Deep Work

I used to wear busyness like a badge. This book made me realise how much of it was just noise.

Newport defines deep work as cognitively demanding work performed without distraction — the kind that actually produces something valuable. The problem is that the modern environment is almost perfectly designed to prevent it.

The book's central claim is that the ability to focus deeply is becoming rarer and more valuable at exactly the same time. People who can actually concentrate are quietly pulling ahead.

I started protecting large blocks of undistracted time after reading this. The difference in what gets done is difficult to overstate.