Newport - Deep Work

Premised around distraction free work
Getting into a state of flow
GTD, but with focused blocks
First principals approach of the book belies him being a programmer
Originally negative thoughts, but overall now positive after reading
Good quote about generic technology skill does not make a smart person
- hot wheels = ipad, GLM = automechanics
Deliberate practice and setting aside time
- in 90 min chunks
Schedule your whole day, block off areas that capture uncertainty
Mythical man month
Point on settled habits
Interrogate your activities based on how difficult it is for a fresh college grad to do it
Puts on the (possible) strawman of someone that works all the time, is busy with email all the time, and others
- the act of defining large blocks of time is useful, but I’m not the person that’s on email all the time
- deliberately eliminating distractions during your deep work is important, stopped listening to music or taking breaks to look at phone
Point on embracing bordem is good
Scheduling downtime is good, you find yourself more happy when all work is meaningful