By Cal Newport

Intro:

Network tools are degrading our capacity to remain focused

Many of the best thinkers and most productive individuals tended to work in isolation with no electronics

Cull the shallow and cultivate the deep

Part I: the idea

Chapter 1: deep work is valuable

Who will thrive in the information economy:

1. Highly skilled workers — can work well and creatively with intelligent machines
2. All-stars — those who are the best at what they do
3. Owners — those who have access to capital — the proportion of wealth trickling back to machine owners in today's economy given the power of these machines is unparalleled

It is important to understand complex systems. The most powerful tools are difficult to understand but vital to gain access to the highly skilled workers bucket

Deliberate practice is absolutely necessary to master difficult tasks — requires focus and feedback

Use the mind to focus rays of attention towards a certain task

Neuroscience of deliberate practice: isolate neurons and build up myelin to increase speed and efficiency with which they work — distractions make this process impossible as too many circuits are simultaneously stimulated

Quality of work = time spent * focus

Some of the most productive / successful people spend less time studying than others

Adam Grant batches his time to ensure he doesn't have too much going on at one — multi-tasking doesn't allow you to reach peak focus on a single task

Attention residue — previous task leaching some of his focus from subsequent task