From Distraction to Deep Work - Deep Work by Cal Newport

“ 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.

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.