Deep Work
Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
by Cal Newport · first published 2016
62% recommend32% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Practical case for scheduling distraction-free, focused work and cutting shallow distractions; useful for knowledge workers and developers who want better time management, concentration and flow.
Common criticism: Some find the core message could be summed up in a short blog post
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results. Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost th
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…Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight - How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan - Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World by Hans Rosling - Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl - Deep Work by Cal Newport - Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari - The Phoenix Project by D.M. Cain - 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari - Thinking in Systems: A…
on “Analyzing Hacker News book suggestions in Python” ↗Related tangent: Newport's book "Deep Work" is excellent. It makes a strong case that deep work is increasingly rare, valuable, and meaningful. But it goes way beyond the "what" and the "why", providing the "how", in the form of specific, pragmatic,…
on “Cal Newport on Why We'll Look Back at Our Smartphones Like Cigarettes” ↗I too second the recommendation for "Deep Work" by Carl Newport (http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ ). This is one book which is a must-read for all the current generation technology workers like us. I started reading this book about two weeks…
on “Ask HN: How does one overcome the need for instant gratification?” ↗For those interested in managing online time and getting ourselves offline regularly, the book Deep Work, by Cal Newport, has some very useful ideas. One that I plan to start experimenting with is the idea of scheduled internet access - allow yourself to get online only at certain times of day. This isn't…
on “Disconnect. Offline only” ↗The author references Cal Newport's Deep Work [1]. I recently read this book and I can't recommend it enough. It's not just a productivity fluff piece about the importance of focus. He brings an academic rigor to the debate and backs up his claims…
on “The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill” ↗Ever increasing distraction and "real-time" communication and collaboration are reaching a point of diminishing returns and actually decreasing our productivity. The book Deep Work, by Cal Newport is a start on identifying the problem and a possible solution (i.e. isolate yourself for stretches of time to accomplish Deep Work). Unfortunately, we live in a world where collaboration…
on “Notes on 'The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World'” ↗I recently stopped using all of my social media, inspired by Cal Newport's Deep Work, and this resonates deeply with me. At risk of sounding like an out-of-touch baby boomer (I'm 18), I think the portrayed utility of staying connected with people, etc etc, isn't the utility that drives…
on “Self-Interruption and Distraction” ↗This is a common problem. The book Deep Work goes into it in detail, and has some research-based techniques to fix it. Basically it boils down to removing distractions, and determination, gradually building up your brain's ability to focus again.…
on “Ask HN: I lost my ability to focus for hours on coding. How to regain?” ↗…problems with what I think of as the "hypermedia" era very well. But the author doesn't offer suggestions for what, if anything we should do about it. As for myself, a couple years ago I read Cal Newport's Deep Work and then Digital Minimalism, and found their ideas compelling enough that I deleted Facebook and disabled web browsing and email on my phone (although I later put web and email back). However, #deletefacebook…
on “From context collapse to content collapse” ↗…to give you blocks of time you can dedicate to focused tasks. That said, task switching is a practical reality, so coping strategies are important, too. For help with that, check out Cal Newport's "Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World" (https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/...). Full disclosure: He and I share a literary agent.
on “Ask HN: How do you overcome the problems of task switching?” ↗…really go deep on a subject matter that could take a long time to grok. I credit a lot of changes I made over the last few years to courses like Learning How to Learn (Oakley, Sejnowski) and books like Deep Work (Newport) and Mastery (Greene) in helping to bring me back to realize the importance of uninterrupted blocks of hard, focused work. That coupled with moments of quiet time away from devices so that I…
on “The Global Attention Span Is Getting Shorter” ↗…of Stats, Deep Learning, etc.) * Active Portfolio Management - Kahn, Grinold * Thinking, fast and slow - Kahneman * Protein Power (the Eades') / Why we get fat (Taubes) * Why we sleep (Walker) * Deep Work / So Good They Can't Ignore You (Newport) * Flowers for Algernon (Keyes) * Getting to Yes (Fisher)
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗…practice tuning all that noise out and focusing on a single task for a long time, while still providing entertainment. For a knowledge worker, to be able to focus at this level is a very valuable ability! Deep Work by Cal Newport is a non-fiction book that goes into more detail about some of these ideas concerning focus in the contemporary era. Another great non-fiction book that really couldn't be presented in…
on “Ask HN: Are books worth it?” ↗…temporal segments of our days so as to switch our attention from one task or one source of stimulation to another. We cannot but be changed.” This part rings true for me. Last summer I read Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” and then “Digital Minimalism,” in which he gets very into this topic of hypermedia and distracted living. It greatly influenced my thinking about how I use my time, and made me more conscious of the…
on “Our Bookless Future” ↗I can recommend "Deep Work" by Cal Newport. Made me realize how distracted I am, and how much can be gained by focusing on "deep" work. A quick read, but describes the problem and coping-strategies well.
on “Drowning in a Sea of Information” ↗