Last week we talked about how to master social media, but what do we do with our time once we have broken free of the time suck that is social media?  Cal Newport has some great insights to offer in his book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.  Within this excellent read, Newport offers that:

“Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.  It’s a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time.  Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship.  In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy.  And yet – most people have lost the ability to go deep – spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there is a better way.”

Deep Work offers a wealth of knowledge, techniques, and ways to break free from distraction and enter in a deeper, more meaningful level of work.  Here are three takeaways:

• Deep Work is valuable – In the new economy, Newport argues that in order to thrive we must “have the ability to master hard things, and develop the ability to produce at an elite level in terms of both quality and speed.”  The only way that we can become truly elite in our quality and speed is through the discipline of deep work.

• Busyness is a Proxy for Productiveness – Here Newport argues that “in the absence of clear indicators of what it means to be productive and valuable in their jobs, many knowledge workers turn back towards and industrial indicator of productivity: doing lots of stuff in a visible manner.”  Yes, we can be very busy. . . and actually not produce anything meaningful or worthwhile, let alone achieve our goals.

• Embrace Boredom – Remember the last time you were sitting in a waiting room, or in line?  What was everyone doing?  You got it, they were heads down sucked into their smartphone doing things such as checking FaceBook, email, LinkedIn, etc.  Newport explains that culturally, our ability to focus has declined because we have become dependent on distraction.  Accordingly, if you want to develop the skill of focus you need to “wean your mind from the dependence on distraction.”

These three takeaways just skim the surface – if you are looking to improve the quality of your work, develop your focus, or simply figure out how to become less busy and more productive, this book is for you – and, once you have read it, I’d love to hear how it has helped you!