The book review for this week is Deep Work by Cal Newport.
If you want to produce at your peak level, you need to work for extended periods of time on a single task without interruption. Newport calls this Deep Work.
Those who are disciplined at deep work are able to accomplish significantly more than the rest of us who are always distracted by social media, cell phone, instant messages, email, Internet, etc., etc.
My takeaway from this book is that we each need to be purposeful about setting aside time for deep work. Most people cannot handle more than 4 hours of deep work a day but to get there takes practice and discipline. Measure the effectiveness of all your activities and eliminate the ones that do not give you a return on your time investment.
Note that I have previously reviewed:
- Rory Vaden’s Procrastinate on Purpose.
- Bill Browder’s Red Notice
- Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto
- Brad Lomenick H3 Leadership
- Eula Bliss’ On Immunity: An Inoculation
- Adam Grant’s Give and Take
- Paul Leinward’s and Cesare R. Mainardi’s Strategy That Works
- John Nemo’s LinkedIn Riches
- Dr. Henry Cloud’s The Power of the Other
- T. Harv Eker’s Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
- Steve Case’s The Third Wave
- Thomas F Crum’s The Magic of Conflict
Great point that most cannot do 4 hours of Deep Work. I have found that locking in for 30–45 minute increments with a timer are very effective and help me get closer to this mark. Blocking a 4hr stretch at once and i torture myself wondering about the distractions you mentioned. The timer approach makes me more likely to get to the 4hrs of Deep Work in a day where the large block makes 1hr or less likely.
I totally agree Deston. I tend to work in 1hr time increments and try for 3 or 4 of these Deep Work sessions per day.