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Deep Work
- Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
- Narrated by: Jeff Bottoms
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
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Deep Work
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Summary
Popular blogger Cal Newport reveals the new key to achieving success and true meaning in professional life: the ability to master distraction.
Many modern knowledge workers now spend most of their brain power battling distraction and interruption, whether because of the incessant pinging of devices, noisy open-plan offices or the difficulty of deciding what deserves their attention the most. When Cal Newport coined the term deep work on his popular blog, Study Hacks, in 2012, he found the concept quickly hit a nerve. Most of us, after all, are excruciatingly familiar with shallow work instead - distractedly skimming the surface of our workload and never getting to the important part. Newport began exploring the methods and mind-set that foster a practice of distraction-free productivity at work, and now, in Deep Work, he shows how anyone can achieve this elusive state.
Through revealing portraits of both historical and modern-day thinkers, academics and leaders in the fields of technology, science and culture, and their deep work habits, Newport shares an inspiring collection of tools to wring every last drop of value out of your intellectual capacity. He explains why mastering this shift in work practices is crucial for anyone who intends to stay ahead in a complex information economy and how to systematically train the mind to focus. Put simply: developing and cultivating a deep work practice is one of the best decisions we can make in an increasingly distracted world.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Lancaster
- 23-05-17
Useful insights into ring-fencing your focus.
Narrator was a bit slow but the audible app allowed me to play at 1.5x.
In 3 bullets.
* cut or batch low value (social media etc) tasks to low energy times of work day.
* schedule deep valuable work in time blocks early in the day.
* protect down-time for productive habits like reading, exercise, family time & getting out into nature.
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112 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- jamie1
- 04-12-17
Is it possible to be repetitive and contradictory?
Extremely repetitive! If you ever want an example of how to say the same thing in many different ways, with a few fancy words thrown in then this is for you. If you want to save yourself the time and money here’s the synopsis.
If you want to get something done that means focussing, if you want to focus you need to remove all distractions. Prioritise your goals, remove anything that doesn’t allow you to achieve them so you can achieve a ‘deep’ undisturbed level of focus. Seriously, that’s it.
Hope this prevents others wasting their time
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37 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- AManda
- 03-09-16
well written, well read, and extremely useful
I almost didn't buy this but after hearing a recommendation I decided to give it a try, glad I did. If you're drowning in the day to day minutiae and struggling to get the important stuff done this book is a must.
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33 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Mr. A. Oliver
- 09-10-18
Useful but repetitive and light on substance
I really wanted to love this book and so went into it with an open heart. But I found the information quite minimal, repetitious and a little scattered in it's organisation. It's like collated research around several main points, of which there are sub-points that the author has found interesting. But you cannot get away from the academic nature of the author and therefore the slight feeling of drawing on his academic authority as a means of asserting his ideas. There is not enough real world application for me.
I felt like this could easily be boiled down into a long blog post on these main areas. This would make sense in the broader scope of the book, as it is about not wasting time and being focused on quality work. So I'd rather read a concise, well researched blog post than listen to hours and hours of repetition of similar topics.
If you have read a few things and done some of your own research on or around 'deep work' you do not need to read this book, but it may be interesting to you. I would say knowing that the human brain has a limit to daily focus until it needs a recharge and a break is the most useful point I took away from this, and now try to make sure I work on 3 hours of focused work first thing, then do the 'shallow work' later on in the day. If this helps me then my free credit was worth it! But not quite as much of a bombshell as I expected...just common sense.
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24 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Adrian
- 14-11-16
This book improved my productivness.
Any additional comments?
I would recommend this book to anyone who is suffering from constant procrastination and have difficulty with focusing on their work.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Matthew
- 10-11-16
lots of advice. great read.
