As Newport puts it “the ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. This is precisely what deep work will help you accomplish. The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As information expands and shifts, keeping up involves learning hard things quickly and applying that knowledge to produce work that’s exceptional. In the present and future, excellence won’t be achieved by scratching the surface. These efforts tend to not create new value in the world and are easy to replicate.”

“Non-cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. On the contrary, if you aren’t intentional about how you spend your time, your work hours slip away towards activities that Newport refers to as “shallow work”: This likely isn’t the form of work that naturally fills your day. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.” “Professional activity performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. The concept was coined by Cal Newport, a renowned author and computer science professor at Georgetown University, in a 2012 blog post and expanded upon in his 2016 bestselling book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. By Newport’s definition, deep work refers to: To be truly exceptional at the work you do, and to gain recognition for it, you’ll need to adopt a different strategy entirely.

Instead, succumbing to these attention traps leads you off the path of excellence and down the road of mediocrity.

In fact, these activities won’t aid you in any number of the ambitious goals you’ve set for yourself. They won’t help you to deepen your writing practice, master a programming language, or grow your business. These are markers of busyness not productivity. Let’s get right to the point: bouncing between your inbox, pointless meetings, and group chat notifications is no way to get ahead in today’s information economy.

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