Synopsis
Would you like to become a winner in the new and ever emerging economy? Would you like to become more valuable and gain leverage in the era of AI Take-Over? Cal Newport – American computer science professor and productivity expert, attempts to answer these questions at the beginning of his book ‘Deep Work’. He presents two core abilities that if harnessed, one can thrive in this New Era (surprisingly even creative fields are spared)
1- The ability to quickly master hard things
2- The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed
Cal Newport argues that in pursuit of achieving both abilities, one has to embrace Deep Work. This raises some valid questions, such as
What activities should be considered Deep Work and which should not? Should being busy all day be considered as Deep Work?
What is Deep Work?
Cal Newport carefully explains Deep work in his academic style of describing things, as:
“Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”
The crucial terms here are – “distraction free concentration” and “creating value that is hard to replicate”.
In today’s world where busyness is a proxy for productivity, Deep Work is rare. But arguably it’s rarity and exclusivity are what sets deep worker apart from the rest and gives access to lucrative opportunities.
Furthermore, Newport argues that Deep Work can also be a source of meaningfulness and happiness. While many assume that relaxation and free time make them happy, Newport cites a study that shows that jobs (as in work) are easier to enjoy than free time because they have built-in goals, feedback rules, and challenges, all of which encourage individuals to become involved in their work, concentrate, and lose themselves in it. In contrast, free time is unstructured and requires greater effort to shape into something enjoyable.
When I first read this, I was quite shocked, but now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. For me, it explains why every year, the day right after the completion of Imtihan al- Jamea-tus-Saifiyah felt off. Preparing for, then giving Imtihan and attending Shafahi Imtihan kept me in a prolonged state of Deep Work, after which I expected to enjoy like never before. But the very next day, I felt empty and had nothing to look forward to immediately.
Five key factors to determine whether your work is deep or shallow
Cal Newport defines Shallow Work as:
Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.
Now let’s try to evaluate our daily schedule. To make it more effective, I would suggest that you look at your daily schedule and respond to the following questions:
- Evaluate cognitive demand: Does the work require intense mental focus or can it be done while multitasking?
- Consider impact: Does the work contribute to long-term goals or is it just a mundane task?
- Assess time investment: Will the work require prolonged focused attention or can it be done quickly?
- Look at quality of results: Will the work yield significant, meaningful outcomes or just minor results?
- Evaluate satisfaction: Will completing the task provide a sense of fulfillment or will it simply be another item checked off the to-do list?
Now that you have assessed your schedule and determined what tasks you need to consider as Deep Work, let’s go through the four rules outlined by Cal Newport for achieving Deep Work.
The Rules
Rule #1 Work Deeply
- Add Routines and Rituals – This involves setting aside dedicated blocks of time for deep work, such as two or three hours of uninterrupted focus. During these blocks, individuals turn off all distractions, including email, social media, and phone notifications, and work exclusively on tasks that require deep concentration.
- Add Grand Gestures – Make a bold and significant commitment to deep work by investing time, resources, and energy into creating an environment that supports and encourages focused concentration.
- Focus on wildly important goals – Focus on wildly important goals involves identifying and prioritizing the most important goals that will have the greatest impact on one’s professional or personal life
- Idleness – At the end of the workday, shut down your consideration of work issues until the next morning- no after dinner e-mail check, no mental replays of conversations, and no scheming about how you’ll handle an upcoming challenge; shut down work thinking completely
Rule #2 Embrace Boredom
- Wean your mind from a dependence on distraction
- Productive Meditation – The goal of productive meditation is to take a period in which you’re occupied physically but not mentally – walking, jogging, driving, showering – and focus your attention on a single well-defined professional problem.
Rule #3 Quit Social Media
Your first thought maybe “Yeah easier said than done!”. Cal Newport advocates “The Craftsman Approach to Network Tool Selection” vs “The Any-Benefit Approach to Network Tool Selection”. He describes the Craftsman Approach as:
Identify the core factors that determine success and happiness in your professional and personal life. Adopt a tool only if its positive impacts on these factors substantially outweigh its negative impacts.
This is similar to the concept of “Digital Minimalism” authored by Cal Newport himself. You may read the book to gain a better understanding of it.
Rule #4 Drain the Shallows
- Identify and eliminate low-value activities
- Schedule your time for deep work
- Reduce the time spent on shallow work
- Evaluate and adjust your approach
I have used this approach and modified my Notion Week Planner Template(Click here to view the template). I have added Deep Work and Shallow Work as two different to-do buckets in my Weekly Planner. It does motivate me to finish my shallow work fast and helps me devote a significant amount of time to Deep Work.
In conclusion, I will certainly advise you to evaluate your daily schedule and identify the Deep work and the Shallow Work in it. This small step will hopefully push you to start embracing Deep Work.
4 comments
Amazing work
Thank You 🙂
Good initiative
Thank you!