In Who Not How, Dan Sullivan explains that successful delegation depends on finding the best person for the job, instead of finding the best way to do the job. Instead of asking, “How can I get my shallow work done with this kind of schedule?” ask, “Who can I delegate my shallow work to?”)
- View Highlight
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Consider the simple rule: High-quality work produced = Time Spent x Intensity of Focus.
- View Highlight
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(highlight:: Schedule in advance when you’ll use the Internet. Avoid it completely outside these times. Newport gives some tips on how to make the most of this practice:
Keep a notepad nearby where you record the next time you’re scheduled to use the Internet, and any ideas you need to revisit once you’re online again.
Plan your work so you don’t need the Internet to make progress. If you get stuck by not being able to access the Internet, then move on to another task. Plan better next time.
If you do this primarily at work, then don’t stop this practice at home after work. This will undo the training you did at work.)
- View Highlight
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Quantify depth: He then says to estimate and note the “deep work” complexity of each task. As a rule of thumb, imagine how long it would take to train a smart college grad to do the task—the more time, the deeper the work.
- View Highlight
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You may feel discouraged if you aren’t able to follow your schedule or give in to distraction. Nir Eyal addresses this feeling in Indistractable—he explains that it’s essential to think of your schedule as an evolving experiment that you probably won’t get right on the first try. Instead of stressing out, think of ways to build a schedule better aligned with your needs.
- View Highlight
-

Intense deadlines not only force you into focus mode but can actually make your work better. When you set an ambitious deadline, you create a moderate amount of emotional arousal—which, according to the Yerkes-Dodson Law, is where you achieve peak performance. In other words, people really do “work best under pressure.”
- View Highlight
-

Newport suggests designating a deep work space, where you go only to do deep work (like a conference room, the library, or an office in your home). Compartmentalizing your location this way will cement the habit of deep work more strongly.
- View Highlight
-

In Atomic Habits, James Clear discusses the power of using environmental cues to trigger desirable behaviors. Try adding environmental cues to your space—for example, lighting a specific candle each time you start working. Over time, your brain will associate these cues with deep work, and you’ll more easily enter a focused state of mind.
- View Highlight
-

In Indistractable, Nir Eyal suggests that workers who may find themselves in a distracting workspace can try creating visual cues to show others that they need to be left alone. This may look like a certain hat you wear when you’re in deep work mode or a small “Do not interrupt” sign on top of your monito
- View Highlight
-

In Indistractable, Nir Eyal suggests that workers who may find themselves in a distracting workspace can try creating visual cues to show others that they need to be left alone. This may look like a certain hat you wear when you’re in deep work mode or a small “Do not interrupt” sign on top of your monitor.
- View Highlight
-
- [note::I should get a "productivity hat" or bracelet that I only wear when I want to engage in deep work.]

Breaking out of the dopamine cycle of social media is easier said than done. There will be an adjustment period: Research shows that it takes about eight days for your brain to calm down and become accustomed to a lower level of stimulation.
- View Highlight
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- [note::Super relevant to any digital detoxes I might do in the future.]

Make sure your emails contain all essential information. Newport explains that when replying to an email, you should articulate: 1) the current state of things, 2) what the ultimate goal is, and 3 what the most effective next steps are. He says this prevents unproductive email volleys and closes the mental loop for you, preventing mental residue from accumulating.
For example, a bad reply would be, “Yes, let’s meet for lunch. When works for you?” A better reply is, “Here are times over the next week when I’m available. If any of these work for you, let me know, and please send a calendar invite. If none of these work, please send over a few times that do.”)
- View Highlight
-

Newport points out that most people, in idle moments like waiting in line, reflexively pull out their phones for a quick scroll through social media or their texts. He says that by always filling in these low-stimuli moments with a high-stimuli activity, you deplete your brain’s ability to tolerate boredom—even if you set aside time for deep work, you won’t be able to do the work during that time unless you strengthen your brain’s “focus muscles.”
- View Highlight
-

Focus on what’s important. When choosing what to work on, figure out what things have the largest impact. Then, instead of trying to say no to trivial distractions, simply say yes to the most important task or goal. This process helps crowd out shallow tasks that don’t support your goals.
- View Highlight
-

Use the right metrics. The most useful metrics in deep work are leading metrics, or metrics you can use in real-time to tweak what your result will be. For example, Newport suggests leading metrics like the number of pages you’ve written or the number of new ideas you’ve generated. These give real-time feedback that helps you see how effective you are at deep work. In contrast, a lagging metric would be how many papers you’ve published at the end of 2021—at that point, you can’t go back and change your behavior in order to publish more papers in the year.
- View Highlight
-

Keep your metrics visible. Making your leading metrics visible will motivate you to keep up the habit and allow for more frequent celebration of successes. Newport suggests keeping a physical display in the workspace that shows your leading metric, like a small whiteboard where you mark off hours spent in deep work.
- View Highlight
-
- [note::Love this]

In Indistractable, Nir Eyal recommends social precommitments, which make it harder for you to perform undesirable behaviors. For example, you might make a precommitment to have someone else review each week’s deep work report. You’re more likely to stay away from shallow work and focus on hitting your goals because of the added pressure of being “watched” by someone else.
- View Highlight
-

To fully get your mind off work and relax, Newport suggests creating a shutdown ritual. He says this ritual should help you check your work for anything you forgot and plan your next day’s work. For example, you could check your emails for any last urgent items, update your to-do list, check your calendar for upcoming deadlines, and say, “All done,” or a similar phrase to explicitly mark the end of the workday.
- View Highlight
-

You may want to add reflective time into your workday shutdown—research shows that employees who spend 15 minutes at the end of their workday reflecting on what they learned during the day perform about 23% better in their work than those who don’t take time for reflection.
- View Highlight
-

