What you need instead is a full-fledged philosophy of technology use, rooted in your deep values, that provides clear answers to the questions of what tools you should use and how you should use them...
What deliberate practice actually requires. Its core components are usually identified as follows: (1) your attention is focused tightly on a specific skill you’re trying to improve or an idea you’re...
This finding pushed back against conventional wisdom. Most people assumed (and still do) that relaxation makes them happy. We want to work less and spend more time in the hammock. But the results from...
The rhythmic philosophy. This philosophy argues that the easiest way to consistently start deep work sessions is to transform them into a simple regular habit. The goal, in other words, is to generate...
The individual’s scoreboard should be a physical artifact in the workspace that displays the individual’s current deep work hour count.
Something more fundamental to human flourishing: the sense of meaning that comes from acting with intention.
Skillful management of attention is the sine qua non of the good life and the key to improving virtually every aspect of your experience.
Intermittent positive reinforcement and the drive for social approval.
In most types of work—that is, work that doesn’t have a clear training philosophy—most people are stuck. This generates an exciting implication. Let’s assume you’re a knowledge worker, which is a fiel...
If you’re not careful to keep pushing forward, your improvement can taper off to what the performance scientist Anders Ericsson called an acceptable level, where you then remain stuck.
A good process-centric message immediately closes the loop with respect to the project at hand. When a project is initiated by an e-mail that you send or receive, it squats in your mental landscape—be...
You don’t need a rarified job; you need instead a rarified approach to your work.
When it comes to creating work you love, following your passion is not particularly useful advice.
Very few people work even 8 hours a day. You’re lucky if you get a few good hours in between all the meetings, interruptions, web surfing, office politics, and personal business that permeate the typi...
Two Core Abilities for Thrivingin the New Economy The ability to quickly master hard things. The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed.
To leave the distracted masses to join the focused few, I’m arguing, is a transformative experience.
To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction.
This focus on stretching your ability and receiving immediate feedback provides the core of a more universal principle—one that I increasingly came to believe provides the key to successfully acquirin...
Their plans were circumspect and small-time. They weren’t dreaming of taking over the world.
Summary of Rule #4 The core idea of this book is simple: To construct work you love, you must first build career capital by mastering rare and valuable skills, and then cash in this capital for the ty...