The Balance of Deep and Shallow
We live in such a distracted world, me being one of the most distracted…squirrel…individuals around J. After being in Hong Kong and riding the MTR multiple times, with my Octopus card of course, I noticed Americans are not the only distracted ones. In fact, even more people in Hong Kong seemed buried in their phones than in the US. I was amazed how they could walk on and off the subway, up and down the stairs, and through the turnstiles without even lifting their eyes from watching a show or reading something on their cell phones. Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, became such a stark contrast to all of this as I came off of that experience in Hong Kong. It is interesting that his definition of Deep Work is: “Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”[1] It seems that distraction-free performance is a rare commodity these days and we are plagued with what Newport calls “Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.”[2]
This book got my attention when the author started unpacking these concepts of Deep and Shallow Work and when I discovered that his motivation for writing the book was the following: “My interest in this matter instead veers toward a thesis of much more pragmatic and individualized interest: Our work culture’s shift toward the shallow (whether you think it’s philosophically good or bad) is exposing a massive economic and personal opportunity for the few who recognize the potential of resisting this trend and prioritizing depth.”[3] I have a ton to gain from learning the skill of deep work and I am personally inspired and agree there is an opportunity for a few to take advantage of the opportunity to produce incredible results. I also could use as many superpowers as possible, since Eric Barker considers the ability to perform Deep Work “the superpower of the 21st century.”[4] I appreciated the practical suggestions included in the book that I hope to incorporate in order to prevent the endless chasing of squirrels. I also agree with what Newport thinks are the abilities needed to succeed in the modern economy…“the ability to master difficult things quickly and the ability to generate excellent results consistently”, except I would add the ability to relate to people with emotional intelligence (EQ).[5] It won’t matter what we create during our deep work if we can’t communicate it and relate with people effectively regarding what we have created.
I am not discounting the need for myself and many others to develop the skill of removing shallow distractions and engaging in Deep Work, but I have also read about many individuals who have come out of their cave with a brilliant idea or result and those around them couldn’t stand working with them long enough to help bring it about. This is why I am passionate about bringing men and women together in leadership because research shows that women tend to carry more interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence than men. If men and women could gain more appreciation for what we offer each other, the things we could accomplish and create together can be even greater than what Newport describes comes out of deep work. He also talks about the delicate balance of isolation and collaboration and how some of the greatest work and results come from collaborating in a deep way.[6] If we could just get past the age-old barrier of men and women working closely together and figure out how to do this appropriately and professionally we could accomplish great things.
I love how the four rules Newport lays out have a balance and simplicity to them. The rules are: 1-Work deeply, 2-Embrace Boredom, 3-Quit social media, and 4-Drain the shallows. The idea of embracing boredom is a great balance to the intense concentration he is advocating and teaching. It is a deliberate rest and taking a rest from the deep work to prevent burnout. It is also making time to focus on other leisure activities and hobbies that help nurture the creative outflow during the deep work. Obviously regularly taking a break from social media and the internet is a great idea that many of us will struggle with. We have become so accustomed to digital voyeurism and constant updates on a daily, no hourly, no minute by minute basis, my guess is the time we will gain for deep work by limiting this will be astounding. This goes hand in hand with the idea of draining the shallows. So much of what we do on our phones every day falls into the shallow category. I also like what he said about scheduling deliberate time for shallow activities and not pretend that we will eliminate them altogether.[7] I would also agree with his label of these non-critical tasks being “black holes”.[8]
In conclusion, I enjoyed the research he highlighted by Laura Carstensen, a Stanford psychologist, where she observed the effect of attention on a neurological level. She used fMRI scanning to determine that “old subjects were happier than young ones, but not because of better circumstances in life. They were happier because they trained themselves to enjoy the good and ignore the bad. In other words, they enhanced the world they live in just by controlling their attention.”[9] If we can learn to train what we place our attention on, it can change the course of our life. I see this in my office on a regular basis with clients coming in with all kinds of reasons to focus their attention on the negative aspects of their lives. But the ones who seem to get better the fastest are the ones who find a way to focus on what they are grateful for and enjoy in themselves. My takeaways from this helpful book will definitely be: taking breaks from social media and the internet, making time for distraction-free deep work, embracing boredom and rest, and train my attention in the positive direction.
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[1] Cal Newport, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Grand Central Publishing, Kindle Edition, Locations 43-44.
[5] Millionaire Mind Publishing, Summary of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Kindle Edition, Locations 100-106.
