One of my reference authors is Cal Newport. Months ago I already wrote about him in the post “Don’t follow your passion”, in which Newport recommended “not doing what you love” but “learn to love what you do”. Cal is a prolific author and a great speaker. I recently read another of his books and I found it very interesting. It’s about “Deep Work. Rules For Focused Success In A Distracted World”.
In the book, Newport defines two basic concepts that constitute the fundamental pillars of his theory:
- DEEP WORK: those activities carried out in a state of concentration without distractions that allow us to push our cognitive abilities to the limit. This state allows us to achieve high performance with great quality.
- SHALLOW WORK: These activities (generally not very demanding from a cognitive point of view) are often performed while you are distracted. These efforts tend not to create much value, the quality is also lower, and they are easy for others to replicate.
NEWPORT IS COMMITTED TO CULTIVATING THE CAPACITY FOR DEEP WORK. He is convinced that fewer and fewer professionals have this ability and those who develop it will have a significant competitive advantage and will obtain better results. He explains that working in a focused way and with long periods of uninterrupted concentration produces value, it is rare to find and it is significant. As the author himself indicates “The ability to concentrate intensely is a skill that must be constantly trained. It takes hours of practice to strengthen the ‘mental muscle.'”
With these 2 clear concepts, Newport recommends following 4 BASIC RULES TO DEVELOP DEEP WORK.
- DEEP WORK. To do this, Newport is committed to choosing the type of deep work programming that best suits the specific way of being or working. He proposes four philosophies: monastic, bimodal, rhythmic, and journalistic. He affirms that it is necessary to ritualize, to make great gestures that facilitate these moments of deep work. He also stresses the usefulness of not working entirely alone.
- EMBRACE BOREDOM. Newport offers some ideas for making the most of deep work moments. He bets on planning the breaks of the distraction. He also recommends productive meditation combining it with physical activity that is used to concentrate on a single issue to be analyzed. In addition, he recommends the practice of memory training to improve the ability to concentrate.
- QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA. Newport is very much against the excessive use of the Internet and social networks. He states that they are very detrimental to concentration and that they make us waste a lot of time. It is advisable to reflect in depth on the use we give to social networks. Surely, most of us have a lot to improve on this.
- DRAIN THE SHALLOWS. With this idea, Newport recommends measuring how we spend our time. And then, we must control very well how much time is spent on superficial tasks. With this, limit time to them, which will surely have to reduce or eliminate many of the superficial tasks. In addition, he is committed to setting clear work schedules, in which it is difficult to access you. During these working hours, he bets on lithe mited use of email, telephone, Internet, and social networks.
4 powerful ideas that can help you work more focused and deeper and get better results. As Newport puts it, “3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week, of totally focused, uninterrupted work produces a really valuable result.”
I end with a quote from Cal Newport that I love and sums up the essence of this post: “Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not”.
Cal Newport Recommended Books
