Deep Work

Last updated Feb 19, 2025

Or also called flow. Introduced in the book Deep Work (Cal Newport).

Deep Work is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focus. One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you’ll achieve extraordinary results

Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. Coined by author and professor Cal Newport on his popular blog Study Hacks, deep work will make you better at what you do, let you achieve more in less time, and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from mastery of a skill. In short, deep work is like a superpower in our increasingly competitive economy.

And yet most people, whether knowledge workers in noisy open-plan offices or creatives struggling to sharpen their vision, have lost the ability to go deep - spending their days instead in a frantic blur of email and social media, not even realizing there’s a better way.

A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, DEEP WORK takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories – from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air – and surprising suggestions, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored.

Put simply, developing and cultivating a deep work practice is one of the best decisions you can make in an increasingly distracted world, and this book will point the way.

One of the first and most known flow state and interconnected with deep work, are reading Books. More at Stolen Focus- Why You Can’t Pay Attention (Johann Hari)

1. Journal before going to bed what 1-2 tasks you must/want to achieve tomorrow.
2. Go to bed early (at night, you usually don’t achieve much anyhow)
3. Have a good sleep
4. Get up before the kids :) (don’t turn on the phone).
5. Make your bed.
6. Later take a walk in nature after lunch.
7. Change environment/room if stuck.

Music: Focus@Will, see Music that keeps you focused.
Books: Everything from Cal Newport.

Others:

• Clear some time in your calendar.
• Get rid of any distractions: Turn off notifications, close Slack, and put your phone out of reach. 
• Clear your space and your mind. Put on concentration music, and get rid of any clutter around. 
• Get to work on a specific task, taking periodic short breaks.
• Deeper: Acknowledge your fears Andrew Thomas in The Ideas of Choices
• Two Minutes Rules to do it for at least two minutes
• Meditation or doing nothing for 5 minutes

See also Attention Residue, Nature and Writers Block.

Origin: Flow state can be an incredibly productive (and enjoyable) mindset - Matthew Darwin on LinkedIn
References:
Created 2022-08-11