Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
It’s safer to comment on our culture than to step into the Rooseveltian ring and attempt to wrestle it into something better.
Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
A commitment to deep work is not a moral stance and it’s not a philosophical statement—it is instead a pragmatic recognition that the ability to concentrate is a skill that gets valuable things done.
Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
“The one trait that differentiated [Gates from Allen] was focus. Allen’s mind would flit between many ideas and passions, but Gates was a serial obsessor.”
Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
The fact you didn’t respond to their hastily scribed messages is probably not a central event in their lives.
Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Professorial E-mail Sorting: Do not reply to an e-mail message if any of the following applies: • It’s ambiguous or otherwise makes it hard for you to generate a reasonable response. • It’s not a question or proposal that interests you. • Nothing really good would happen if you did respond and nothing really bad would happen if you didn’t.
Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Their default behavior when receiving an e-mail message is to not respond.
Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Tip #3: Don’t Respond
Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
But the important point to remember is that the extra two to three minutes you spend at this point will save you many more minutes reading and responding to unnecessary extra messages later.