I wrote down quite a bit reading that book that I will use instantly. I wouldn't say I was a virgin to Cal's ideas. on a recent project I hid away in a conference room to complete the project with complete focus. no emails or Im. but admittedly I am more reactive to the demands of others than I am to my own made up goals. couple of things I'm going to enforce are more deep thinking moments. and the daily timeblocks allocated time. the thought of ownership for each 30 mins is good. and also saying no to things. I can often day yes to a lot of things. my thinking is that you never know which stone the gem is lying underneath. but after reading this book I need to be more defensive of my time. as a coder I have lots of ideas but email and calls keep me from acting on them.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Armine
- 11-11-16
loved it
This is the third book by this about author that I've read and I loved them all. Cal's advice is always practical, well explained and to the point. I recommend highly.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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- Dr. T.
- 06-06-17
Appropriate for Internet addicts
Appears to be targeted at professional knowledge workers, but the advice is more appropriate for teenagers who are not focussed enough to keep off the Internet while at work. Not based on research, but on a few examples of high flying individuals (mostly academics) who allegedly used the prescribed methods
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- JedHoll
- 19-05-17
Interesting
The key messages I think are that email and social media in particular tend to be distracting and use up a lot of your time. Periods of abstinence will increase your productivity. Perhaps a whole book was a long way of making this point but it was made very well
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 05-09-16
not captivating enough
it is full of truths but id did not captivate me enough to finish it
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 16-03-18
3/5 of this book is waste of time. Find a summary.
The last 2/5 has very good points. Like what and how to execute some concepts that can help your daily routine. The rest is just a waste of time. Find a summary, this book should have been a 2 hour book maximum.
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19 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Anon
- 24-01-18
great idea but too wordy
I like how Cal Newport tried to convince readers to adopt Deep work with so many examples. The Deep work concept it quite valuable and helps people achieve more than they would normally. On the down side, I felt the book was too wordy. There were too many similar examples here and there. You could read 5 pages and not derive any additional information because he just kept adding examples and sometimes, unrelated content. Overall it was okay. My awareness of the potential of going deep makes it a good read.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- rod
- 25-01-17
Awesome and practical book
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!The strategies in this book some of which were already part of my life have the potential to radically change ones life if followed and applied consistently : This is a a good manual for anyone desiring to take their performance up to the next level .
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Rodrigo Moreira
- 01-11-16
Muito util
A narracao eh muito boa. Clara, fluida. Da para ouvir rapido.
O conteudo do livro também é muito bom. Me deu otimos insights. Espero me tornar mais produtivo com ele.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- Raquel
- 16-07-18
obviously arguments
I don't need a book to tell me that watch the tv is a waste of time , spend 7 hours listening this book is it too
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Oliver Fernandez Avellaneda
- 17-09-17
Good advices surrounded by shallow content
For a book that despises shallowness, it has an amazing quantity of shallow stuff. The good part is that the deep stuff it has is really good.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Tahsin
- 15-01-20
Must read
Great and a must read book, especially if your struggling with focus, studies or being inefficient.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 03-04-18
Transforming realization
The arguments for deep work are well spoken, and the strategies on how to achieve are very specific, driving you towards more depth. This book gives you not only the reason on why to commit to depth, but also tells you what path to take, to arrange your life around depth.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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- Mauro Locarnini
- 03-05-19
Notes from a sketchbook of an average professor
While some of the collection of tactics cited in this book are valuable, the ensemble is not really a great work. the examples are so narrowly skewed to the life of a struggling hyper competitive young professor obsessed with success that some end up being funny if not irrelevant. All the research cited here is interesting but you better read the books from the actual researchers. However in the end you are still left with a few useful tactics you can apply, if you haven’t yet read them elsewhere
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Nagy Máté Kálmán
- 06-08-18
It's one of those life changing books
This book basically teaches you how to be happy.
You can use what you learn from this book in nearly every aspect of your life.
I deliberately waited with the review of this book so I can evaluate how I've changed my way of life since reading the book and I believe I was able to make some positive changes.
I can positively recommend this book to everyone. Especially the people who are just entering adulthood and want to figure out how to adult. This is one great first step (or however many you have taken so far).
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1 person found this helpful