Practicing deep concentration form of work benefits your life.

A Book Review – Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

By Cal Newport

Short Summary

“Deep Work” promotes the idea of practising deep concentration over our work in order to achieve more with less time, and ultimately leading to a more fulfilling life. The book has mainly two parts: Part I tries to convince you that “Deep Work” is valuable, rare and meaningful. Part II introduces 4 rules to help us attain to the state of deep concentration.

This book encourages us to learn and try go deep into our work. It describes the rarity of products with depth in our current trending economy which focuses on quick fixes and shallow consumer experiences. Cal aims to prove to us that the Deep Work Hypothesis is valid and that the few who cultivate the skill of deep work will thrive and benefit in this current society. I summarise the 4 rules to achieve deep work as follows:

Rule#1 – Work Deeply. The key is to plan and decide on what you wanted to focus on, how you shall do it and focus wildly on the most important task

Rule#2 – Embrace Boredom. Get used to being bored when you are focusing on your work and do not seek for internet entertainment which easily gets your focus off rhythm

Rule#3 – Quit Social Media. Give up forms of social media that will distract you from focusing and those which proved valueless to you

Rule#4 – Drain the Shallows. shallow work as defined by the author are work that do not create much value and are easy to replicate. Avoid attending to these tasks by all means

Personal thoughts

My first impression on this book is that it resembles some academic papers and it may be a boring read. Luckily I was wrong, and this book was a calm and enjoyable read from beginning to the end. In particular, I agreed very much that in modern day life the internet entertainment offered by social media constantly distract us, and they often suck away a large chunk of our productivity time with noticing.

“…struggle to deploy your mind to its fullest capacity to create things that matter, then you’ll discover, as others have before you, that depth generates a life rich with productivity and meaning.”

Conclusion

The most famous social media platforms nowadays such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc are all designed to make you stick. They constantly fill you with intriguing information so that users go on and on without leaving the site or application. Nevertheless, most of the time after spending hours on these social media we would realize that the information we absorbed were of very least value to us. This is why in Rule#3 the author encourages us to quit social media.

I have followed Cal’s recommendation and tried quitting Instagram, one social media that I believe is irrelevant to me. So far I think the theory worked: I have not been using it for a few months and I did not miss out anything important in life.

Speaking of internet entertainment though, I am actually a big fan and loved seeking relaxation and inspirations through social media like YouTube. However, I think the key for Deep Work is that we should stay wildly focused when we are working on something important (which requires our full attention) and make deep work a habit. By doing so, you can achieve and create much more than you usually can, and your life will be much more fulfilling as more accomplishments are made.

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