I have an ongoing complaint with my day job that I have far too many meetings, many of which absolutely could be an email or done in a different manner that is not a meeting. This has prompted a friend of mine to introduce me to the concept of deep work and she has also now loaned me several Cal Newport books, so expect to see a few more thoughts about these reads to show up over the next little bit.
Deep Work is the oldest of his books and it talks about how the best kind of work is deep work, which is done by taking long stretches of time being spent in deep concentration and working on something. He argues that shallow work—which requires less cognitive effort and focus—is… bad? He says there’s a place for it, but it does feel very much as if this kind of work is beneath him, as is social media and several other things.
Like most books in this genre, it’s someone who has found the one thing that has worked for him and he insists that his way is the only way. There are some good ideas in here, but there’s an element of lecturing people for habits that he doesn’t approve of and making concessions if you must but you are not going to be as successful if you aren’t following this method.
Overall, though, despite the voice of the author I did ultimately find some interesting ideas in this book. If you’re looking for something that doesn’t emphasize just completing tasks and looks more at how to cultivate your time to get a deeper understanding of something you’re interested in, this might be worth a read!