My notes from Deep Work

by Cal Newport

Identify a deep work task...

...that's high on your priority list.

Estimate how long you’d normally put aside of an obligation of this type then give yourself a hard deadline that drastically reduces this time. If possible, commit publicly to the deadline - for example by telling the person expecting the finished project when they should expect it. If this isn’t possible, then motivate yourself by setting a countdown timer on your phone and propping it up where you can’t avoid seeing it as you work.

There should be only one possible way to get the deep task done in time: working with great intensity. No e-mail breaks, no repeated trips to the coffee machine. Attack the task with every neutron until if give way under you unraveling barrage of concentration.

Productive meditation

Take a period in which you are occupied physically but not mentally and focus your attention on a single well-defined professional problem. As in mindfulness meditation, you must continue to bring your attention back to the problem at hand when it wanders or stalls. Participate in at least two or three such sessions in a typical week.

By forcing yourself to resist distraction and bring your attention back to a well-defined problem it helps strengthen your distraction-resisting muscles and forcing you to push deeper on a single problem, it sharpens your concentration. For this, patience will be necessary.

1. Be wary of distractions and looping.

• when you notice your attention slipping away from the problem at hand, gently remind yourself that you can return to that thought later, then redirect your attention back.
• your mind might attempt to sidestep this expenditure by avoiding diving deeper into the problem by instead looping over again on what you already know about it.

2. Structure your deep thinking.

• start with a careful review of the relevant variables for solving the problem and then storing these values in your working memory
• once the relevant variables are identified, define specific next-step question you need to answer using these variables
• the final step - consolidate your gains by reviewing clearly the answer you identified
• intense workout for your concentration ability, accelerate the pace at which you improve your ability to go deep

A side effect of memory training is an improvement in your general ability to concentrate and it can be applied to any deep work task.

There's nothing special about card memorization, any structured thought process that requires unwavering attention can have a similar effect like productive meditation.