Deep Work

Deep work -Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively-demanding task. A deep task hard to replicate is essential in the age of information.

Shallow Work – Low valued and easily replicable work.

The book begins with introducing Karl Yung, a psychiatrist, how he got into the deep work zone, and Jason Ben and his journey, moving from economics and excel sheets to computer programming in a short span of time. The book has two Parts - First which states that the deep work hypothesis is true and second which explains how to take advantage of this reality and transform your brain.

PART I

THE IDEA

Chapter 1 Deep work is valuable

As the economy transforms to digital one, few groups are going to get the most benefit namely - Those who can work well with creative machines, those who are best at what they do and those with access to capital.

Myelin and Deep work - Deliberate practice works because, by practicing a particular skill repeatedly, you are forcing a particular circuit or neural pathway to fire continuously, thereby leading to the triggering of cells called oligodendrocytes to wrap layers of myelin - a layer of fatty tissue that grows around neurons, acting like an insulator allowing the cells to fire faster and cleaner.

Attention Residue - When you switch from some Task A to another Task B, your attention doesn’t immediately follow - a residue of your attention remains stuck thinking about the original task. This is attention residue.

Chapter 2 Deep work is rare

With the rise of instant messaging and the push to maintain a social media presence, the benefits of serendipity, real-time collaboration and enhanced exposure that these trends are meant to drive, are in reality, dwarfed by the decline in being able to learn fast and produce high quality work. Newport mentions metrics black hole and the principle of least resistance.

The principle of least resistance – We tend towards behaviors that are easiest as the metrics to obtain as the impact of behavior on other metrics is quite ambiguous. The impact of behavior on the bottomline is tough to calculate and this is metrics blackhole.

Depth will become increasingly rare and valuable as we transcend towards technopoly (If it is high-tech we believe it to be good.)

Chapter 3 Deep work is meaningful

Using the analogy of craftsman Rick, Newport draws a parallelism between knowledge work and craftsman’s work and the role of deep work. Newport gives three arguments to support this analogy.

Neurological Argument – Gallagher’s Theory - Our world is the outcome of what we pay attention to, and dedicating it to something profound and deep, will create a world rich in meaning and importance.
“World represented by your inbox is not a pleasant world to inhabit.”

Psychological Argument – Here, Newport sites the work of Mihail and Larsen. How they used Experience Sampling Method (The best moment occurs when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.)
Flow and Deep work - Where you are so focused that you lose yourself in an activity which is well-suited to generate a flow state, eventually flow generates happiness.

Philosophical Argument - Comparing craftsmanship and modern professionals, Newport mentions the philosophical work by Hubert Dreyfuss and Sean Kelly to establish meaning. Sacredness and nihilism, deep work and shallow work, imbue it with something sacred and purposeful, making your work a satisfying pursuit, and not a draining obligation.

A deep life is a good life anyway you look at it.

PART II
THE RULES

Rule #1 details how we can bridge the gap between a world which makes deep work difficult. How does one transform deep work from an aspiration into a regular and significant part of your daily schedule? How does one become a disciple of depth in a shallow world? Rules #2 through #4 will then help you get the most out of this deep work habit by presenting, among other things, strategies for training your concentration ability and fighting back distractions.

The Eudaimonia Machine

The design of the Eudaimonia Machine is arranged from the more open and distracting environments (i.e., the gallery and salon) to quieter and less distracting environments, (i.e., the library, office space, and finally, the chambers), a machine designed by David Dewane for deep work.

 Rule #1 Work Deeply -

Newport gives various approaches to systematically get to the deep work zone citing some examples form the lives of highly successful people. He lays down monastic, bimodal, rhythmic and journalistic approach.
 
The Grand Gesture –Grand Gesture is a radical changing in your normal environment supporting a deep work task. It is not only physical but deep psychological change to put the work first. Newport puts up thus concept using the case of  JK Rolling moving from Scotland to Edinburgh to finish the deathly hallows.
David Brook –“Great creative minds think like artists but work like accountants.”

4DX Principles -

Newport cites from a book The 4 Disciplines of Execution which describes 4 disciplines to help companies successfully implement high-level strategies.

Focus on the wildly important (small number of really critical goals), act on lead measures (measures new behaviors that drive success while lag measures describe the thing that you are ultimately trying to improve), keep a compelling scoreboard (Newport’s tracker of hours in deep work circles indicating key milestones such as solving a proof or completing a paper, corresponding to the hour it was achieved in.), create a cadence of accountability.

Plan Downtime -

Your capacity for deep work (number of hours daily) is limited. Deliberate practice, as propounded by K Anders Ericsson, states a limit of around 4 hours a day. Zeigarnik effect describes the ability of incomplete tasks to dominate our attention.

Attention Restoration Period – Similar to will power, directed attention is a finite resource. Activities like spending time in nature, talking with old friends, spending time with children etc. can improve your ability to concentrate and improve ART.

Rule 1 helps you to reach the limit of your ability, with rituals and routines while rule 2 helps you to extend this limit.

Rule #2 Embrace Boredom –

The ability to concentrate intensely is a skill that must be trained. It is akin to a mental muscle and you need to continuously practice to keep it well-conditioned. Schedule a break from focus not vice versa. Make your brain habitual of boredom, rather than looking at your smartphone at regular intervals. Use fixed time blocks to use smartphones and internet.

Roosevelt dashes - It leverage artificial deadlines to help you systematically increase the level you can regularly achieve, providing, in some sense, interval training for the attention centers of your brain.

“Your ability to concentrate is only as strong as your commitment to train it.”

Rule #3 Quit Social Media –

Figure out in advance what you are going to do with your evenings and weekends before they begin. If you give your mind something meaningful to do throughout all your waking hours, you’ll end the day more fulfilled and begin the next one more relaxed, than if you instead allow your mind to bathe for hours in semiconscious and unstructured web surfing. Give your brain the quality alternative instead.

Craftsman Approach to tool selection – Access the positives as well as negatives of tools, place the professional and personal high priority goals and use the tools accordingly.  Newport uses the case of Twitter and Facebook, applies Craftsman strategy to access the importance of social media tools.

Rule #4 Drain the shallows –

Fixed Schedule Productivity - Not working beyond a certain time and then working backwards to find productivity strategies that allows you to satisfy this constraint.

Tim Ferris - “Develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you will never find time for the life-changing big things.”

Block time. Don’t despair if you have to rewrite your schedule multiple times. Your goal is not so much to stick to a specific schedule as it is to maintain a thoughtful say in what you’re doing with your schedule going forward, even if these decisions are reworked again and again as the day unfolds.

“If you are willing to sidestep the comforts and fears, and strive to deploy your mind to its fullest capacity to create things that matter, then you will discover as others have before you, that depth generates a life rich with productivity and meaning.”

Commitment to deep work is not a moral stance or philosophical statement; it is instead a pragmatic recognition that the ability to concentrate is a skill that gets values things done.

Depth provides meaning. Newport concludes the boom citing his own experience and brings up the benefits of deep work. A book filled with scientific data, a real life example organized into two parts, explains and examines the deep work life. It not only lays down the vitality but also rules to achieve and lead a life with depth.