Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

by Cal Newport

You don’t need a rarified job; you need instead a rarified approach to your work.

You have a finite amount of willpower that becomes depleted as you use it.

“The more you try to do, the less you actually accomplish.”

Act on the Lead Measures

The implication is that once you’ve hit your deep work limit in a given day, you’ll experience diminishing rewards if you try to cram in more. Shallow work, therefore, doesn’t become dangerous until after you add enough to begin to crowd out your bounded deep efforts for the day.