ideas clearly and fully based on the original text.
Write at the end
I believe eating processed food to the body is like reading other people`s book notes to the mind. Therefore, it might be a better idea to read Newport`s Deep work yourself. So I attach a link for some of you who want to buy Deep Work here on Indigo for 23 Canadian bucks: Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success In A Distracted World | Indigo
Steve is a thinker, innovator, practitioner of digital marketing. He writes about productivity, trading, business opportunities and actionable food ideas in his blog: 1000 book notes and food ideas. His background is in digital marketing with expertise in Google ads, Facebook ads and AI-driven content. Based in Toronto, ON, Steve has a master of Digital Experience and Innovation from the University of Waterloo. When he is not hard at work, he likes to reading, writing and trading.
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