Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

by Cal Newport

“Let your mind become a lens, thanks to the converging rays of attention; let your soul be all intent on whatever it is that is established in your mind as a dominant, wholly absorbing idea.”

“Men of genius themselves were great only by bringing all their power to bear on the point on which they had decided to show their full measure.”

To produce at your peak level you need to work for extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction.

Human beings, it seems, are at their best when immersed deeply in something challenging.

The task of a craftsman, they conclude, “is not to generate meaning, but rather to cultivate in himself the skill of discerning the meanings that are already there.”

Among other insights, Nass’s research revealed that constant attention switching online has a lasting negative effect on your brain.

every moment of potential boredom in your life—say, having to wait five minutes in line or sit alone in a restaurant until a friend arrives—is relieved with a quick glance at your smartphone, then your brain has likely been rewired to a point where, like the “mental wrecks”

Thurston struck up conversations with strangers. He enjoyed food without Instagramming the experience.