Society has told you that if you want to succeed, you should:

But even with all that, you still aren’t achieving the success you want.

Then you learn that someone else works 4 hours a day and creates remarkable work.

Work that can’t help but stand out, and it makes you question how they did it.

So how did they do it?

You might think it is luck, talent, intelligence or discipline.

While all these play a role, it's none of them.

The secret lies in their ability to do deep work.

In January 2021, I read Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work, for the first time.

And it changed everything about how I work.

Before reading it, I thought I was productive.

I was anything but.

I was ruthless about having an empty mail inbox,

I stayed up to date with the latest trends,

I prided myself on being a multitasker.

I quickly responded to messages, and

All my notifications were on.

I was busy.

But I wasn’t productive.

I wasn’t moving the needle or producing anything valuable.

Reading Newport’s book forced me to confront some uncomfortable truths:

Since then, I’ve revisited the book many times. Its principles have fundamentally shaped my approach to work, focus and productivity.

“Deep work” has become popular in productivity spaces. It feels like everyone knows about it.

But here’s what I’ve noticed:

Most people who talk about deep work aren’t actually doing it.

They still confuse busyness with depth.

They mistake multitasking for productivity.

They think working longer is the same as working deeper.

It’s not.

In this newsletter, I want to introduce (or reintroduce) you to deep work—what it really is, why it matters more than ever, and how to implement it in your life.

Because as the world becomes increasingly distracted, your ability to focus deeply isn’t just an advantage.

It’s a competitive edge that separates you from everyone else.

(If you haven’t already, I recommend reading the previous newsletter, as it will complement this one greatly. You can read it here.)

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You sit down to work.

You have your to-do list ready.

You open your laptop.

But before you start, you ‘quickly’ check:

Email, Slack, LinkedIn.

You jump to Instagram and Facebook.

Then onto a spreadsheet you didn’t complete.

But you get stuck and need to watch a YouTube video to fix the problem.

Somehow, the autoplay led you down a rabbit hole, and it’s been an hour.

Weren’t you supposed to be working on that really important task?

So… does that sound familiar?

This is what Cal Newport calls shallow work:

Shallow work includes tasks such as:

Billing invoices.

Checking emails.

Attending meetings.

Scrolling social media for “research”.

Updating your Notion dashboard (again).

Following up with clients and colleagues.

Now these tasks aren’t bad. Nor should they be abandoned.

These tasks have their place.

They keep the lights on and keep things running smoothly.

But they’ve created a trap:

They’ve tricked us into treating all work as equal.

We think because we’re ‘doing stuff’ that we’re making progress.

But shallow work doesn’t move the needle.

It doesn’t create value.

It doesn’t build your skills.

It doesn’t lead to remarkable work.

And it gets worse.

It gives you the illusion of productivity.

You end the day tired, feeling like you worked hard.

But when you review the day, you’ll see that you didn’t do anything meaningful.

This is the trap of shallow work.

And it will cost you your potential.

Newport defines deep work as,

Let’s break down what this means:

The difference between shallow work and deep work starts to be clear:

Shallow work is reactive.

Deep work is proactive.

Shallow work responds to the urgent.

Deep work creates the important.

Maybe you’re thinking,

“Oh, but I work for long hours on hard tasks. So I’m doing deep work.”

Before you get ahead of yourself (and I say this with love), let’s make sure you aren’t doing any of the following:

If you’re writing an article but then check Slack…

If you’re doing research but quickly stop to reply to emails…

If you’re working on a project but jump to Instagram to check someone’s story…

You may be working hard on something, but you’re switching contexts.

But that’s not deep work.

That’s pseudo deep work.

And pseudo deep work is a silent productivity killer.

You feel like you’re doing something meaningful.

But you’re constantly breaking your focus.

Your brain never fully locks in.

It looks something like this:

You’re working on a project.

A notification pops up—you check it.

You return to the project.

Five minutes later, you tab over to check an email.

Back to the project.

Then Twitter.

Then Instagram.

Back to the project.

By the end of the session, you’ve been ‘working’ for two hours.

But you’ve only touched deep work for 30 minutes or less.

And this constant switching of tasks has a cognitive cost.

