Book Review: "Deep Work" by Cal Newport

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

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Explains what so much of what I’m doing wrong and how to fix it.

Newport only briefly chronicles the problems that knowledge-workers experience in our distracted world, but I related to all of them. He spends half the book talking about the benefits that come from real concentration that push our cognitive abilities to achieve. Then he lays out in four “rules” how to manage ourselves to make the time to achieve what he calls, “deep work.”

Nearly everything he said rang true from my experience–including what things I had done in 2011 to write both my doctoral project and my popular level book while pastoring full time and being the dad of four homeschooled elementary kids. In fact, I used the techniques he was talking about to read his entire book in one day!

I’m grateful that I read it. I’ve already made a short list of what I need to change. Now, all I have to do is follow through to get more productive on the things that matter most.

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