Develop the Skill of Deep Work

“Better work, done faster”

Mr. Josh Lyons based his forum on the book Deep Work by Cal Newport and spoke to the students about the importance of developing the skill of “deep work”. He went on to explain the problem that “deep work”’solves, what it means, and the practical steps the students can take to achieve the skill.

The Problem

In today’s society, concentration spans are shortening, and the ability to think deeply is decreasing. This is affecting our personal and work lives. Phones, with the many various apps they contain, have increasingly consumed more of our attention. At the same time, our ability to focus for long periods has decreased. He pointed us towards a news article on how technology has affected our ability to concentrate, which further emphasized the point that we are all becoming less focused.

The Solution

Mr. Lyons then went on to explain how “deep work” can help us overcome the problems we see today which lead to ineffective work and a lack of focus. According to the book, “deep work” is defined as “professional activities performed in a state of distraction free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate” ( (Newport 3). It is a meaningful and rare skill that adds value and leads to thriving at work. “Deep work” means being steady, diligent, earnest and energetic. Proverbs 22:29 states “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men”(NKJV). “Deep work”  can be equated to diligence and will be noticed by others, increasing our opportunity to succeed.

Practical Ways to Achieve Deep Work

1. Do as little shallow work as possible: menial tasks that don’t require skill should be completed in batches to avoid wasting so much time.

2. Ruthlessly block distractions: try blocking notifications on your phone. We must be intense and intentional with getting rid of and avoiding distractions that affect our work.

3. Block out chunks of time to do “deep work”

4. Good location for “deep work”

5. Learn to love“deep work”. Embrace the challenge of trying to reach your potential in terms of work output and quality. This adds value to work, family, your life and your success rate.

6. Be intentional in improving your ability to do “deep work”.  “Deep work” is not a habit; it is a skill that you need to train and practice. The more you exercise the skill, the more you will strengthen your mental ability to perform it.

Final Thoughts

The skill of “Deep work” can aid us in overcoming the effects of technology and the many distractions around us that seem to stop us from producing quality work in a decent time period. Mr. Lyons ended by reading a few quotes on the topic of concentration.

Resources:

Newport, Cal. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. Grand Central Publishing, 2016.