Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Cal Newport defines deep work as “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit.” According to Newport, deep work is the kind of work that’s meaningful to us and to others. In other words, the kind of work that only you can do adds tremendous value to you as an individual and the company you are advancing. Our work has our stamp on it, making it unrepeatable and irreplicable. We draw out our fullest potential when we immerse ourselves in deep work experiences, but how do we get to that state of deep work? And how do we stay there? For all our potential, much of it remains latent because we habitually siphon off our limited energies to support irrelevancies. Newport tells us why deep work matters and gives us some practical tools for achieving deep work in our own lives. His basic rules are: work deeply, embrace boredom, quit social media, and drain the shallows.