I’m usually not a huge fan of personal growth books. As I pointed out in my Blinkist review, most books of this genre are 300 pages long when all the content would fit on 20. I read Deep Work by Cal Newport, with an open but skeptical mind.

A case for deep work

The book is split in two main sections. In the first section, the author makes a case for deep work. He argues that deep work is economically viable because it can help you learn new skills fast, a distinctive trait to successful people in tech, especially when competing with increasingly intelligent machines. This argument is surprisingly timely now, at the peak of the AI bubble.

He then explains that deep work is rare because in the absence of clear indicators of productivity, most people default to appearing very active shuffling things around. This argument clearly resonated with my experience for all my career.

Newport closes the first section by explaining why deep work is actually important for us humans because it limits our exposure to pettiness, makes us empirically happier than shallow work, and because it helps us find meaning to our work.

Rules for deep work

In the second section, the author lays out the four rules to enable deep work:

  1. Decide the length of your deep work sessions, establish a ritual for them, keep track of your consistency and hold yourself accountable to it, and refrain from overworking since it decreases your global productivity.
  2. Since the Internet can be very distracting, establish some time blocks with Internet and some without, and enforce the rule strictly even if it seems silly.
  3. Pick up the right tools for your job by assessing the positive but also the negative impact. Most of the time that means “get off social media.” Also avoid fast-paced entertainment since it can undo all the day training and embrace boredom as a way to train your focus.
  4. Use every minute of your day intentionally by scheduling them, even if that means redoing your schedule several time as new priorities emerge. Quantify the depth of your work and ask your boss for a shallow work budget. Finish early so your day is tightly time boxed and shallow work becomes even more expensive (so easier to refuse). Become hard to reach so you don’t spend your day in your inbox.

An insightful book

Like in all personal growth books, storytelling takes many pages in Deep Work, but here it supports nicely the argument of the author. The book was pleasant to read and helped me question my relationship to technology and work.

In the first section the author backs his claims about the importance of focus with evidences from academic studies. Of course since the second section is all about establishing new rules to allow deep work, it’s not possible to have proofs that it works. With that said, I bought a late edition and would have liked an “augmented” conclusion with evidence from people who used the methodology successfully in the real world.

You can find my key takeaways from the book by having a look at my reading notes.