Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

by Cal Newport

Isaacson, for example, likely had an easier time switching to writing mode than, say, a first-time novelist, because Isaacson had worked himself up to become a respected writer by this point. He knew he had the capacity to write an epic

biography and understood it to be a key task in his professional advancement. This confidence goes a long ...

These gestures push your deep goal to a level of mental priority that helps unlock the needed mental resources. Sometimes to go deep, you must first go big.

“People play differently when they’re keeping score

This scoreboard creates a sense of competition that drives them to focus on these measures,

The 4DX framework is based on the fundamental premise that execution is more difficult than strategizing.

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When Kreider talks of getting work done, of course, he’s not referencing shallow tasks. For the most part, the more time you can spend immersed in shallow work

the more of it that gets accomplished. As a writer and artist, however, Kreider is instead concerned with deep work—the serious efforts that produce things the world values.

These efforts, he’s convinced, need the support of a mind regularly...

Ericsson notes that for a novice, somewhere around an hour a day of intense concentration seems to be a limit, while for experts this number can expand to as many as four hours—but rarely more.

This study found the elite players average around three and a half hours per day in a state of deliberate practice, usually separated into two distinct periods. The less accomplished players spent less time in a state of depth.

The three reasons just described support the general strategy of maintaining a strict endpoint to your workday.

“You cannot consider yourself as fulfilling this daily obligation unless you have stretched to the reaches of your mental capacity.”

Marlin came late to his faith, not starting his rigorous Talmud training until his twenties. This bit of trivia proves useful to our purposes because it allows Marlin a clear before-and-after comparison concerning the impact of these mental calisthenics—and the result surprised him.

“I’ve recently been making more highly creative insights in my business life,” he told me. “I’m convinced it’s related to this daily mental practice.

Adam Marlin’s experience underscores an important reality about deep work: The ability

to concentrate intensely is a skill that must be trained. This idea might sound obvious once it’s pointed out, but it represents a departure from how most people understand such matters.

But this understanding ignores the difficulty of focus and the hours of practice necessary to strengthen your “mental muscle.”

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