The Wise Men

1. Deep work is the key to thriving in the modern economy

Deep work is necessary to wring every last drop of value out of your current intellectual capacity.

Competitive advantage: In our increasingly competitive and automated economy, the ability to perform deep work - cognitively demanding tasks that create new value - is becoming both more rare and more valuable. Those who can cultivate this skill will thrive professionally.

Skill development: Deep work allows you to quickly master complex information and produce better results in less time. It's the key to learning hard things fast and producing at an elite level, two core abilities for building a successful career in almost any field.

Neurological benefits: Focusing intensely on a task strengthens the relevant neural circuits, improving your ability to concentrate over time. This process, called myelination, enhances your cognitive capabilities and makes future deep work sessions even more productive.

2. Embrace focused concentration and limit shallow work

To succeed you have to produce the absolute best stuff you're capable of producing—a task that requires depth.

Define shallow work: Shallow work consists of non-cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend not to create much new value and are easy to replicate.

Limit shallow work:

• Set a shallow work budget (e.g., 30-50% of your time)
• Batch similar shallow tasks together
• Schedule specific times for email and other administrative tasks

Prioritize depth: Ruthlessly cut out or minimize shallow activities to make room for deep work. This might mean saying no to meetings, limiting email time, or delegating non-essential tasks.

3. Create rituals and habits to support deep work

To make the most out of your deep work sessions, build rituals of the same level of strictness and idiosyncrasy as the important thinkers mentioned previously.

Establish a routine:

• Choose a dedicated workspace
• Define specific working hours
• Set clear goals for each session
• Develop start-up and shut-down rituals

Manage your energy:

• Work during your peak cognitive hours
• Take regular breaks to recharge
• Use caffeine strategically

Minimize distractions:

• Turn off notifications
• Use website blockers
• Create a distraction list for wandering thoughts

By systematizing your approach to deep work, you reduce the willpower required to get started and stay focused, making it easier to consistently engage in high-quality cognitive work.

4. Cultivate a deep work philosophy that fits your lifestyle

There are many different ways to integrate deep work into your schedule, and it's therefore worth taking the time to find an approach that makes sense for you.

Monastic approach: Eliminate or radically minimize shallow obligations. This works well for people with clearly defined, highly valuable professional goals that require intense concentration.

Bimodal approach: Divide your time into clearly defined stretches dedicated to deep work and others open to everything else. This can work on multiple scales (e.g., seasonal, weekly, or daily).

Rhythmic approach: Transform deep work into a simple regular habit. This might involve working on deep tasks for a set number of hours each day or using a "chain method" to track consistent deep work.

Journalistic approach: Fit deep work wherever you can into your schedule, switching into this mode when you have free time. This requires a trained ability to rapidly switch into a state of deep focus.

Choose the approach that best aligns with your personal and professional circumstances, recognizing that you may need to experiment to find what works best for you.

5. Quit social media and embrace boredom

To simply wait and be bored has become a novel experience in modern life, but from the perspective of concentration training, it's incredibly valuable.

Social media detox:

• Take a 30-day break from social media
• Evaluate which platforms truly add value to your life
• Only return to those that pass a strict cost-benefit analysis

Embrace boredom:

• Practice being comfortable with lack of stimulation
• Use "productive meditation" during mundane activities
• Strengthen your focus by resisting the urge to seek distraction

Depth over distraction: Constantly seeking novel stimuli weakens your ability to concentrate deeply. By embracing boredom and limiting your use of attention-fracturing technologies, you can rebuild your capacity for sustained focus.

6. Structure your day to maximize deep work opportunities

At the beginning of each workday, turn to a new page of lined paper in a notebook you dedicate to this purpose. Down the left-hand side of the page, mark every other line with an hour of the day, covering the full set of hours you typically work.

Time-block planning:

• Schedule every minute of your workday
• Assign specific deep work blocks
• Be flexible and adjust as needed

Quantify the depth of activities:

• Evaluate tasks based on how long it would take to train someone else to do them
• Prioritize activities that require your unique skills and expertise

Fixed-schedule productivity:

• Set a firm end time to your workday
• Work backward to ensure you accomplish what's necessary
• Use this constraint to force efficiency and focus

By carefully structuring your day, you ensure that deep work receives the time and attention it deserves, while also improving your overall productivity and work-life balance.

7. Make yourself hard to reach to protect your time and attention

To succeed with deep work you must rewire your brain to be comfortable resisting distracting stimuli.

Implement sender filters:

• Create barriers to incoming communication
• Set clear expectations for response times
• Direct different types of requests to appropriate channels

Use process-centric communication:

• Provide clear, thorough responses to emails
• Outline entire processes rather than addressing issues piecemeal
• Reduce back-and-forth communication

Become hard to reach:

• Don't respond to all emails
• Set up office hours for meetings and consultations
• Use auto-responders to manage expectations

By making yourself less accessible, you protect your time and attention for deep work, while also training others to be more thoughtful and efficient in their communication with you.

8. Drain the shallows: Eliminate low-value activities

The shallow work that increasingly dominates the time and attention of knowledge workers is less vital than it often seems in the moment.

Identify low-value activities:

• Track how you spend your time
• Evaluate which tasks create real value
• Be honest about what's truly necessary

Eliminate or delegate:

• Cut out unnecessary meetings and commitments
• Automate repetitive tasks where possible
• Delegate shallow work to others when appropriate

Focus on high-impact work:

• Identify your "wildly important goals"
• Concentrate on the 20% of activities that produce 80% of your results
• Ruthlessly eliminate or minimize everything else

By draining the shallows, you free up more time and mental energy for the deep work that truly drives your success and satisfaction in your career.

Last updated: August 12, 2024