Psychology

introduction

1. What is deep work?

2. What example of influential individual using depth sounds the most interesting to you, and why?

3. What are network tools?

4. Why does the author have no stance in the debate between techno-optimism and techno-pessimism?  What it that debate about?

5. The book describes the story of Jason Benn, summarize it as if you were telling the story to a friend that has not read the book.

6. The author says that “deep work is not a nostalgic affectation… but a skill that has big value today”. How does that value manifest for a college student like yourself?

Chapter 1. Deep work is valuable

7. What are the High-skilled workers that the book talks about?

8. What is the insight from Sherwin Rosen’s 1981 paper.  

9. What is deliberate practice and how does it relate to the topic of depth in work

10. What is the proposed neurological mechanism for deliberate practice, and what are the implications for a college student.

11. What is the insight gained from Sophie Leroy’s paper “Why is it so hard to do my job?” again, discuss implications for yourself.

Chapter 2. Deep work is rare

1. Generally speaking, why does the author claim that deep work is rare?

2. What are some trends in the business world that seem to work against deep work?  How do these trends manifest in the life of a college student like yourself?

3. “Twitter is crack for media addicts. It scares me, not because I’m morally superior to it, but because I don’t think I could handle it. I’m afraid I’d end up letting my son go hungry.” What do you think George Packer was trying to say with that quote?

4. What is attention fragmentation? 

5. Explain the “metric black hole”

6. How does the metric black hole explain the extreme (and obscene) growth of executive salaries?

7. How do you understand the section on bussyness as a proxy for productivity?

8. Why do you think it is so easy to fall for the illusion of business and productive being the same?

9. What do you think is the value of a shipping company printing “like us on facebook” on its trucks? The author uses the anecdote of him noticing a truck with that legend as an example of what?

10. How do you think that the “metric black hole” manifest itself in college life?

Chapter 3. Deep work is meaningful

11. The book takes an almost deferential view of craftsmanship.  Why is craftmanship so appealing to the author?  Do you have any personal experience, either yourself being a craftsperson, or someone else in your family of among your friends, that relates to Ric Furrer’s experience?

12. How do our brains construct our worldview, according to the book?

13. What are some of the benefits of cultivating intense concentration?

14. Examine the last 10 emails that you responded to. How many are related to shallow concerns (you define what shallow means)?

15. What is ESM?

16. There is a counterintuitive result in the ESM studies regarding free time vs. work time.  What is it?

17. What is flow? How have you experienced?

18. What is nihilism? And how is it related to the enlightenment in the view of Dreyfus and Kelly?

19. Dreyfus and Kelly say “The task of a craftsman is not to generate meaning, but rather to cultivate in herself the skill of discerning the meanings that are already there” Do you agree with them?

20. The author claims that work satisfaction does not come from getting a rarefied job, but on having a rarefied approach to your job.  Why is that?   Here is the definition of rarefied: rarefied: of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style.

Rule #1. Work Deeply 1.      The book explains four deep work philosophies.   What are they (explain them briefly). 2.         Which of these philosophies might be the best fit for your current status as a college student? What are some possible challenges to fulfilling that philosophy? 3.         Newport makes an argument in favor of creating rituals.  What is it? What kind of rituals is he talking about? 4.         Some of the “grand gestures” described in the book are outside the reach of most of us.  However, if you have a deadline or a work/school commitment that requires deep concentration, what are some of the grand gestures that are within your reach? 5.         The book suggests four disciplines, what are they? Why are they important?  And which ones would you like to experiment with? 6.         What is a “wildly important” goal that you have now or will have in the near future? 7.         As a student, you can have lag measures and lead measures for your progress and performance. Make a short list of each (a couple of each type will do). 8.         What are the arguments in favor of idleness? 9.         How do you incorporate idleness in your life?

Rule # 2. Embrace Boredom

10.         Newport is quite skeptical of will power and motivation as the driving force towards a focused life. Why is that? 11.         Listen to this interview with Clifford Nass.  https://www.sciencefriday.com/person/clifford-nass/   and summarize as if you were telling it to your family and friends. 12.         What are some of the most outrageous ways in which you have noticed the on-demand distraction culture? You can talk about yourself, or about other people. 13.         Why is it that Newport doesn’t see the habit of looking at one’s phone when waiting in line for 30 seconds as innocent and benign? 14.         What is the difference between taking breaks from focus and taking breaks from distraction? 15.         I have noticed that when I am about to start a really difficult task at work, like writing a discussion in a paper, or answering a reviewer, I often go to infotainment websites, or all of the sudden I am in the market for new shoes.  What would be your advice to me?  Why do you think it happens? 16.         How did Teddy Roosevelt approach his schoolwork? 17.         What is productive meditation according to Newport? 18.       What school or work task that you are currently tackling could benefit from productive meditation? 19.       Map out a structure for your deep thinking about a school or work problem following the suggestions in the section “Suggestion #2 Structure your deep thinking”.

Rule #3. Quit social media

20.     Why does Tristan Harris think that our phones are a slot machine? 21.     What is the “any benefit” approach to tool selection? 22.     What is the craftsman’s approach to tool selection? 23.     Newport suggests that we don’t use the internet to entertain ourselves.  Why, and what alternatives does he suggest?  Do you see any counter argument to that suggestion? 24.     Newport has some really harsh words about how social media “short circuits” the connection between hard work and reward.  What is his argument?

25.   This is the definition of a customer:  a person or organization that buys goods or services from a store or business. In social media, what do people buy, and how do they pay for it?  If they don’t pay for it with money, how do social media companies make money?