Saly

Cal Newport, Adam Grant, J.K. Rowling, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, reporters, engineers... They all devised ways to stay focused in times of heavy or concentrated work. Cal Newport is quoted the most as he wrote an entire book on the subject. Saly's version, Deep Work for Distracted People: Simple Methods to Stay Focused, Think Clearly and Finish What Matters is much shorter with common sense tips for success. I found the suggestions about noise-canceling headphones and smart phone show more settings to be the most helpful (until I missed an important call from a not-so important number). A question though - if you are supposed to break up with your device, why encourage more apps to download? For the truly addicted this seems like a trap.
My favorite part of Deep Work for Distracted People was the information at the end of every chapter. Saly supplied a summary, the lesson learned, and specific takeaways relating to the chapter. It was a great way to sum up the extensive information covered in the previous chapter.
As an aside, I was inadvertently sent a different early review from Saly and I found Deep Work for Distracted People to be far more informative and less repetitive with subject matter. In fact, I enjoyed Saly's writing in Depp Work for Distracted People. I didn't mind the analogies because I think in analogy all the time. I especially liked the comment about turning a noisy street into a quiet library. show less

To begin with a quote from this work, "Attention is your most valuable asset." I found this short read to the point and inspirational. Having recently read a much longer work on the same topic by a different author, I appreciated that there was not very much repetition here (unlike the other work). The author focuses on engineering your environment to eliminate distractions rather than focusing on harnessing will power. This is smart because we all know will power is a very finite resource show more that easily vanishes under fatigue or stress. There were many concrete examples given for different types of people in different work and home situations, so I feel like everyone could find something to try here. Apparently, just having your phone on your desk, even if it's silent or completely off, hinders productivity. I'm definitely going to take that into consideration from now on when I want to do deep work! I also liked how the author addressed the importance of rest, productivity guilt, and what to do if you mess up and get distracted. It gave the work a more well-rounded and realistic tone. show less

Written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Deep Work for Distracted People: Simple Methods to Stay Focused, Think Clearly, and Finish What Matters by MD Saly is a short, well organized self-help type book to help folks refocus on Deep Work and filter out the distractions. The volume is short (75 pages) and feels like a cross between a power point presentation and a Tony Robbins seminar - Lots and lots of metaphors - but very effective in making the points. Each chapter builds towards the show more thesis, is focused on a one or two points, and has a very nice, clean summary. (reminds me of the old adage; tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them!)

Lots and lots of great sound bites: from the definition of Deep Work (what turns projects into momentum and momentum into completion); environment vs motivation; trying harder is a recipe for burnout; the habit loop; amateurs wait for inspiration and time; focus mode vs diffused mode; and the compounding of focus.

The bottom line is to be the architect of your time and focus. The author introduces a series of terms for this journey such as "The single Application Principle", "The Notification Purge", "Focus Trigger", "Scheduled Nothingness", "Digital Sunset", "The Boredom Boost", and a "Deep Recharge" that are used to explain the steps (making it easy to remember).

there are many deep work related volumes out there, and this one is a great introduction to the topic. I only wish that the author had included some other specific references (Cal Newport is referenced, but none of his specific related books). show less

Really interesting book. You can clearly see most concepts are borrowed from other books of the field but seems like a very neat summary/to-do list in order to get to a point where deep focus is not your task, but what defines you.