Summary of 'Deep Work' by Cal Newport. (2 Summaries in 1: In-Depth Summary and Bonus 2-Page PDF.)

When either of these happens, simply revise the schedule for the rest of your day. It's not uncommon to revise the schedule six or eight times in a given day. The point is not to keep a perfect schedule, but rather to develop awareness of how long tasks truly take, how much of your day is spent on shallow versus deep work, and how your day evolves

Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Workweek argued, "Develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don't, you'll never find time for the life-changing big things."

Saying "no" can be socially difficult since we generally want to be helpful and liked. Here are two tips on saying "No": Be clear about saying "No", but don't provide details about the reasons for refusal; the details may help the requester reframe the request to overcome your objections. When saying "No," do

When time is limited, shallow work and time-wasters will be the first to get squeezed out, as Basecamp experienced when it moved to a four-day workweek.

Recall the definition of shallow work: "Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend not to create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate."

Shallow work is "easy to replicate," so training a smart person to perform the task shouldn't take long, perhaps a few weeks or months. Deep work is "hard to replicate," so training could take many months or even years.

Professorial approach to emails The last approach is based on the behavior of many professors; they simply do not respond to emails unless the sender convinces them that a reply is worth the time and effort. The professorial approach calls for ignoring the email for a few reasons: The message is unclear or difficult to respond to The subject is uni

A good process-centric email does two things: Anticipates the conversation and tries to get to a resolution with the fewest possible emails. Maintains control of your schedule and puts the burden of work on the sender.

So Newport create a sender filter on his website as follows: "If you have an offer, opportunity, or introduction that might make my life more interesting, e-mail me at interesting@calnewport.com. For the reasons stated above, I'll only respond to those proposals that are a good match for my schedule and interests." Newport's sender filter