Just finished reading this book. I wanted to follow up with more info about how to improve my concentration and attention after “Deep Work”. This book is more dense. I liked the first part as there was a strong focus in the person’s psychology for distraction. We have our internal and external triggers that push us to traction (what we have to do) or distraction, and we need to identify those triggers. We need to master our internal triggers and hack back the external ones (email, app notifications, etc). We need to make time for traction and prevent distraction. And a simple timetable can give you visibility to where you are “spending” your time. Even more, you can adjust the timetable to be aligned with your values. I see connections with meditation and that works for me.
And the attention needs to start with ourselves. Then the important people around us and finally work.
I enjoyed the examples of companies like Slack to help employees to disconnect and be productive. And how important is “psychological safety” in a team..
Nowadays it is the social media the evil for our lack of attention. But in the past we have had others like television, video games, radios, books, etc. It seems Socrates complained about the written word. So there is nothing new. I liked the example of Tantalus’ curse. And now I understand the curse. He was trying to reach for things that he didnt actually need.
This is a nice screensaver:
“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need do”
And at the end there is a section for kids that I think it is very useful and original.
In summary, I have enjoyed the book and gives me more reasons to carry on my goal of better focus ( deep work / indistractable).
I hope I re-read this book at some time in the future.