Home > Work > Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
61 " Do what Thoreau did, which is learn to have a little disconnectedness within the connected world—don’t run away. "
― Cal Newport , Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
62 " Where you'll work and for how long. You ritual needs to specify a location for your deep work efforts. "
63 " How you'll work once you start to work. Your ritual needs rules and processes to keep your efforts structured. "
64 " How you'll support your work. Your ritual needs to ensure your brain gets the support it needs to keep operating at a high level of depth. "
65 " If you want to become a superstar, mastering the relevant skills is necessary, but not sufficient. You "
66 " The 4DX framework is based on the fundamental premise that execution is more difficult than strategizing. "
67 " study the brain behavior of subjects presented with both positive and negative imagery. She found that for young people, their amygdala (a center of emotion) fired with activity at both types of imagery. When she instead scanned the elderly, the amygdala fired only for the positive images. Carstensen hypothesizes that the elderly subjects had trained the prefrontal cortex to inhibit the amygdala in the presence of negative stimuli. These elderly subjects were not happier because their life circumstances were better than those of the young subjects; they were instead happier because they had rewired their brains to ignore the negative and savor the positive. By skillfully managing their attention, they improved their world without changing anything concrete about "
68 " cultivating “concentration so intense that there is no attention left over to think about anything irrelevant, or to worry about problems.”) "
69 " attention restoration theory (ART), which claims that spending time in nature can improve your ability to concentrate. "
70 " this ritual should ensure that every incomplete task, goal, or project has been reviewed and that for each you have confirmed that either (1) you have a plan you trust for its completion, or (2) it’s captured in a place where it will be revisited when the time is right. The process should be an algorithm: a series of steps you always conduct, one after another. When you’re done, have a set phrase you say that indicates completion (to end my own ritual, I say, “Shutdown complete”). This final step sounds cheesy, but it provides a simple cue to your mind that it’s safe to release work-related thoughts for the rest of the day. "
71 " Don’t Take Breaks from Distraction. Instead Take Breaks from Focus. "
72 " It’s as if our species has evolved into one that flourishes in depth and wallows in shallowness, becoming what we might call Homo sapiens deepensis. "
73 " The ability to concentrate intensely is a skill that must be trained. This idea might sound obvious once it’s pointed out, but it represents a departure from how most people understand such matters. In my experience, it’s common to treat undistracted concentration as a habit like flossing—something that you know how to do and know is good for you, but that you’ve been neglecting due to a lack of motivation. This mind-set is appealing because it implies you can transform your working life from distracted to focused overnight if you can simply muster enough motivation. "
74 " Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate "
75 " Deep Work Helps You Produce at an Elite Level "
76 " To produce at your peak level you need to work for extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction. "
77 " There is, however, an important corollary to this idea: Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction. Much in the same way that athletes must take care of their bodies outside of their training sessions, you’ll struggle to achieve the deepest levels of concentration if you spend the rest of your time fleeing the slightest hint of boredom. "
78 " he would spend two hours of undistracted writing time in his private office. "
79 " To succeed you have to produce the absolute best stuff you’re capable of producing—a task that requires depth. "
80 " After returning from a trip to India, where he observed the practice of adding meditation rooms to homes, he expanded the complex to include a private office. “In my retiring room I am by myself,” Jung said of the space. "