Deep Work-ing in the Digital Age

Cal Newport’s coined phrase ‘deep work’ describes work or tasks ‘performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to the limit.’ In other words, deep work is deep learning: learning that requires full attention.

Newport starts the book off by describing Carl Jung’s retreat known as ‘the tower’ in which he conducted much of his work - free of all distractions. This image definitely persists throughout the book and truly is the perfect analogy for deep work. Newport goes on to describe his deep work hypothesis:

“The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive”

He provides neurological, psychological, and philosophical arguments on the meaning of deep work - all of which culminate in deep work being highly impactful and meaningful. Additionally he provides some specific philosophies for the individual to build a deep work routine on: the monastic, the bimodal, the rhythmic, and the journalistic.

The 4DX framework also makes an appearance with 4 adapted disciplines to this philosophy. Lastly, he discusses the importance of space: ge suggests quitting social media and also emphasizes the importance of doing things right the first time: this will almost always end up taking less time in the long run.

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Thoughts on the Book

This book came highly recommended from a mentor and overall I thought this was a great read. With the rise of ‘shallow work,’ I’ve personally found my attention span to be less than what it used to be so I think this book came at an ideal time to work on that. I appreciate that Newport doesn’t speak in absolutes and provides multiple ways of accomplishing his deep work philosophy: I found the ‘rhythmic’ philosophy to be extremely easy to implement into my existing schedule; it centers around the idea of scheduling (time blocking) time to be free of distraction entirely.

Throughout the book, I kept thinking back to the introductory imagery of Carl Jung’s ‘tower’ and likened it to wearing noise- canceling headphones at my desk. For the average person, it’s not super attainable to have complete focus/separation from your life for a few hours per day which Newport addresses directly. This too, I found to be very helpful in persuading the reader to adapt some of the deep work philosophy.

My second biggest takeaway (1st being the rhythmic philosophy) of the book was the idea of “attention residue” - the idea that your attention doesn’t immediately shift when switching tasks. This perfectly encapsulates one of my biggest struggles with productivity: wanting to completely finish a task before switching to the next. Newport hypothesizes (with evidence) that a little part of our attention is, in fact, still on a previous task when we switch to a new one!

Lastly, I appreciate Newport’s mention of turning off at the end of the day. He specifically includes:

“Decades of work from multiple different subfields within psychology all point toward the conclusion that regularly resting your brain improves the quality of your deep work. When you work, work hard. When you’re done, be done.”

Luckily, we live at a time when work/life balanced are often openly talked about, but it was still pleasant to read a few pages about the importance of rest and subconscious problem-solving.

Overall, I found this to be a very informative, pleasant read with a lot of very big concepts put into simple language (ideal for those who have been stuck in a shallow work phase). I will definitely be recommending this to others.