Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

by Cal Newport

Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend not to create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.

Spend enough time in a state of frenetic shallowness and you permanently reduce your capacity to perform deep work.

To remain valuable in our economy, therefore, you must master the art of quickly learning complicated things.

Two Core Abilities for Thriving in the New Economy The ability to quickly master hard things. The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed.

To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction.

High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)

A deep life is a good life, any way you look at it.

Donald Knuth and Neal Stephenson, our examples from earlier, attempted to completely eliminate distraction and shallowness from their professional lives.

To summarize, if you want to eliminate the addictive pull of entertainment sites on your time and attention, give your brain a quality alternative.