The cost is what Professor Sophie Leroy calls attention residue.

When you switch from Task A to Task B, your attention doesn’t immediately switch off from Task A and lock in on Task B.

Part of your brain is still thinking about Task A — a residue of your attention.

And if Task A is unfinished, the resider is even stronger.

Even if the switch was only two minutes.

Even if it’s something you can handle quickly.

That leftover attention reduces your performance on Task B.

Now let's say you do this 10, 20 or even 50 times a day.

This is why you feel mentally tired even when you didn’t do anything “hard.”

This is why if you didn’t finish some work during the day, you could experience a restless night thinking about it. But that’s on the extreme end.

Task switching is expensive.

And technology and social media don’t help reduce costs.

Apps have trained us to think:

Every ping is important,

Every red bubble is something urgent to attend to,

And a 10-minute scroll won’t hurt.

But it does hurt. It hurts you in ways you don’t even notice.

You unconsciously train your brain to crave interruption, and that any time things get a little too challenging, you reach for your phone or switch to an easier task.

You’re fragmenting your attention into pieces that make it hard to build anything meaningful.

Fragmented attention leads to a fragmented mind, a fragmented mind leads to low effort, and low effort leads to poor and low-quality work.

Research from Clifford Nass found that chronic multitaskers:

In other words:

The more you multitask, the worse you become at focusing, and the harder it is to do deep work.

This is how multitasking destroys your productivity.

Pseudo-deep work feels like you’re being productive.

But you’re not.

You’re still engaging in shallow work and falling into the trap of being busy.

You feel tired from “working hard”, but you haven’t moved the needle forward.

But you can avoid the cost of task switching.

You avoid it by learning to work deeply.

Where shallow work maintains, deep work multiples.

Deep work is becoming increasingly rare.

And rare things are valuable.

As Newport writes:

"The Deep Work Hypothesis: The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life will thrive."

Think about it:

More and more people are drowning in distractions.

Through the use of social media and the convenience of technology, they’ve trained themselves to need constant stimulation.

They can’t stick with one task for more than 20 minutes without checking their phone.

Some people can’t even sit through a 44-minute episode without going on their phone (imagine).

But you?

If you can master deep work, you’ll stand out.

Here’s how:

To succeed in the modern economy, you need to learn new skills.

Deep work is how you learn new skills quickly.

As Newport explains:

"To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction. To learn, in other words, is an act of deep work."

Newport identifies a key productivity law:

High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)

Notice: It’s not just time.

It’s time multiplied by intensity of focus.

This is why someone who works 4 hours with complete focus beats someone who works 8+ hours with constant distractions.

Deep work is one of the best ways to trigger flow.

And research from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi shows that flow is directly correlated with life satisfaction.

The more flow experiences you have, the more fulfilled you are.

Deep work doesn’t just make you more productive.

It makes your life more meaningful.

Anyone can send emails.

Anyone can attend meetings.

Anyone can create content for social media.

AI and automation are even doing most of these now.

But not everyone can:

Design an innovative product.

Write a compelling article.

Solve a complex problem.

Deep work produces output that’s uniquely yours.

It can’t be outsourced, automated, or replicated easily.

And that’s what makes it valuable.

As Newport writes:

"If you prioritize depth in an increasingly shallow world, there are large rewards you will get."

And you can clearly see this in our world now.

In a world addicted to distraction, focus becomes rare.

And when something becomes rare and valuable, it becomes a competitive advantage.

If you can:

You will outperform everyone else.

Not because you’re smarter.

But because you go deeper.

Knowing what deep work is is all good and well. But knowing what something is doesn’t lead to knowing what to do.

So here’s a framework with principles and practical steps:

We all have different lives, different responsibilities and different needs.

So how you structure your deep work won’t look the same as someone else’s.

Cal Newport offers us four approaches:

#1: The Monastic Approach

Eliminate or radically minimise shallow work.

This is best for:

People with high control over their schedules (writers, researchers, entrepreneurs, creatives).

#2: The Bimodal Approach

Divide your time into deep work periods (days or weeks) and shallow work periods.

This is best for:

People who can dedicate full days to deep work (consultants, freelancers, researchers).

#3: The Rhythmic Approach

Make deep work a daily habit by blocking time every day.

