Readinghabit.net BLOG 5: DEEP WORK BY CAL NEWPORT

First of thanks for taking out your precious time to read this blog & I hope you are doing great. This time it's a special book for productivity. A productive & habit of adapting concentration to work or studies. How can you work or study with full concentration and rapidly? A professor of computer science wrote this book. His name is Mr Cal Newport. The title of the book is DEEP WORK. Such a brilliant book regarding how you can fully engage in your work. The concept in this book is so practical that you can apply it in real life & I am sure you will make changes after reading it because everyone wants to focus or train their mind to work fast.

Author Description: CAL NEWPORT is a professor of computer science currently working at Georgetown University (USA) & an author. He has written many books. His latest book is A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload.

In this information world, we are too deeply dependent on the internet. I feel we are blessed to have this thing, but we are losing our talent for deep work. This book says deep work is the concept that the author has introduced the ability to work fast & acquire the ability to do hard things. In the first part of this book, the author will explain to you why deep work is necessary. In the second part, he will teach us how to gain deep work. As I said earlier, this book is very practical. You will love to read it & after reading it, I am sure you will apply those things to your life. An easy book in an easy language. So let’s start with what this book says & how we can apply those things.

WHY DEEP WORK IS NECESSARY

1) The first reason deep work is necessary is that it will help you to learn hard things fast. If you spend your time with full concentration, you can easily learn specific skills which you are trying to adapt or improve. For example, in this pandemic time, most people have to change their jobs, or they have to change their professions. Deep work will help you learn hard things in a limited time. Please read the introduction to this book because there are so many examples that the author has given. I found one example of Ben, who changed his profession and is now working for a top Silicon Valley company.

The formula you will find in this book for deep work is like this:

Work produced = (Time spent) x (intensity of focus)

2) Nowadays, we find it very rare that we do DEEP WORK. The author says that the internet has made our work easy & fast like you can message instantly & get a message in a second, but we too dependent on it. Because of this, we cannot develop the work which we want to do. My work is on the internet. If I don’t have the internet, I won’t even be able to work because I have to remain constantly online, like receiving mail or talking to clients or suppliers. Don’t you think we have all become puppets of the internet? Every now & then, we check our phones to check the status of WhatsApp, Facebook, or Instagram. Are we wasting our time? We are losing out on our ability to work or give our best at work. One study found that the average person only spends one and a half hours working with full concentration. That says that we can train our minds to work for around 4 hours with no distractions. Let’s make a change today. How to make a change, I will let you know further.

3) The third and last point here is that deep work is meaningful. Here, Cal Newport says that the ability to learn hard things fast and produce at an elite level. If we adopt this ability, then we can make our work easy and fast. Look, we cannot work for 8 hours a day with full concentration. That is too impossible. Why can’t we take a few hours & do that work or show the talent that will make our lives easier? I saw many of them working after getting home. I won’t lie, I am that person, but now I don’t even open my laptop after getting home. Yeah, the first few days you feel that you will miss important work, but for that, you will need to allocate the time. I found one course on the internet on how to manage your time. Hope you like it. It’s not sponsored, nor am I doing marketing. I love this because it helps me to allocate my time & work deep work with full concentration.

Here is the link below.

https://webveda.ankurwarikoo.com/course/time-management

Just in 399. I hope you do that. Let’s take charge of your time & do deep work.

How you can do deep work

1) First, the author says that you should try to make a schedule. Find out what time you work best. Then make a proper schedule. Then work. This will help you a lot. I have done that. Now I am working for 2 hours with no distractions.

2) The second point is when you are working, don’t use social media, just work alone & tell your colleagues not to disturb you. Work in a place where nobody can disturb you. I think this is the best method of working. I love this method. Likewise, I now spend most of the time alone because that helps me to finish my work before the schedule.

3) Make a schedule or allocate your time, then make the habit daily before you finish your work schedule for the next day. How many hours will you work? After a few days, it will become your habit. For example, before I leave the office, I schedule my next day to give for deep work, which things are important and which things are unnecessary that I can do in my free time.

4) Here the author wants to say they give a threat to themselves when they finish their deep work. Find a reason for deep work. If you are working in a company, then deep work will help you get a promotion, or if you are in business, it will help you grow your business and earn a profit. Ask yourself why you want to make a reason for that deep work.

5) This point says that the author read a book called 4 disciplines of execution. In this, there is a topic that he calls 4DX rules.

a) Focus on the most important thing

b) Act of lead measures

c) Keep an interesting scoreboard. It’s said that you should manage your work time & what percentage of work you have done

d) Create a cadence of accountability If you miss your work, then find a reason you missed it & do the work again.

6) Be lazy about replying when it’s unnecessary, like WhatsApp messages or emails which you get. If it’s not relevant, then ignore it. Reply to that person or mail when you have free time.

7) You will learn the concept of the internet sabbath (which is called a digital detox). This is a brilliant concept that I felt in this book. It says to take a break from the internet and make a schedule for when you will use the internet. If you work on the internet the entire day, then you must not use the internet after getting home. Some brilliant authors take this digital detox for one to two months. Why can’t we try it today, not use it after getting home & spending a lovely time with loved ones?

8) Productive meditation This concept also takes a period in which you are occupied physically but not mentally, like walking, jogging, driving, reading, or listening to music. This will give relaxation to your mind. After this session, you can work with much more concentration.

9) The last but not the least topic says that you should quit social media. He says that you should give yourself 30 days to quit social media. After 30 days, ask yourself if 1) would those last thirty days have been notably better if I had used this service? 2) Did people care that I wasn’t using this service?

If the answer is no, then quit social media. And if you think yes, then use social media the way you want.

I know everybody must think I might be mad, but I feel this is a grand concept. Just do it. Avoid it for 30 days. Just see who cares when you quit social media. The answer will come: no one cares. But don’t quit social media. Avoid it as much as possible. You can use it when you want, but only for 15 minutes. Delete that app when you don't use again install it when you want

10) Drain the shallows This is the final chapter of this book, but I felt it was an essential chapter, like scheduling every minute of your work & after getting home, don’t think about work. Finish that way, no one can call you after getting home, and if they do, don’t even reply.

Quotes: “what we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore—plays in defining the quality of our life.”

Here are my points which I feel are why you should read this book. One thing I learned when you want to change your habits is confidence & how determined you are. Work or study with full concentration & show your best talent. If you like my blog please give it a like, share with your friend & family & subscribe.

Till then stay safe, wear a mask & maintain social distancing. See you in the next blog hope.