deep work
The “gift of listening” is based on the ability to grant deep, contemplative attention—which remains inaccessible to the hyperactive ego.
from The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han
deep work
Here’s Kreider’s explanation: Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets … it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.
Cal Newport • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
The way I beat intellectual obesity was by trying to become the best writer I can be. Writing requires you to filter out bad information because you have a duty to your readers to not be full of shit. Writing also forces you to periodically shut out information altogether so you can be alone with your thoughts. This regular confrontation with yours... See more
The Intellectual Obesity Crisis
Writing an essay or short story or book is a personal project that directs our energy in one direction for a period of time. It gives me something to stay focused on, a north star, a vector for movement.
Luke Burgis • Why I Write
The most straightforward way to improve your information diet is to develop a habit for meta-awareness; to pay attention to what you're paying attention to. When you find yourself reaching unprompted for your phone, or hovering over the Twitter icon, invoke the “10-10-10 rule:” ask yourself, if I consume this info, how will I feel about it in 10 mi... See more
The Intellectual Obesity Crisis
what we desperately need is to rediscover the lost art of deep reading — the type of engaged, focused reading that challenges us with complex ideas, transports us into others’ experiences and perspectives and demands our full intellectual engagement and concentration.
The Reader’s Manifesto
philosophy and science were invented and flourished because thinking is pleasurable. If thinkers did not enjoy the sense of order that the use of syllogisms and numbers creates in consciousness, it is very unlikely that now we would have the disciplines of mathematics and physics.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
Scott Belsky coined the term insecurity work to describe work that does not move the ball forward, but is quick enough that you can do it multiple times a day without realizing.
Unlike insecurity work, deep work often feels elusive because it takes time.
Unlike insecurity work, deep work often feels elusive because it takes time.