Have you ever had a friend or classmate for whom remembering something was a very easy task? This is a student in each class who studies very little and earns far more marks than the rest of the class. Whether that boy knows it or not, he achieves that by implementing the principles of deep work. This is so powerful that anybody’s life can be transformed by learning and understanding it.
Before I proceed to explain what this book is all about, I feel it is necessary to explain why the topic of the book is very significant for our society. In existing times, if someone has around 2000 followers on TikTok, the person is inclined to believe that 2000 people have subscribed to know about their life. This gives the person a sense of feeling important.
In a real society, however, not that many people are interested in someone unless he/she is celebrity or famous for something. People like to be appreciated and talked about. People like to be praised for their new dress, their nice cars, and their new watch, and so on. As a replacement for that much attention not being provided by society, people are quenching their thirst on social media, where it is very normal to have 200 praising comments, if you have got some 2000 followers or subscribers.
Now, here is the task at which design engineers of various social media platforms get rewarded. Social media platforms want you to get glued to their applications so that they can show you as many advertisements. And the task of design engineers is to make that application as addictive as humanly possible. The design engineers have, over the periods of time, made these social media applications so attractive that life without them is becoming hard to imagine.
Resultantly, society is choosing social media over socializing. Now, in situations like this, comes the role of books like ‘Deep Work’ by Cal Newport.
Cal Newport, through his masterpiece ‘Deep Work’ has revealed the mystery of hard work vs smart work. In the vocabulary of Cal Newport, smart work, is a very vague term; it is actually deep work, which has a defined explanation. Cal Newport says that the difference between the person doing average work and that of an outstanding performer is neither the hard work nor the amount of time. It is the act of concentrating on one task at a time with no distractions whatsoever.
Cal Newport has credited the outstanding artistic productivity of Woody Allen to Deep Work. Woody Allen could write and direct 44 films, of which 23 got nominated for Academy Awards. This achievement from Woody Allen was done in between 1969 to 2013. In spite of this being the era of Digital transition, Woody Allen used to write on a manual typewriter instead. A similar approach was that of Peter Higgs. He was so committed to his work that when the Nobel Prize was announced for him, reporters couldn’t find him for the interview. Regarding Mark Twain, it is famous that his family used to blow horns for meals to get his attention. One might wonder what these genius minds are getting out of isolation and focus, the answer to that is ‘deep work’.
The book suggests that although deep work is the only solution to achieving something extraordinary. However, achieving the deep work state requires commitment. One needs a system to get into that state of deep work. There needs to be a particular window of time in which a person can only allow himself to do the stuff for which he is most desirous of results. In that window of time, one must not succumb to any distractions or notifications. It will however be better if that window of time is announced so that people around know and respect your privacy in that period of time.
Now, one thing is for sure: the state of deep work cannot be achieved if you do not make yourself inaccessible. Doing so would cost you some anger from seniors, your boss, and colleagues as well. However, if you are in it for a longer time, people over time will be accustomed to your routine and behavior. You need to have courage to remain committed to your mission even if it costs you getting thrown out of some groups. In a long run, you will get the status and title you desire.
Now, as far as consistency in deep work is concerned, Cal Newport has quoted the example of famous Comic actor Seinfeld. Someone asked Seinfeld how he could manage to produce fresh comic art consecutively over so long. In response to the question, he revealed his calendar strategy. He said that he had hung a calendar on his wall, where he would cross out the day on which he had written a fresh joke. Over a while, there appeared to be chain of crosses, which he never wanted to break.
One thing over which we all need to agree is that creativity and distraction can not go hand-in-hand. A perfect example of producing a highly demanding task by avoiding distraction is that of author Shankman. One day he happened to realize that he had signed a contract to produce a book within two weeks. Accomplishing that was not possible in a routine. What he did was something unusual. He booked a two-way business class ticket from America to Japan and back.
Shankman kept writing for those 30 hours of flight, and once he landed back at the airport, he had the first draft of the book in his hand. The trip cost him $4000, but he managed to earn far more than that out of the work he produced. That is the power of deep work without distraction.
Now, here is the hurdle that we all have to overcome to achieve the state of deep work. It is that of combating the highly paid design engineers at companies, who are making the products addictive to a killing level. We will have to confront these people every day to steal what we desire out of a productive day, deep work.
The Deep Work by Cal Newport is amongst the category of books in which ‘Think & Grow Rich’ or ‘Atomic Habits’ fall.
To conclude, Deep Work by Cal Newport is a very effective and life-transforming book. If you are interested in giving this book a read, here is the Amazon link to buy the book online: https://amzn.to/4kwLKMd