By: Cal Newport
Rating: 5/5
Review:
It might be hard to achieve a highly focused state of mind when you live in a world full of distractions and challenging society. The book uncovers the technique of doing your work in less time with high-quality performance by introducing the Deep Work concept and prioritizing and balancing your personal and professional time.
The book divided works into two types, Deep Work & Shallow Works.
- Deep Work: focuses on important work that asks for a high mental concentration, which results in a high-value performance.
- Shallow Work: any work or activities that do not require mental concentration.
Tips to achieve the Deep Work:
Make the deep work a habit and ritual for your work.
Take a good rest, a good healthy sleep routine, not only resting your body but also your mind.
It’s very important to rest your mind because most deep works are used in mental activities.
Don’t fall into shallow work by working all day without taking a break.
Multitasking is not a good idea; it distracts your brain and leads to attention residue. Just focus on one task at a time.
My schedule starts in the morning using the deep work method; I finish all-important work before 5 p.m. after that, I shut down all my emails and assignments and start my shallow works.
Also, The book discussed the disadvantages of Social Media by describing it as our enemy today if we misuse it. Cal is against social media, and he doesn’t have any social media accounts. However, the book doesn’t emphasize cutting off social media immediately but asks to reduce its use gradually, so it might be hard for most of us to quit social media entirely. Also, we can use social media detox by removing (cleaning) and unfollowing all accounts that could not give you any advantages in your life.
On the other hand, the book mentioned successful people who adopted the deep work method and integrated it into their schedules.
I highly recommend the book if you struggle with procrastination and time management, if you want to organize your lifestyle and balance your professional and personal life, so this book will defiantly be the perfect choice for you.