Why the ability to concentrate keeps getting more valuable

Cal Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown, and Deep Work (2016) is the book that turned “deep work” into a term. His claim is simple and uncomfortable: the ability to concentrate for long stretches on something hard is getting rarer and rarer – and precisely for that reason, more and more valuable.

Deep and shallow

Deep work is effort at full concentration, without distraction, on something that takes everything you have – and that creates value hard to replicate. Shallow work is the rest: email, meetings, updates, logistics. Necessary, but easy to do, and easy to replace.

Deep and shallow work

Deep

Hard to replace

• Full concentration, without interruption
• Demands everything you have
• Creates value that is hard to copy
• Getting rarer – and therefore worth more

Shallow

Necessary, but easy

• Email, meetings, updates, logistics
• Can be done while being interrupted
• Easy to replace
• Fills most of the day for most people

Newport’s point is that most knowledge workers spend the bulk of the day on the shallow and believe that is the job. It is not.

Why it is worth more

Because it is getting rarer. Open-plan offices, always-on chat and a phone in the pocket systematically train us to switch attention every minute. Anyone who can still sit for four hours with one thing has an advantage that grows each year.

Four ways to do it

Newport insists there is no single correct recipe:

• Monastic – cut all shallow work, permanently. Few can.
• Bimodal – long stretches (days, weeks) deep, the rest open.
• Rhythmic – a fixed block every day, same time. The one most people can manage.
• Journalistic – deep work in whatever gap appears. Takes practice.

Four rhythms – pick the one that fits your life

1. 1MonasticCut all shallow work, permanently. Few can.
2. 2BimodalLong stretches deep, the rest open.
3. 3RhythmicOne fixed block every day, same time. The one most people manage.
4. 4JournalisticDeep work in whatever gap appears. Takes practice.

Common to all are rituals: same place, same start, same rules, so that getting going does not take willpower.

Tolerating boredom

The most practical part. Concentration is a skill, and it weakens every time you fill a boring moment with a screen. Newport’s advice is to schedule when you will be online, not when you will be offline – and to let the boredom stand the rest of the time.

The criticism

The book is written for people who control their own time. A nurse, a teacher or someone in customer service cannot choose the monastic rhythm, and Newport has little to say to them. The advice to leave social media rests on his own experience, and ignores the fact that many jobs genuinely require it.

The arguments are also largely anecdotal – Carl Jung, Bill Gates, a professor who got tenure. The book predates most of the research on attention and interruption, and leans on it lightly.

What holds up is the distinction. Knowing the difference between deep and shallow, and noticing how much of the day goes to the latter, is worth the book on its own.

Sources are given in the episode.

Main topics

• Deep work versus shallow work
• Why deep work is getting rarer and more valuable at the same time
• The four ways to structure deep work
• Routines and rituals that make starting easier
• Learning to tolerate boredom
• The craftsman's view of social media
• Draining the shallows
• The criticism of the book

Questions this episode answers

• What is deep work?
• Why has concentration become so valuable?
• How do you structure a working day for deep work?
• Why does being bored matter?
• Should you quit social media?
• Does Deep Work suit every kind of job?

Key points

• Deep work is concentrated effort without distraction on something hard. Most of the working day is not that.
• The ability is getting rarer because we train ourselves in the opposite, and more valuable for the same reason.
• There is no single correct rhythm. There are four, and you pick the one that fits your life.
• Concentration is a trainable skill – partly by not filling every pause with a screen.
• The book suits people who control their own time. Not everyone does.

Sources and references

• Cal Newport – Deep Work (2016)