5 ms·

While I'm fond of "deep work the idea", the book was a real disappointment. It's mostly selling the idea instead of explaining how to do something with it. I f

While I'm fond of "deep work the idea", the book was a real disappointment. It's mostly selling the idea instead of explaining how to do something with it. I followed the author's blog for a while, and I'd say a few key blog posts are enough to get the point accross. Even there it gets repetitive quickly. The idea is good, it just doesn't require so much elaboration.

whatsreal 9y ago
Would you be willing to link to what you consider the key blog posts? Thanks!
- norswap 9y ago
  It's been a while so I don't remember specifics. However, after looking around, it seem the category "Patterns of Success for the Working World" (http://calnewport.com/blog/archive/ http://calnewport.com/blog/archive/) captures what I thought the interesting content was. It's still 100+ blog posts, so you'll have to do a bit of sorting.
  - whatsreal 9y ago
    Here's a few from my own quick searching that I found most interesting/foundational/helpful: http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/07/08/grit-grinds-and-living-the-low-stress-life/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/07/08/grit-grinds-and-living... http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-bad-at-working-and-heres-what-to-do-about-it/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-... http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/06/22/on-the-value-of-hard-focus/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/06/22/on-the-value-of-hard-f... http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/02/16/the-danger-of-deep-procratination/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/02/16/the-danger-of-deep-pro... http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/15/fixed-schedule-productivity-how-i-accomplish-a-large-amount-of-work-in-a-small-number-of-work-hours/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/15/fixed-schedule-product... http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/08/11/the-career-craftsman-manifesto/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/08/11/the-career-craftsman-m... https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/getting-started-is-bad-advice/ https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/getting-started-i...
    - WalterSear 9y ago
      ...aaaaand that's why it may be a good idea to disconnect in order to get any work done.
beat 9y ago
Well, what to do with deep work is up to you. I wouldn't expect it to be an instruction manual for anything but "Here is how you build your mind and work habits to be able to accomplish deep work."
arkano 9y ago
> While I'm fond of "deep work the idea", the book was a real disappointment. It's mostly selling the idea instead of explaining how to do something with it. Sadly, most self-help book are like this. :-(

whatsreal 9y ago

Would you be willing to link to what you consider the key blog posts? Thanks!

norswap 9y ago
It's been a while so I don't remember specifics. However, after looking around, it seem the category "Patterns of Success for the Working World" (http://calnewport.com/blog/archive/ http://calnewport.com/blog/archive/) captures what I thought the interesting content was. It's still 100+ blog posts, so you'll have to do a bit of sorting.
- whatsreal 9y ago
  Here's a few from my own quick searching that I found most interesting/foundational/helpful: http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/07/08/grit-grinds-and-living-the-low-stress-life/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/07/08/grit-grinds-and-living... http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-bad-at-working-and-heres-what-to-do-about-it/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-... http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/06/22/on-the-value-of-hard-focus/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/06/22/on-the-value-of-hard-f... http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/02/16/the-danger-of-deep-procratination/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/02/16/the-danger-of-deep-pro... http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/15/fixed-schedule-productivity-how-i-accomplish-a-large-amount-of-work-in-a-small-number-of-work-hours/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/15/fixed-schedule-product... http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/08/11/the-career-craftsman-manifesto/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/08/11/the-career-craftsman-m... https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/getting-started-is-bad-advice/ https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/getting-started-i...
  - WalterSear 9y ago
    ...aaaaand that's why it may be a good idea to disconnect in order to get any work done.

beat 9y ago

Well, what to do with deep work is up to you. I wouldn't expect it to be an instruction manual for anything but "Here is how you build your mind and work habits to be able to accomplish deep work."

arkano 9y ago

> While I'm fond of "deep work the idea", the book was a real disappointment. It's mostly selling the idea instead of explaining how to do something with it. Sadly, most self-help book are like this. :-(