“ Deep work is not some nostalgic affectation of writers and early-twentieth-century philosophers. It’s instead a skill that has a great value today” ― Cal newport
In the age where short form content reigns, there are studies which reported that the average person's attention span is also shorter. It’s ironic that the tools that we have today which are supposed to be helpful have become a double edged sword. Our culture is also overdosed with productivity know-how and content that is actually another set of distraction on its own. While it’s nice to know more about how to maximize productivity, I think the most important of them all is deep work, just as Cal Newport mentioned in his book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘏𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘣 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘪𝘴 "Which productivity book has had the biggest impact on your daily routine, and why? ". 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 : 𝘏𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘣 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 #314
Deep work according to Newport has been becoming a rare skill to have. Meanwhile, to achieve any great things, we must cultivate deep work to be more valuable in our economy. He lays out some examples and outliers that performed both with deep and shallow work. However, average people shouldn’t really take an example of the outliers that thrive in a distracted chaotic environment. Most of us would be best to pursue deep work, which is the ability to be able to work without any distractions.
Newport wrote another interesting main core of the book that has to do with thriving in this new economy. These days we see development of blockchain, web3, and even AI so rapidly that sometimes you wonder, how do people do that? How do they deliver products that fast and keep up with the trends?
The thing is, Newport has mentioned that to thrive we need to have 1) the ability to quickly master hard things. 2) the ability to produce at an elite level in terms of quality and speed. When you have these two, he argues that you’ll do well. The key to do all that is definitely deep work since without it, that is almost likely you can focus at anything in our increasingly distracted world.
If you want to be a high achiever, I think it’s also best to ask yourself a question. Have you spent time productively? Have I been working without distractions?
You can also refer to this equation that Cal Newport included in the book ;
> High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)
I am reflecting on my own reflection that in the past, I prided myself on being a multitasker yet those hours when I multitask weren't as efficient when I was doing one thing at a time and focusing on single work. Even these days as much as I am trying to single task, sometimes I am still distracted by X or youtube that led me to being unfocused.
Newport warns us that a deep work lifestyle may not just be for anybody. There are some extremes that he did which is perhaps not doable for others such as “Become hard to reach” where he mentioned that basically one of it entails not responding to email that are written vaguely and doesn’t sound convincing enough to get another response that is meaningful.
I find myself coming back to his book because lately I’ve been pretty distracted with a lot of things. This book is a reminder that I need to go back to deep work even if it’s just 2-3 hours since those uninterrupted hours would really get me some results compared to short bursts with a lot of distractions. Since I need deep focus to study, some of the materials I am learning aren’t easy and they require a full force of focus on my end.
One thing to note is that this book was written when people aren’t making money as content creators. It wasn’t that popular then to be an influencer for average joe but now, we are all incentivized to be terminally online. Take a look at the big 5 that are rewarding us to be online and to get hooked into their products. So, I have to say that now, deep work can be applicable by being a lot more mindful of our internet consumption and the way we produce things over the internet. We can certainly also apply all the deep work theory into it. Let’s say 2-3 hours of internet time daily, engaging and creating content rather than dragging it by getting distracted and being all over the place.
Last but not least, I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking to fix their short attention span or learn more about productivity . Deep work isn’t just some buzz word that won’t help you achieve what you want but it could be a life changing book that will help you eventually achieve the results you have been wanting for so long.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
Deep work requires discipline and that is difficult to maintain when we live in a world with so many distractions. Best to disconnect from the source of these distractions when you want to deep dive into one thing.
That's true, I don't have a lot of apps installed on my phone. They definitely is a live safer and I have pretty good attention spans now :D
That formula for high quality work is something I've been using for quite a while.
I feel there's also the slight variable for the dash of inspiration when doing that work.
Cause most times the quality increases and decreases by random factors like inspiration no matter the amount of focus.
ooh you're right! Newport certainly don't rely on inspiration to do the any kind of work. He mostly talks about goal, time and productivity. For people like us, inspiration definitely plays role. I mean, if we're so uninspired, that's also going to get difficult to focus and do any deep work.
Indeed..