Cal Newport's 'Deep Work' - Eliminating distraction from your life

[rousseau]

I read Deep Work about a month or so ago, and wrote a few blog posts about it:

A Review of Deep Work by Cal Newport
I followed Cal Newport's advice in Deep Work - here's what happened

In the book Newport recommends some ways to eliminate distraction from your life, and up your ability to focus on important work.

Has anyone read it? What'd you think? Also feedback on the posts more than welcome.

 

[steve_bank]

I try to live simply avoiding distractions to begin with.

For me computers have always been mostly a work tool. I use it for forums and information but I am not tied to it. Never played video games.

In the 70s I had little and was happy. When I started making good money I started buying things until I stepped back and asked myself what do I need this for?

In the 70s I pretty much lived without TV. I read newspapers.

Learn to do without the net, TV, and constant music. You can be happy and not bored without it.

For me it is the Buddhist paradigm. We create our own misery by attachments to things. If you think something is important and you do not get it you suffer. You look at others who have it and suffer more. It does not mean being a monk owning nothing but a begging bowl. It means living simply.

 

[Treedbear]

... I started thinking more critically about what I shared and commented on. Before I posted I'd ask myself if I was adding any value by posting or commenting, and also how much of my time the post was going to waste from fruitless conversation.

I'll often write a reply to a post, then edit it, then rewrite it, then delete the entire thing. Time well spent to find out I really don't know what I'm talking about. What I don't understand is why people want to post to threads with titles like "What are you doing right now? " and " What are you thinking about right now? II ". I guess there must be alot of people out there who are retired and simply bored. But it seems quite a few are doing this while at work. Unless they're real geniuses where do they get the time?

 

[rousseau]

... I started thinking more critically about what I shared and commented on. Before I posted I'd ask myself if I was adding any value by posting or commenting, and also how much of my time the post was going to waste from fruitless conversation.

I'll often write a reply to a post, then edit it, then rewrite it, then delete the entire thing. Time well spent to find out I really don't know what I'm talking about. What I don't understand is why people want to post to threads with titles like "What are you doing right now? " and " What are you thinking about right now? II ". I guess there must be alot of people out there who are retired and simply bored. But it seems quite a few are doing this while at work. Unless they're real geniuses where do they get the time?

Software. It's 80% work, 20% re-calibrating between weird problems. That means forums are easy amusement during the 20%.*

*Typing 110 words per minute helps too

 

[Treedbear]

... But it seems quite a few are doing this while at work. Unless they're real geniuses where do they get the time?

Software. It's 80% work, 20% re-calibrating between weird problems. That means forums are easy amusement during the 20%.*

*Typing 110 words per minute helps too

That's great but it seems you're making a case for the usefulness of distractions. I didn't get that from the linked articles.

 

[rousseau]

... But it seems quite a few are doing this while at work. Unless they're real geniuses where do they get the time?

Software. It's 80% work, 20% re-calibrating between weird problems. That means forums are easy amusement during the 20%.*

*Typing 110 words per minute helps too

That's great but it seems you're making a case for the usefulness of distractions. I didn't get that from the linked articles.

Parts of it sort of addressed that, but you're right. When I got the responses I did from the post I noticed a few weak spots that I was blind to until I posted.