3 Lessons 💡

1. Define Deep Work, Shallow Work and Deep Work Hypothesis (negatives of multi-tasking)
   1. Deep Work: 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
   2. Shallow Work: Non-cognitively demanding, logistical style tasks, often performed while distracted.
2. Ritualize your work
   1. When and where?
   2. How you'll work when you start?
   3. How you'll support your work through basic needs?
3. Downtime Benefits
   1. Aids insights -- subconscious mind is powerful to work through problems
   2. Recharge every to work deeply later -- nature really helps

3 Actions ✅

1. Implement Four Disciplines of Execution
   1. Track Deep Work Hours (lead measure)
   2. Identify most important goals at work
   3. Keep sheet of paper as a scorecard
2. Implement Time Blocking
   1. Schedule your work day in 30 minute chunks
   2. Use Conditional blocks
   3. Schedule shallow tasks
   4. Could consider scheduling internet usage in personal life
   5. Use Fixed Schedule productivity -- finish by certain time each day
3. Actions to Promote Deeper Thought
   1. Productive Meditation (period of time when occupied physically but not mentally -- walking, driving, showering)
      1. Focus on a single well-defined professional problem
      2. How to structure your deep thinking:
         1. Identify the important variables for solving the problem and then define the next step you need to answer using these variables
   2. Shutdown Routine description and benefits
      1. Collect Metrics for the day
      2. Review daily obligations and track any items so they're not only stored in your brain
      3. Review your upcoming calendar to ensure that you are prepared for the coming day or two

Helpful Links:

• Deep Work by Cal Newport
• Cal's Time Block Planner 2.0
• Alex and Books Website

Book Mentioned: "Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World" by Cal Newport