Deep work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create a new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.
Deep work is the term coined by the author and through the book, he convinces us why we should have a deep work routine and how to develop one for ourselves. Distractions are the new normal in the current period and thus increasing the relevance of this book. We all have 24hrs even the high achievers or the ones who are struggling to get through. There is no doubt that our actions are shaping our reality. The key is how productive and coherent is our actions are. The constant buzzing sound from the phone and other distractions caused by the surrounding plays a major role in determining the quality of the work produced.
The author has shared different strategies that anyone can adopt with some tweaking. The fact is whichever field you are working in, it’s hard to avoid the daily mundane tasks that you have to do. If we haven’t got our way around these mundane tasks it becomes difficult to be productive in the tasks that matter. The ideas discussed in this book are particularly useful in shaping an effective deep work schedule.
Cal Newport has broken down different ways to optimize the time spent on replying to emails. If you work in a profession, where replying to emails is the primary task then it is good, otherwise, it can be a huge productivity killer, especially in the case of knowledge workers and artists.
One idea that I found interesting is the concept of Productive meditation practice, the idea behind this concept is to utilize the otherwise wasted times of the day such as doing dishes, walking the dog, or commuting to work. During these tasks, we focus(meditate) on a single problem and develop solutions. When I tried productive meditation, found it to be a bit tiring but it takes some practice to achieve that traction to make the mind work on something. This habit can be helpful in situations where we have to wait for long hours, rather than scrolling through the phone, this practice can give good priming to our mental faculties.
The strategies discussed in this book can help you to add more value through your existence.
Thoughts of Freedom 