Game in the Brain

Just finished Deep work last night. Like many big books there are a few things I can really take away and use to change my life and they dont affect me immediatey. All these insights take time and experimentation. Man great advice books have great things to impart to us but they are always changing in how they fit in our lives as compared to its thesis.

Many of the philosophies in deep work are something I’ve had inclination too but rarely had the clearer picture the book presents. Particularly the bouts of concentration and the revelation of the book to optimize them. When he said 4 hour bouts thats pretty much the amount of time that I spent writing my gaming articles or my reverie of study.

My take away is the Deepwork time blocks that I should shore up and reinforce. That the planning, research, documenting, and learning all as-I-go becomes my deep work value in our company. That I will use these techniques to master operations management in the setting of a plant and particularly the strange setting of our company.

This also means I’ll strategize how to minimize shallow work of my own and those around me. As well as making those around me, depending on context: focus on deep work, minimize their shallow work, and, allow their deep work contributions build on our company’s skillset and resources.

Rule #2 in boredom was a bit of a problem digesting. Simply cause my default is to work on some ideas. In the absence of any distraction pen and paper will always keep me busy and is my dependent element. the take away is not boredom but attention control, knowing when we are distracted and to prevent it – even if it means boredom. But I’m never bored when i have pen and paper because I have thoughts that are messy and always need sorting when I have the chance. So this is an example where the book doesnt really address someone like me very well.

Social Media withdrawal is espoused in the book and for a good handle of reasons. Its quick to say the pros and cons and how its not for everyone, and consider that the book is focused on knowledge work. Its not binary it has many degrees and it also offers a lot of different partial strategies. So its something to consider if one wants to be less distracted by Social Media.

Like in many insightful books there are small tricks I can start using immediately, some disciplines to master, and ways of doing things that will not translate so easily to my personal context. Like in all great insight, it begins with writing, planning, and working out a viable strategy for experimentation and repeating the process with every little tangible gain we make.