Ideas/Things about the Book "Deep Work" Cal Newport

[miguelmartins17]

I am currently reading the book "Deep Work" by Cal Newport and would like to hear the opinion of other people who have read this book.
In my opinion it is one of the most "real" books I have ever read that portrays exactly what is going on in society today, both in terms of mentality and economics.
It talks about the 3 big groups, "the highly qualified workers", "the superstars" and "the owners". What is your opinion about these groups and how they fit into our reality today.

[nelsonic]

@miguelmartins17 Totally agree that Cal's book(s) portray the reality of the world. 👍
A reality some people have understood/embraced and others chose to ignore ...

Ever since I read Deep Work in 2016 I've been an evangelist for the ideas in the book. 💡
Especially in avoiding the opposite of Deep Work which is Shallow Work. 👎

This is what I was explaining to you in December when you were still applying for "shallow" jobs ... 🙏
You want to avoid the kind of work that is repetitive and offers little opportunity for learning/growth.
If one week feels the same as the previous one and all that changed was the date, it's shallow work.
We've all worked in "retail" or "customer service" and those jobs are necessary (both for the employee to pay their bills and the customer to purchase goods). But the problem with working in a job that can be learned by a (relatively) unskilled person in a week is that we are perpetually "replaceable" and there is an artificial/upper limit on much value you can get out of it (both intellectually and economically).

Imagine you worked at Fnac (or any other Electronics store) and you were the best employee they had, you helped advise customers to buy thousands of €'s of products they would otherwise have bought somewhere else. At the end of the month you would not see any increase in your paycheque no matter how many sales you made. The best you could hope for is an "Employee of the month" award ...

I don't know about you, but I prefer cash to any award/title. I can invest cash in assets.
And I prefer learning something even more than short-term cash. Because I know the more I learn, the more I earn. As cliché as it sounds, it's true. In a knowledge economy the faster you learn valuable skills/insights the faster you can "escape" the rat race. We can work our whole lives in retail or "office" job and never feel fulfilled. Or we can invest the time to learn difficult creative technology skills and both enjoy our work and get a lot more value out of it.

The first step in succeeding in the modern economy is to develop difficult to master skills.
You don't need a university degree to understand and write great code.
What you need are principals:

1. Joy and ownership for the work you do. Don't just do what you are told by a boss for money.
2. Understand that you won't enjoy the work until you practice enough to get good at it.

"One of the most valuable skills in our economy
is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill,
you'll achieve extraordinary results."

The "prequel" to Deep Work is "So Good They Can't Ignore You" which is also very much worth reading.
The principal idea of that book is don't follow your passion. Do creative work that other people place a high value on, and get good at it. Once you are "so good they can't ignore you", you will get paid really well.

Once you have finished reading Deep Work, I look forward to reading your thoughts on what you will change in your life to focus more on Deep Work and avoid shallow pursuits. 💭