BOOK REVIEW (DEEP WORK BY DR.

CAL NEWPORT)
The book being reviewed is “DEEP WORK” written by Dr. Cal Newport, and
reviewed by Shaik Haroon (dated: 26-march-2021)

“Professional activities performed in a state of distraction free concentration

that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit”. This is the basic standard
definition of deep work that the author provides to his readers in the
beginning of the book, and to prove this statement and provide readers the
essence of the statement, Cal divided the book into two parts. The first half of
the book has three chapters, every chapter deals with a unique perspective as
to why is deep work is different from hard work and smart work and how was
it was a untold success secret behind every renowned academician.

The first chapter explains why is deep work valuable, here the author explains
two core abilities an individual must imbibe to thrive in the new economy: the
ability to quickly master hard things and the ability to produce an elite level in
terms of both quality and speed. By elaborating one of his junior’s case “ADAM
GRANT”, who achieved the feat of the youngest full professor at the Wharton
business school; he relates his working pattern and productivity with deep
work and deduced a relation saying time spent and intensity of focus are the
key attributes for high quality of work produced or the result of deep work. He
then explains that working professionals with the ability to work deep have
always exceled in their career. This is the reason the author argues deep work
is valuable.

In the second chapter the author convinces his readers to the fact that deep
work is rare. He quotes the cases of facebook’s open office concept, IM space
start-up, and the trend of maintaining the social media presence in today’s
world. He explains how the modern day advancements and trends are driving
humans away from deep work and hence their productivity in work. He calls
the activities of being active in social media, the duty of checking inbox
frequently as the “metric black hole” and later he calls it as “the cult of
internet”. The author in this chapter also explains about the about the
principle of least resistance, and points out that humans will tend towards
behaviours that are easiest in the moment. All these arguments clubbed
together, conclude the chapter with the notion that deep work is rare.

In the last chapter of the first half of the book, the author talks how deep work
adds meaning to the life. He first explains it in the neurological perspective
saying that our life becomes more pleasant even though the circumstances are
not handy, but if we chose to focus on the good thing. Similarly in the
psychological perspective, deep work’s outcomes are extraordinarily unique
which provides life satisfaction and relaxed working culture. Then
philosophically views the scenario, deep work helps in carving a pathway to a
world full of shining, wondrous things.

On a whole, the author in the first half of his book convinces his readers the
importance of deep work and why is it the only true way of mastering things,
and that’s the reason he names the first half as “THE IDEA”.

Coming to the second half of the book, the author provides four rules to turn
your professional life into one centered on depth. The first rule is to “WORK
DEEPLY”. The author first asks the readers to decide their depth philosophy,
and elaborates its 4 types, right from completely isolated work (monastic) to a
much socialized (journalistic) philosophy of deep work. Then the tone turns
towards ritualizing these practices, he suggests some general questions to be
addressed for an effective ritual to take place. He explains the art of making
grand gestures towards deep work, by stating how J.K.Rowlings was struggling
to complete the DEATHLY HALLOWS, but the environment she was able to
create to herself, which ensured deep work was a classic example of making
grand gestures. In the end, he asks us be lazy towards the “shallows”(the
distracting elements).

The second rule is “EMBRACE THE BOREDOM”. Here the author very ironically
asks the readers to welcome boredom into their lives, which they believe can
work as catalysts to their deep thinking. He mentions three strategies to deal
with the most addictive means of distraction that is – social media, so that we
can have space for the boring things. He talks about the case of TEDDY
ROOSEVELT, a Harvard school graduate whose intensity of focus was discussed.
The chapter ends with some suggestions regarding meditation and how to use
the technique.
Third rule was “QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA”. The author first talks about his general
perspective towards social media and clarifies the fact that he is not against
social media platforms. He talks about the tool selection process for effective
deep working, and its two types and how they differ from each other. Most
importantly he talks about the law of vital few: 80% of a given effect is due to
20% of the possible causes, and suggests how to deal with the internet cult of
20%. He asks readers to not to use internet to entertain yourself amid the
deep work activities.

The final rule was “DRAIN THE SHALLOWS”. The author refers to shallows as
the entities of distraction. He starts taking about scheduling every minute of
your day, by dividing the day into blocks assigning the appropriate activity and
making sure there are no shallows involved in the process. He asks readers to
measure the depth of each assigned activity by detailing every little objective
of your work. The other aspect addressed in this chapter is becoming hard to
reach. Author feels that small distractions are the reason for shallow work,
hence he talks about art of replying messages and emails, he shares some tips
to avoid or cut down shallow conversations in mails and messages, he analyses
different types of email conversations and decrypt the flaws in it.

At the end he asks his readers to have grip on their inboxes and live a good life.
In the conclusion he talks about his achievements and how deep work helped
him live a meaningful and a prosperous professional and personal life. He
definitely says that deep work transformation takes a lot of hard work and
drastic changes in the habits, but those who intend to sidestep their comforts
and fears will be able to create things in life which will enrich your well-being
and help live confident life.

I personally feel that the author has done a splendid job by letting the world
know about something beyond hard and smart work. Every statement was well
analysed and the solutions to tackle the problems were absolutely pinpointed
and immediate result fetching. The idea to devote half of the book to just let
readers know the importance of deep work was the best part as its effect was
persistent till the end. On a whole I consider this book to be a must read to all
those professionals and students who are surrounded by the endless emails,
messages etcetera and are drowning their time in the social media platforms.