In Who Not How, Dan Sullivan explains that successful delegation depends on finding the best person for the job, instead of finding the best way to do the job. Instead of asking, “How can I get my shallow work done with this kind of schedule?” ask, “Who can I delegate my shallow work to?”)
- View Highlight
-

Consider the simple rule: High-quality work produced = Time Spent x Intensity of Focus.
- View Highlight
-

(highlight:: Schedule in advance when you’ll use the Internet. Avoid it completely outside these times. Newport gives some tips on how to make the most of this practice:
Keep a notepad nearby where you record the next time you’re scheduled to use the Internet, and any ideas you need to revisit once you’re online again.
Plan your work so you don’t need the Internet to make progress. If you get stuck by not being able to access the Internet, then move on to another task. Plan better next time.
If you do this primarily at work, then don’t stop this practice at home after work. This will undo the training you did at work.)
- View Highlight
-

Quantify depth: He then says to estimate and note the “deep work” complexity of each task. As a rule of thumb, imagine how long it would take to train a smart college grad to do the task—the more time, the deeper the work.
- View Highlight
-

You may feel discouraged if you aren’t able to follow your schedule or give in to distraction. Nir Eyal addresses this feeling in Indistractable—he explains that it’s essential to think of your schedule as an evolving experiment that you probably won’t get right on the first try. Instead of stressing out, think of ways to build a schedule better aligned with your needs.
- View Highlight
-

Intense deadlines not only force you into focus mode but can actually make your work better. When you set an ambitious deadline, you create a moderate amount of emotional arousal—which, according to the Yerkes-Dodson Law, is where you achieve peak performance. In other words, people really do “work best under pressure.”
- View Highlight
-

Newport suggests designating a deep work space, where you go only to do deep work (like a conference room, the library, or an office in your home). Compartmentalizing your location this way will cement the habit of deep work more strongly.
- View Highlight
-

In Atomic Habits, James Clear discusses the power of using environmental cues to trigger desirable behaviors. Try adding environmental cues to your space—for example, lighting a specific candle each time you start working. Over time, your brain will associate these cues with deep work, and you’ll more easily enter a focused state of mind.
- View Highlight
-

In Indistractable, Nir Eyal suggests that workers who may find themselves in a distracting workspace can try creating visual cues to show others that they need to be left alone. This may look like a certain hat you wear when you’re in deep work mode or a small “Do not interrupt” sign on top of your monito
- View Highlight
-

In Indistractable, Nir Eyal suggests that workers who may find themselves in a distracting workspace can try creating visual cues to show others that they need to be left alone. This may look like a certain hat you wear when you’re in deep work mode or a small “Do not interrupt” sign on top of your monitor.
- View Highlight
-
- [note::I should get a "productivity hat" or bracelet that I only wear when I want to engage in deep work.]

Breaking out of the dopamine cycle of social media is easier said than done. There will be an adjustment period: Research shows that it takes about eight days for your brain to calm down and become accustomed to a lower level of stimulation.
- View Highlight
-
- [note::Super relevant to any digital detoxes I might do in the future.]

Make sure your emails contain all essential information. Newport explains that when replying to an email, you should articulate: 1) the current state of things, 2) what the ultimate goal is, and 3 what the most effective next steps are. He says this prevents unproductive email volleys and closes the mental loop for you, preventing mental residue from accumulating.
For example, a bad reply would be, “Yes, let’s meet for lunch. When works for you?” A better reply is, “Here are times over the next week when I’m available. If any of these work for you, let me know, and please send a calendar invite. If none of these work, please send over a few times that do.”)
- View Highlight
-

Newport points out that most people, in idle moments like waiting in line, reflexively pull out their phones for a quick scroll through social media or their texts. He says that by always filling in these low-stimuli moments with a high-stimuli activity, you deplete your brain’s ability to tolerate boredom—even if you set aside time for deep work, you won’t be able to do the work during that time unless you strengthen your brain’s “focus muscles.”
- View Highlight
-

Focus on what’s important. When choosing what to work on, figure out what things have the largest impact. Then, instead of trying to say no to trivial distractions, simply say yes to the most important task or goal. This process helps crowd out shallow tasks that don’t support your goals.
- View Highlight
-

Use the right metrics. The most useful metrics in deep work are leading metrics, or metrics you can use in real-time to tweak what your result will be. For example, Newport suggests leading metrics like the number of pages you’ve written or the number of new ideas you’ve generated. These give real-time feedback that helps you see how effective you are at deep work. In contrast, a lagging metric would be how many papers you’ve published at the end of 2021—at that point, you can’t go back and change your behavior in order to publish more papers in the year.
- View Highlight
-

Keep your metrics visible. Making your leading metrics visible will motivate you to keep up the habit and allow for more frequent celebration of successes. Newport suggests keeping a physical display in the workspace that shows your leading metric, like a small whiteboard where you mark off hours spent in deep work.
- View Highlight
-
- [note::Love this]

In Indistractable, Nir Eyal recommends social precommitments, which make it harder for you to perform undesirable behaviors. For example, you might make a precommitment to have someone else review each week’s deep work report. You’re more likely to stay away from shallow work and focus on hitting your goals because of the added pressure of being “watched” by someone else.
- View Highlight
-

To fully get your mind off work and relax, Newport suggests creating a shutdown ritual. He says this ritual should help you check your work for anything you forgot and plan your next day’s work. For example, you could check your emails for any last urgent items, update your to-do list, check your calendar for upcoming deadlines, and say, “All done,” or a similar phrase to explicitly mark the end of the workday.
- View Highlight
-

You may want to add reflective time into your workday shutdown—research shows that employees who spend 15 minutes at the end of their workday reflecting on what they learned during the day perform about 23% better in their work than those who don’t take time for reflection.
- View Highlight
-