Main idea of the book
High-quality work = time spent × intensity of focus.
So if I can protect long stretches of distraction-free concentration, I’ll get more done in less time (and the work will be better).
My 80/20 takeaway
Most of us burn our best brain hours on shallow stuff: email, Slack, “quick checks”, and tiny tasks that feel productive. Deep work is a real advantage mostly because it’s rare, and it stacks over time.
Core ideas (the stuff I actually want to remember)
1) Deep work vs shallow work
- Deep work: hard thinking, creates real value, hard to fake, makes you better.
- Shallow work: admin/logistics, low value, easy to do while distracted.
Rule I’m using: if I can do it while half-paying attention, it’s shallow. I should batch it (CS is everywhere), washing dishes while watching brain dead stuff in YT.
2) Focus is trainable
Concentration isn’t a personality trait. It’s more like a muscle.
Switching tasks has a cost. Every time I jump around, I pay a “getting back into it” tax. The practical takeaway for me: I don’t need more hours, I need fewer switches.
3) Ritual beats motivation
Deep work happens because it’s scheduled and protected (according to the book), not because I feel inspired.
Nevertheless, I do feel that deep work happens when I’m genuinely interested in the task, otherwise its all shallow.
So sorta conflicted on this point. But I think the book’s advice is mainly for the other kind of work, when we are doing boring work which is important: docs, tests, admin work, etc. This is where ritual can shines
So I guess for me its not “ritual v motivation, but its:
- Interest makes deep work effortless
- Ritual makes deep work reliable
A ritual answers:
- When am I doing deep work?
- Where am I doing it?
- What rules am I following?
- What counts as progress for this block?
4) Boredom is part of the training 🤼♀️
If I fill every tiny gap with my phone, my brain starts expecting constant stimulation. Then real focus feels painful.
Training move: when I feel bored, don’t immediately escape it. Sit with it for a minute.
Boredom is actually good for you, literally. Please daydream more
Things which I try to do:
- walk without phone / song
- during afternoon, i just sit and stare at my plants
- try to eat without my phone (mostly i fail here)
- deleted most of my social media, except mastodon & reddit
5) Busy does not mean useful
Looking busy is not the same as producing something valuable. I want to measure output, not activity.
The 4 scheduling styles (pick what fits)
- Monastic: cut shallow work to almost zero. Powerful, unrealistic for most people.
- Bimodal: switch between deep weeks/days and normal weeks/days.
- Rhythmic: same deep-work block every day. Probably the most sustainable.
- Journalistic: squeeze deep work in whenever you can. Hardest one to pull off well.
My default sways between Rhythmic and Bimodal, like 60 to 90 minutes most weekday mornings or some days I’m extra productive.
Tactics that actually help
A) Time-block the day
Instead of just having a to-do list, I try to plan the day in blocks:
- deep work (usually mornings)
- shallow/admin
- buffer time and breaks
The schedule will change, that’s fine.
B) Make deep work hard to mess up
- Put it on the calendar / basically block this time
- Same start time
- Same place, or the same setup ritual
- Clear goal like “finish X”, not “work on X”
C) Define a shutdown
At the end of the day:
- capture open loops
- plan tomorrow’s first deep block
- close the laptop
This reduces mental background noise and makes the next day easier to start.
D) Put shallow work behind rules
Examples I’m doing:
- email 2 to 3 times/day, not constantly
- no checking reddit before my first deep block (till 9am)
- “office hours” for DMs
- I really love my mornings - its when my brain is most active, so no meetings before 12pm
Why this is especially good for programming
Deep work fits dev work perfectly:
- implementing complex features
- debugging tricky issues
- reading docs/papers/books properly
- writing design docs
- learning a new stack
- writing this article
One line I keep coming back to: treat focus like a build pipeline. If it’s not scheduled, it doesn’t ship.
TLDR
- Schedule deep work daily (even 60 minutes counts).
- Remove distractions (phone away or silent & face down, no inbox, fewer context switches).
- Shutdown at the end (capture, plan tomorrow’s first block).