About the Author
Jake Dean-Hill
Currently a Marriage & Family Therapist in private practice. Ordained minister with 10 years of prior full-time church ministry experience and currently volunteering with a local church plant. Also working with companies as a Corporate Leadership Coach.10 responses to “The Balance of Deep and Shallow”
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Great job Jake. Yes, we need to take breaks, but also chunk our day into deep work times. I kind of see a connection between this and counseling work. When you are in a session, its very dedicated and not distracted. This is intentional so you can get to the deep issues of the person. You do deep work all the time! Maybe when you are done with your sessions you are craving the shallow work?! Thoughts?
Thanks Kyle, yes I guess you are right about me doing deep work every hour with my clients, funny I didn’t think about that. Yes, when Jenn and I get home we are usually exhausted and don’t want to talk about anything real deep and just veg in front of the TV. Definitely balance of deep and shallow times are needed. Great seeing you Anna in HK.
Jake,
I was struck by Newport’s motivation for Deep Work. It seems he was interested in helping people take economic advantage of the gaps occurring because shallowness rules the day. I recognize that this is his hook and might motivate people to purchase his book I’m not sure we should be focused on what we can potentially gain by practicing deep work. As you deal with people who are struggling with issues sometimes caused by distractions how might you motivate them to consider disconnecting and practicing Deep Work? Have you found any motivators that work other than economic gain?
Thanks for your thoughts Dan. You have a good point about the economic gain being the motivator behind deep work. Although it is a popular motivator and I think the author was focusing on the fact that people who truly produce incredible results through deep work will probably have some financial gain, I do think there are many other reasons to free ourselves from distractions and have time set aside for deep work. The first one being psychological and emotional health, which is the biggest motivator for my clients since they are coming to me mostly with poor mental health. The second is related and dramatically affected by the first, and that’s physical health. Many of my clients go to their doctor because of some physical symptom only to realize it stemmed from an emotional issue that was unresolved. Had a fun time hangin with you in HK!
Jake, welcome back! I was hoping you would find a connection to your research and you did. Well done! The research you highlighted is brilliant – “they trained themselves to enjoy the good and ignore the bad. In other words, they enhanced the world they live in just by controlling their attention”. Don’t you wish this CBT type philosophy was that simple? I feel like it’s an ideal to achieve, but very challenging for most people. I personally try to approach life in this manner. How about you?
Thanks Jean, it is good to be back in the good ol’ US of A. Yes I always try to throw something about gender-balance in there, not always easy, but you inspire me. Yes, controlling our thoughts to control our life is a great way to live but hard to teach and live when negative thinking prevails. Although it is easy for me to point out the black dot, I try to live a pretty positive, upbeat life and love the people around me to the best of my ability. Sure had fun playing with you and Ron and miss you guys already!
Hey Jake,
Loved seeing you and Jenn in HK. You both are such a dynamic duo and it’s infectious to be around you!
I know I am not a natural multitasker and so the principles of deep work appealed to me. But as I read your post, I wondered what your thoughts are on women, many of whom are more natural multitaskers, and how they do deep work best. Do you think Newport was approaching productivity with a particularly male orientation, or is his work applicable to others who are successful multitaskers?
Great to see you as well and thanks so much for your thoughtful comments. It does seem that women are better multitaskers but I think my wife would agree that if she does not free herself from distractions on occasion to do deep work, the quality suffers. Way to be thinking about the male/female issues…proud of your perspective. Happy belated Canadian Thanksgiving!
Hey Jake,
Thanks for this post and it was great hanging with you guys in HK! I was thinking about you as I read this, as it seems like in your work, you actually must do a lot of “deep work” in counseling. I’m guessing that when you are with a client, you are deeply invested, listening closely, actively participating with them, and all the rest. I’m just reading into your life, but it seems like you have a lot of depth to the work you do. But tell me, for a counselor like you, is there also a lot of hustle and bustle? I know you are an energetic guy, so I figure you are involved in all kinds of things, but at least within your work time, do you get distracted or are you pretty dialed in? Just wondering. Maybe you are like me as a pastor, where people assume you are always doing one thing, when really, it’s way more messy than meets the eye!
Thanks Dave, it was super fun hanging with you in HK as well. It’s funny because you and Kyle brought up the same thing about the fact that I am doing deep work much of the time with my clients. I guess this is true now that you both have mentioned it, and yes I often have lots of other busywork, charting and insurance issues I have to deal with that can be distracting but I do my best to keep that stuff out of the sessions so I can focus on the client. I think finding designated time for deep work is hard for all of us.