Interesting lines from the book ‘Deep Work’ by Cal Newport

For ‘Deep Work’-

1. Be bad at email- don’t feel obliged to reply to every email at work or at odd hours. Being on email all the time is not being productive.
2. Embrace boredom – get comfortable doing nothing, don’t reach for the internet, do use self-discipline.
3. Don’t do something just because it offers “some” benefit – only choose those tools that help you further your goal, don’t be seduced by the tool because it is being talked about. Ask what’s in it for you?
4. Follow the Law of the Vital Few – using the 80/20 principle (80% of given effect is due to 20% of the possible causes) , decide which tasks need your focus and increase productivity and those that can be given away.
5. Quit social media – spring clean your social media life. To help, Cal Newport recommends asking yourself – (1) if the past 30 days would’ve been better if you had been able to use social media (2) if people cared that you weren’t using social media. After 30 days, if answer to both questions is NO then quit and resume it if you answer YES.
6. Treat your work time like a scarce commodity – when you have fewer hours to work, you tend to treat them wisely.
7. Get others on board – talk to your manager about time spent on shallow work versus time available for deep work.Once your boss is on board, maybe you can manage expectations better like not being on email all the time.