Deep Work

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World is a book by Cal Newport that's been on my reading list for years. Last week, I completed it. But it was so good it's going to remain on my reading list.

The title may sound daunting. Who would want to read about DEEP WORK!? 

Indeed, Newport doesn't fluff it up. He describes "deep work" as work done for "extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction."

Before you move on to the next distraction in your inbox or web browser, let me share some of his arguments for why deep work is highly desirable.

Deep work, Newport explains, requires attention, and attention has a direct correlation to how happy one feels. When one's attention is stretched to its limits, studies show that rather than people snapping, they actually feel joy. Deep joy. Not the fleeting dopamine hits of checking email or Twitter every five minutes like a slot machine addict.

"Ironically, jobs are actually easier to enjoy than free time," writes Newport, "because like flow activities they have built-in goals, feedback rules, and challenges, all of which encourage one to become involved in one’s work, to concentrate and lose oneself in it. Free time, on the other hand, is unstructured, and requires much greater effort to be shaped into something that can be enjoyed."

I couldn't agree more. I spent over 1,000 hours (usually in two- or three-hour blocks) writing Much Ado About Corona, and they were some of the happiest moments of my life.

As Newport says: “Human beings, it seems, are at their best when immersed deeply in something challenging.”

However, getting in that flow isn't easy. I've learned from writing fiction every day that even the most creative tasks require a lot of structure in order to get done.

“[Great creative minds] think like artists but work like accountants," says Newport.

So true! As proof, for years now, I've kept a writing log of my hours each day using a public spreadsheet which shows how ahead (or behind) I am in my writing goals.

But Cal Newport argues that deep work will not only produce inner happiness but outer success:

"The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.”

While Deep Work focuses on people in "knowledge work" fields it does provide many examples of people in hands-on trades — including an artisan who crafts Viking swords using medieval methods.

You can purchase Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World through my online shop (and help fund my "deep work" ventures). And if the title still sounds daunting, then rename it Deep Joy: Rules for a Happy Life in a Miserable World.

—John C.A. Manley

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