"If you don't produce, you won't thrive - no matter how skilled or talented you are."
Let that sink in.
In "Deep Work", Cal Newport believes there are three groups of people who will thrive in the current economy: people who work well and creatively with intelligent machines, superstars at their field, and owners (those with capital).
No matter which field you're working in, you will need the ability to quickly master hard things and the ability to produce at the elite level.
With the core argument understood, he goes on to describe the solution to mastering hard things quickly. The solution is Deep Work.
So what's wrong with how we work normally? Well, how most of us work normally would be considered shallow work. There is a strong negative aspect to shallow work and constant task switching. When you switch from one task to another, your attention doesn't follow right away. There is some attention residue left over in the first task. The more intense the residue, the worse the performance on the next task.
Deep Work is the opposite.
That's great, if you have days or even hours to spare for one single project. But most of us don't have that luxury. Newport explains that there are 4 types of deep work schedules.
How do you start doing deep work?
1) Monastic
2) Bimodal
3) Rhythmic
4) Journalistic
There's four ways to begin implementing a deep work schedule in your life. The first two aren't realistic for many people. But the last two are very possible, especially the rhythmic schedule which I describe briefly below.
Let's say you work 9-5, before and after those hours you have some spare time. To start with deep work, here's what you can do:
1) Schedule a specific START and END time during those free hours to work on ONE thing. Keep the time consistent everyday
2) Decide where you will work (only have one place for deep work)
3) Decide how you will support your work (snacks, water, work material, short walks for breaks)
By scheduling deep work into something grand, you tell yourself that you are doing something important. Just that helps you focus more easily on your task, and makes it a habit.
In the beginning, keeping concentrated will be difficult. But if you believe that intense concentrate is a skill, then it can be developed.
How do I overcome distractions?
Newport also covers some great strategies to overcoming distractions.
1) Schedule your breaks. Let's say you want to do some Deep Work from 8-10pm. At 9pm you can tell yourself you will take a short walk around the neighborhood for 10 minutes and then get back to work.
2) Schedule in advance when you'll use the internet or do something distracting. Using the example above, tell yourself that at 10pm you can go on netflix and watch a movie before you sleep.
There you have it. A simple primer for Deep Work to help you quickly master hard things, and produce higher quality work.
This is just a simple outline of Cal Newport's main ideas. If you're interested in reading more deeply into his practical book, check it out here: Deep Work by Cal Newport.