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I stand by the idea proposed by Cal Newport that the best way to do great work is to do "Deep Work"—large (but not all day) amounts of no-distraction, in-the-zo

I stand by the idea proposed by Cal Newport that the best way to do great work is to do "Deep Work"—large (but not all day) amounts of no-distraction, in-the-zone work. Harder to do than ever, but when I can do it I'm amazed.

newfolder 10y ago
Deep work isn't a new concept. I just finished Cal's book and, while it's a decent read, I didn't learn anything. Maybe because I read a lot of productivity-based articles and blog posts?
- madengr 10y ago
  Then pass it in to your boss. That's what I'm going to do, now that I'm finished with it.
- anantzoid 10y ago
  Maybe it doesn't teach anything new, but it does act as a refresher and makes you go back to Deep Work. I had almost completely forgotten about it and my work schedule was full of tab switching and short breaks. After going through the book, I started using Toggl and minding my time.
- Matachines 10y ago
  How about trying to actually do it? I agree self-help books are mostly fluff that can be said in half the length, but I do think "Deep Work" is a useful technique. One problem I did have with the book was that Deep Work might not be useful for someone whose work is largely mechanical or mundane, though in that case I'd apply Deep Work to learn skills to into more interesting jobs if one wishes.
cel1ne 10y ago
> "Deep Work"—large (but not all day) amounts of no-distraction, in-the-zone work. I honestly don't understand how that is different from "regular work". How else do you work if not undistracted?
- mirekrusin 10y ago
  Regular work means emails, slack, having coffee break with colleagues, over-hearing John's joke, overhearing what happened in metro to Mark this morning, suggesting where to go for lunch today and of course preparing for a meeting and going to the meeting etc. "Deep work" or "flow" means there's just you and the thing you're doing, nothing else.
  - cel1ne 10y ago
    Apart from the "preparing for a meeting" and the meeting i wouldn't consider any of this work. Ok, working on emails is 50% work...

newfolder 10y ago

Deep work isn't a new concept. I just finished Cal's book and, while it's a decent read, I didn't learn anything. Maybe because I read a lot of productivity-based articles and blog posts?

madengr 10y ago
Then pass it in to your boss. That's what I'm going to do, now that I'm finished with it.
anantzoid 10y ago
Maybe it doesn't teach anything new, but it does act as a refresher and makes you go back to Deep Work. I had almost completely forgotten about it and my work schedule was full of tab switching and short breaks. After going through the book, I started using Toggl and minding my time.
Matachines 10y ago
How about trying to actually do it? I agree self-help books are mostly fluff that can be said in half the length, but I do think "Deep Work" is a useful technique. One problem I did have with the book was that Deep Work might not be useful for someone whose work is largely mechanical or mundane, though in that case I'd apply Deep Work to learn skills to into more interesting jobs if one wishes.

cel1ne 10y ago

> "Deep Work"—large (but not all day) amounts of no-distraction, in-the-zone work. I honestly don't understand how that is different from "regular work". How else do you work if not undistracted?

mirekrusin 10y ago
Regular work means emails, slack, having coffee break with colleagues, over-hearing John's joke, overhearing what happened in metro to Mark this morning, suggesting where to go for lunch today and of course preparing for a meeting and going to the meeting etc. "Deep work" or "flow" means there's just you and the thing you're doing, nothing else.
- cel1ne 10y ago
  Apart from the "preparing for a meeting" and the meeting i wouldn't consider any of this work. Ok, working on emails is 50% work...