Contemporary · Craft & Focus · Book

Deep Work

Cal Newport · 2016

"The ability to focus without distraction on cognitively demanding tasks is rare, valuable, and trainable."

The idea

Newport distinguishes deep work (focused, undistracted, hard) from shallow work (email, meetings, easy). In a world of constant interruption, the capacity to sit with a hard problem for long stretches becomes both increasingly rare and increasingly valuable. It's also a skill — you can train it.

Why it works

The takeaway — recall it first

Man's Search for Meaning

"Meaning, not pleasure or power, is the primary human drive — findable even under the worst conditions through what you create, what you receive, or the attitude you choose toward unavoidable suffering."

Viktor Frankl · BookContinue→