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nathanbcampbell 's review for:
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
by Cal Newport
We live simultaneously in an age of distraction and an age of unprecedented production. We are at the same time more busy than we have ever been and also more free to waste time with more pervasive frequency. This is what makes Cal Newport's suggestions in Deep Work prophetic - both in their insight, and in their potential for congregational unwelcome.
My own vocation borders somewhere between the spheres of 'knowledge work' and 'people work' - as I estimate most jobs also do - so it is hard to know how to apply Newport's ideas into my own schedule. Suggestions for retreat mitigated by offer of limited access were admittedly idealistic and unattainable by most, but these suggestions also hold potential to be revolutionary if managers would only read them in droves. Those in the gig-economy or those with institutional power have the greatest likelihood of incorporating his advice, but what might happen if a spark like this could spread?
From my current reading of Newport, it is hard to tell whether the pandemic escalated or inhibited his ideas. Can a knowledge worker quarantined in his guest bedroom truly do the type of 'deep work' recommended with children or laundry in the next room? Or, is the newfound freedom given by tech startups in Silicon Valley and elsewhere - of fully remote work, or shortened work weeks - assisting the capacity and the acknowledgement for deep work, or the more trendy 'flow' state?
Though I - along with, I am sure, many readers of Newport - will be unable to incorporate every idea into my work week, but there are some key takeaways that have already begun to take root and bring true refreshment.
Deep Work is a book that I am sure to return to in the future - guaranteed by already scheduled audits of my deep work implementation in the coming months. If anything, this book has helped me to clarify my time and attention in service of my ambitious, and for that I will move mountains, and maybe even meetings.
My own vocation borders somewhere between the spheres of 'knowledge work' and 'people work' - as I estimate most jobs also do - so it is hard to know how to apply Newport's ideas into my own schedule. Suggestions for retreat mitigated by offer of limited access were admittedly idealistic and unattainable by most, but these suggestions also hold potential to be revolutionary if managers would only read them in droves. Those in the gig-economy or those with institutional power have the greatest likelihood of incorporating his advice, but what might happen if a spark like this could spread?
From my current reading of Newport, it is hard to tell whether the pandemic escalated or inhibited his ideas. Can a knowledge worker quarantined in his guest bedroom truly do the type of 'deep work' recommended with children or laundry in the next room? Or, is the newfound freedom given by tech startups in Silicon Valley and elsewhere - of fully remote work, or shortened work weeks - assisting the capacity and the acknowledgement for deep work, or the more trendy 'flow' state?
Though I - along with, I am sure, many readers of Newport - will be unable to incorporate every idea into my work week, but there are some key takeaways that have already begun to take root and bring true refreshment.
Deep Work is a book that I am sure to return to in the future - guaranteed by already scheduled audits of my deep work implementation in the coming months. If anything, this book has helped me to clarify my time and attention in service of my ambitious, and for that I will move mountains, and maybe even meetings.