The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

The author references Cal Newport's Deep Work [1]. I recently read this book and I can't recommend it enough. It's not just a productivity fluff piece about the importance of focus. He brings an academic rigor to the debate and backs up his claims with legitimate evidence. Best of all, the book is not just theory, it's 100% actionable. I used Newport's recommendations to reclaim 4+ solid hours of deep focus and it's had a tremendous impact on my productivity…

It's easy to dismiss "Deep Work" articles for their use of buzzwords and pop-psychology, but this sort of structured language really does help drive the point home for some people. The core concept of Deep Work isn't really controversial. Everyone knows that hard problems require focus, but that doesn't seem to stop people from surrounding themselves with notifications and distractions. It also doesn't stop many companies from burying their employees under a deluge of Slack notifications and…

I love learning. "Deep work" and "flow" is something I'm aiming at. And I was pondering why I'm falling short. It seems like I was blindfolded about learning. I used to see it as taking as much input as possible. Example: want to learn React? Read books, follow tutorials, do exercices on your computer. Then I realized this was not effective. The missing part was the output. I figured out, not only I need to take input (read), to process…