My notes from Deep Work

by Cal Newport

Replying to emails

Pause for a moment before replying and ask:

• What's the project being represented by this message?
• What is the most efficient process for bringing this project to a successful conclusion?

This is process-centric approach to e-mail. Think for a minute or two on how to get from the current state to a desired outcome with a minimum number of messages. Finally, write a reply which clearly describes the process and where we stand. Also use this for writing from scratch.

Process-centric approach reduces the number of emails in your inbox and closes the loop.

Less mental clutter = more resources for deep thinking.

Don't respond

Make it your default behavior. It's sender's responsibility to convince you to reply. Do not reply if:

• it's hard your you to write a reasonable response
• it does not interest you
• nothing good would happen if you respond and nothing bad if you don't

Deep work is way more powerful than most people understand.

Most every day of most every week I was pushing my mind to grapple with results of consequence, regardless if there was a deadline. I solved proofs in the subway and when shoveling snow.