This is best for:

People with structured schedules (9-to-5 workers, students).

This is the approach I personally use, and I love it.

#4: The Journalistic Approach

Fit deep work into your schedule whenever you have time.

This is best for:

People who can quickly switch into deep work mode, or who can easily take advantage of any available free time they have (parents, journalists, executives).

Not recommended for beginners.

Pick the approach that fits your life.

Rituals reduce decision fatigue.

Your ritual should answer these questions:

Where will you work?

Choose a specific location.

Your desk, your study, a library, a coffee shop.

How long will you work?

Set a time block.

Start with 45 minutes if you’re new to deep work.

You can push it up to 90 minutes, as this is in line with your underlying biology and ultradian rhythms.

(I have a newsletter on that if you want to learn more).

What are the rules?

No phone.

No internet unless required for the task.

No email.

What will you work on?

Define the task before you start.

Be specific.

Here’s an example of a ritual:

Where: Home office

How long: 90 minutes (8:00 AM - 9:30 AM)

Rules: Phone in another room, internet off, door closed, cup of coffee.

Task: Write 1,000 words of a newsletter.

The more specific your ritual, the easier it is to execute.

Your mind and body love them, so use them.

Deep work is a skill.

And like any skill, it requires training.

If you’ve spent years training yourself to be distracted, you can’t expect to focus deeply on day one.

You need to rebuild your focus muscle.

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend reading the previous newsletter on training a specific skill, called the awareness-focus loop.

Another powerful way to train your focus is by embracing something we typically avoid: boredom.

Most people can’t handle a few minutes without stimulation.

They reach for their phone the moment they feel bored.

This trains your brain to need constant distraction.

A quick dopamine hit.

Instead:

Let yourself be bored.

Stand in line without checking your phone.

Take a walk without listening to anything.

Sit in silence for five minutes.

This rewires your brain to tolerate the absence of stimulation. The ability to embrace boredom will make you far more effective at focusing on long periods of time without giving in to distractions.

This is uncomfortable.

But it’s true:

Social media is designed to destroy your focus.

App designers have designed their platforms to be addictive and keep you scrolling.

Every notification is an interruption.

Every scroll trains your brain to crave distraction.

You don’t have to delete all your accounts.

But you do need to change your relationship with them.

Newport offers a 30-day challenge:

If they didn’t, quit them.

If they did, return—but with boundaries.

Use them intentionally, not habitually.

Shallow work is necessary.

But it expands to fill the time you give it.

So set a budget.

Example:

If you work an 8-hour day:

You can also batch your shallow tasks:

This prevents shallow work from leaking into your deep work time.

Here’s a simple process to implement deep work today:

Before your deep work session:

Define the task: What exactly will you work on?

Know the objective: What does “done” look like?

Set the duration: How long will you work?

Remove distractions: Phone away, internet off, notifications silenced.

This is during your session.

Have an anchor: Brew coffee, stretch, light a candle—whatever signals “it’s time to focus.”

Work on one task only.

Keep a notepad nearby for brain dumps. If a random thought pops up, write it down and return to work.

Don’t fight distractions—notice them and redirect.

(One last plug to the previous newsletter, as it touches exactly on this.)

To perform at your best, you need energy.

Fuel your energy with:

To perform at your best, you also need to recover and rest.

Your brain can’t maintain peak focus indefinitely.

Deep work depletes mental energy.

After a deep work session, take a real break:

Do your best to avoid doing shallow work (remember, you created that budget for deep work).

Your brain needs true rest.

So rest.

After your session:

Reflect: What did you accomplish?

Celebrate progress.

Plan tomorrow: What will you work on next?

This simple process creates a sustainable deep work practice.

We live in a distracted world.

Everyone is busy.

Everyone is “working hard.”

But fewer and fewer people are producing real results.

They got stuck in the shallow trap:

Always moving.

Never progressing.

But you don't have to be one of them.

Deep work is your way out.

It’s how you:

The world doesn’t reward busyness anymore.

It rewards depth.

So don’t just work harder.

Start working deeper.

Your future self will thank you for it.

Thank you for reading.

I hope it helped.

See you in the next one.

— Shana