Author: [[Cal Newport]] ## Premise Success in the modern age of knowledge work hinges upon the ability to do deep work, which is deliberate, focused, and extended practice, for anywhere from an hour to days or weeks at a time. The main enemy of deep work is distractions, many of them digital, and setting up systems to avoid distractions is a prerequisite to deep work. ## Deep Work models - Seclusion: Lock yourself up somewhere where nobody can reach you, whether virtually or physically. - Periodic: Schedule regular periods every week, month, or year to do deep work. - Daily: [[Calendar blocking|Block out your calendar]] for deep work every day. - Ad Hoc: Do deep work whenever you can. ## Criticism - Newport overemphasizes the value of deep work, because there are other factors that contribute to success. - It's often not feasible to completely remove distractions the way Newport suggests; Eyal, in _Indistractable_, offers a more tempered solution that involves learning to work _despite_ distractions. ## Related - Highlights from the [[Taking better notes from books - Shortform]] summary: [[Shortform-Deep Work]] - [[The ability to do deep work is the strongest predictor of success.]] - [[Productivity]] - [[Productivity#Focusing on one thing at a time vs Context-switching]] ## Citation ``` Newport, C. (2016). _Deep work: Rules for focused success in a distracted world_. Grand Central Publishing. ```