By Greg Barnhill, Consultant
You need to read this book. Cal Newport, an academic and accomplished author, breaks down why we find “being productive” so difficult and, more importantly, what we can do about it.
In 287 well-researched pages, Newport explains both what is “Deep Work” and how to go about doing as much of it as humanly possible, while documenting the dangers and threats to this vision at every turn. If anything, Newport’s book is a perceptive meditation on the difficulty of doing one’s best work and how to overcome that difficulty. For graduate students—and Newport knows personally the unique struggles of academia—this book offers a vision for setting patterns and rituals that will lead to consistent contributions to one’s field.
What is “Deep Work” & Why Should We Care?
Newport defines “Deep Work” as “Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate” (3). The goal is “to wring every last drop of value out of your current intellectual capacity” (3). In Part One he explores why deep work is worthwhile: it is economically valuable and advantageous, leading to economic security; the alternative, shallow work, does not lead to economic security; and deep work is more fulfilling, not only economically but on a personal level. Readers might quibble with defining value so often in economic terms in Chapters One and Two (although as graduate students your end goal is to get a job!), but through personal anecdotes and a philosophical argument for depth, Newport does show that “to build your working life around the experience of flow produced by deep work is a proven path to deep satisfaction” (86).
“Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking.”
I must admit that I had two reservations before reading this book, and Newport has proven me wrong about both. First, I expected the book’s argument to be built upon personal stories that motivated me to dig deep within myself and simply work harder. I did not want to hear another message like that. Instead, Newport offers an incredibly well-researched perspective—a major strength of the book. When he makes a surprising claim, such as “embrace boredom,” he quickly shifts to studies and other relevant data to support his proposals and rarely resorts to opinion.
Second, I expected to find elements of a moral treatise that takes a stance against the world of distraction and its effects upon our ability to work productively. Newport, however, has no interest in the debate about whether tech is the future or our downfall as a society. For him, the commitment to deep work “is instead a pragmatic recognition that the ability to concentrate is a skill that gets valuable things done” (258). Part Two of the book—called “The Rules”—follows this pragmatic approach and outlines in four chapters how to enact the vision of deep work.
Grad School Takeaways
Since Newport is an academic (an assistant professor of computer science), much of what he envisions applies naturally to the academic context. Here are some takeaways that might prove immediately applicable to the context of being a graduate student and particularly to the task of writing.
Attention Residue Effect: Interruptions and obligations lead to “attention residue” when one is working on a large project such as writing a paper. Newport recommends minimizing this attention residue and maximizing performance on one task at a time. By planning high-intensity, focused, and distraction-free work (i.e., deep work), one can avoid the negative effect of task-switching.
Take Control of Your Time: You only have so much willpower, so set a schedule for yourself that ritualizes deep work. Where will you work and for how long? And how will you support your work? (Think: coffee, snacks, etc.) Making these decisions ahead of time allows one to focus on the deep work itself.
Daily Shutdown: Newport recommends deciding when you will stop working and sticking to it. Studies show that one cannot perform deep work for more than four or so hours a day, and that downtime improves the performance of the bursts of high-intensity deep work that should characterize our days. So, make a ritual that helps you to shut down your work for the day. Paradoxically, not working can make your deep work more productive.
Quit Social Media: Newport really does say that! But he doesn’t mean what you think he means. Leaving aside the research that he cites about the negative effects of social media on intellectual capabilities, Newport intends for his readers to reflect on whether social media leads them to their career goals. In his view, such an exercise will show one how to free up time and mental resources for deep work; “Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking” (252). Think about your time and commitments in terms of tools—what will most effectively help you accomplish your goals? Newport’s advice is radical: drop everything except the most essential!
Newport’s book offers much more, but most importantly it fundamentally reframes the question about work and time. Everyone has the same amount of time. Newport argues that your best work will come when you tend to the quality of your work and the focus with which you go about doing it.
