If you're doing something cognitive, that is you're producing something valuable with your mind, it helps you do that at an elite level. So deep work will define to be the effort in which you're very intensely concentrating without distraction for a long period of time. If it's not requiring unbroken intense concentration, it's shallow work. And we really should start thinking about your work life in terms of those two different types of efforts.
Cal Newport is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University, and the author most recently of Deep Work, a book which argues that focus is the new I.Q. in the modern workplace, and So Good They Can’t Ignore You, a book which debunks the long-held belief that “follow your passion” is good advice.
In addition to studying the theoretical foundations of our digital age as a professor, Newport also writes about the impact of these technologies on the world of work.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices