Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Here's Why You Should Read "Deep Work"

Episode Date: December 8, 2017

If you want to know how to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in your work and life in less time, then you need to read this book. This is one of my favorite books I’ve read this year and one I will definitely be reviewing regularly. In it, Cal defines deep work as “the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task,” and he argues that it’s the skill that will most help you achieve excellence in everything that you do and enjoy the deep sense of fulfillment that comes from reaching a level of true craftsmanship. In short, Cal believes that deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy, which is going to be radically transformed by smart and capable machines. Furthermore, this skill is becoming rarer and rarer as more and more people surrender more and more of their time to the frenetic whirlwind of email, social media, and on-demand entertainment, which means those that do master it will be in great demand and enjoy the lion’s share of success. I particularly enjoyed this book because it’s part social commentary, part theory, and part practical. Cal articulates his personal philosophy for work and living, which really resonated with me, and makes a strong case for the importance of cultivating the ability to do deep work, and then provides a simple but powerful regimen for actually developing that ability. I’ve implemented several of the strategies outlined in the book and enjoyed immediate results in terms of increased productivity and satisfaction, and I think you can, too. Want to be notified when my next book recommendation goes live? Hop on my email list and you’ll get each new installment delivered directly to your inbox. Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

The longer we can stay in a state of deep focus, the more high quality work we are going to be able to produce. Hey, this is Mike from Muscle for Life, and I'm often asked about books. People ask me for book recommendations on various topics. They ask me what book I am currently reading and what books I have recently read and what my favorite books are and so forth. And as an avid reader, I am always happy to oblige and get some book recommendations in return as well. I also just like to encourage people to read as much as possible because I think that knowledge benefits you much like compound interest benefits your bank account

in that the more you learn, the more you know, and the more you know, the more you can do, and the more you can do, the more opportunities you have to succeed. And on the flip side, I also believe that there is little hope for people who aren't perpetual learners. I know that might sound a little bit pessimistic or cynical to you, but let's face it, life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic. And if we look around, we can find plenty of evidence that it simply suffocates and devours the lazy and ignorant. So if you are a bookworm

and you're on the lookout for good reads, or if you'd like to just get into the habit of reading more, then this book club is for you. The idea is very simple. Every week I'm going to share a book that I've particularly liked, and I'm going to tell you why I liked it and give you several of my key takeaways from it. I'm also going to keep these episodes short and sweet so you can quickly decide whether or not a book is likely to be up your alley or not. Okay, so this week's book is Deep Work by Cal Newport, who is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of five best-selling books. Now, if you want to know how to master complicated information faster and how to produce better results in your work and really just in your life in general in less time, then you really need to read this book. reviewing regularly. In it, Cal defines deep work as the ability to focus without distraction on a

cognitively demanding task. And really the fundamental argument of the book is that deep work is the skill, the one skill that will most help you achieve excellence in everything that you do and enjoy the deep sense of fulfillment that comes from reaching a level of true craftsmanship. In short, Cal believes that deep work is like a superpower, and especially in our increasingly competitive 21st century economy, which is going to be radically transformed by smart and capable machines. And furthermore, this skill is becoming rarer and rarer these days as more and more people surrender more and more of their time to the frenetic whirlwind of email, social media,

and on-demand entertainment. And what that means is for those of us who do master this skill, who do master deep work, we're going to be in great demand and we are going to enjoy the lion's share of professional success. Now, I particularly enjoyed this book because it's part social commentary, part theory, and part practical. In it, Cal articulates his personal philosophy for work and for living, and that really resonated with me. And he also makes a strong case for the importance of cultivating the ability to do deep work, which of course I very much agree with. And then he provides us with a simple but powerful regimen for actually developing and cultivating that ability.

And to that last point, since reading the book, I have implemented several of the strategies that he shares in it and have enjoyed immediate results in terms of increased productivity and satisfaction. And I think you can do the same thing. Okay, so let's get to the key takeaways. The first one here is, quote, in this new economy, three groups will have a particular advantage. Those who can work well and creatively with intelligent machines, those who are the best at what they do, and those with access to capital. And my note here is that Cal says in the book that he believes that the two most important abilities for thriving in the economy of the future and the not so distant future, I might add, are one, the ability to quickly master hard

things and two, the ability to produce at an elite level in terms of both quality and speed. And I think he's 100% right. If we don't want to be ourselves replaced by machines in the next couple of decades, then we'd better be able to do things that the machines won't be able to do. And we better be able to do them really well because the competition is going to be fierce. Additionally, the single faculty that will most determine how well we can achieve those objectives, Cal argues, is the one that is most under assault in our current culture. And that is the faculty of focus, the ability to focus deeply and solely on a single task at hand and to be able to do that for long periods of time. So as Cal says in the book, high quality work produced equals time spent multiplied by intensity of

focus. In other words, the longer we can stay in a state of deep focus, the more high quality work we are going to be able to produce. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter

at Muscle for Life, and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. Takeaway number two, the principle of least resistance. In a business setting, without clear feedback on the impact of various behaviors to the bottom line, we will tend toward behaviors that are easiest in the moment. away from short-term discomfort at the expense of long-term satisfaction. And in many ways, I would say that our culture is engineered to help us do just that. Now, as far as work goes, the trap is avoiding the hard, intense, deep work that is really going to move the needle in our business or career or job or whatever. Things like product formulation, market research, content creation, and so forth. So the trap is avoiding that type of work by wallowing in shallow, low value work instead, like doing email, using social media, having meetings, and so on.

And as far as the rest of life goes, try this for the next 30 days. And this is one of the little exercises actually that Cal recommends in his book. Put more thought into your leisure time. So instead of just defaulting to whatever might catch your attention at any given moment, like addictive websites or TV shows, think about how else you could spend your downtime. Maybe you could pursue hobbies or personal interests. Maybe you could try getting more involved in your community. Maybe you could sneak in some much needed exercise. For example, I myself watch very little TV and instead I use most of my away from work time to work out. So I go early in the morning, but you know, that is time that I could be working,

but I choose to go to the gym instead. I do yoga. I read books. I am learning German. So I'm practicing on that. And I do usually outside of the house activities with my family. And all of that pays huge dividends in terms of my physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. And that in turn greatly enhances my ability to do deep work, both in terms of the quality of my focus and for how long I am able to stay deeply focused on tasks. So anyway, the key takeaway here is that if you don't do this, if you don't give yourself specific things to do outside of work, you are always going to find the many shiny barren objects in our vicinity every day very alluring. Okay, takeaway number three, quote, we who cut mere stones must always be envisioning cathedrals.

And by the way, those aren't cow's words. Those are taken from an old medieval slogan of quarry workers. Anyway, my note is that most activities, work and otherwise, tend to follow a U-shaped emotional curve. So you start out excited, enthusiastic, and then as you really get into it, it usually turns out to be quite a bit more difficult and annoying than you thought going in and that your spirits begin to sag. And then when you're in the middle, when you're in what Seth Godin calls the dip and you're at your emotional low point in the whole journey, it's very easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, the why. And of course, then with it, your motivation to just keep showing up and putting in the work. And that's why, of course, many people just quit when they're in that dip instead

of pushing through it to reach the emotional upswing that you get to enjoy when you're on the tail end of a project and about to wrap it up. And I think that this quote is a nice reminder that when you're in the trenches every day, when you're in the dip, slugging it out. It's something that you can come back to and reflect on to inspire yourself to keep doing what you need to do. I come back to it regularly myself. Some people, they like to say that I'm building or I've already built a fitness empire. And that's a little bit too braggadocious for my liking. I think that a fitness cathedral has a much nicer ring. Okay. Takeaway number four, quote, if you want to win the war for attention, don't try to say no to the trivial distractions you find on the information smorgasbord.

Try to say yes to the subject that arouses a terrifying longing and let the terrifying longing crowd out everything else. And my note here is that this is just so true. If we are going to successfully take back control of our attention and our minds, then we frankly need a very good reason to do it. We need a very good reason to forego all the many forms of instant gratification that are immediately available to us at all hours of every single day of our lives. And I think that the only type of reason that will ever be good enough, that will ever have a chance is an interest or a goal or an ambition that we feel drawn toward above everything else. You know, a burning curiosity or a burning desire that just drowns out all of the noise. For me, that is primarily researching and writing. I would say recording podcasts like this

is also on the list, but at the top are researching and writing. I also do enjoy many aspects of business and marketing and marketing and advertising in particular. But if I look at it, the one thing that most keeps me going every day is the learning, the interpreting, and the explaining of things. I mean, for whatever reason, I'm just compelled to do it. All right. The fifth and final takeaway is quote, I build my days around a core of carefully chosen deep work with the shallow activities I absolutely cannot avoid batched into smaller bursts at the peripheries of my schedule. Three to four hours a day, five days a week of uninterrupted and carefully directed concentration, it turns out, can produce

a lot of valuable output. And my note here is that if you organize and tackle your work in batches according to type, as opposed to regularly jumping between very different types of tasks, especially tasks that require very different levels of focus and concentration, that require very different levels of focus and concentration. And if you also reserve three to four of your best hours every day for your most important deep work, the work that requires the most focus and concentration, then you might be surprised just how much meaningful production you can get done. Those two things I think are two of the best productivity hacks you can find. And I myself do it like this. So my mornings, like first thing in the morning are my best as far as my energy and focus goes. So unless something is like on fire urgent, my first three to four hours of the day are for writing. And these days,

what I'm working on for my writing are a new book. I am working on several digital courses for Muscle for Life, which are going very well. I'm very excited about, by the way, and also articles for my blogs at both Muscle for Life and Legion. So then after my writing is done, I do all of my email in one go, which means several email addresses and several types of emails and usually things that need to be done at the same time as a result of emails, you know, requests for information, blah, blah, blah. I do all that, which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours these days. And then if I have podcasts to record, if I have calls or

meetings that I have to do, they're almost always in the afternoons, which that's intentional. That's how I schedule them. And if I don't have any of those things, then I usually do have miscellaneous tasks that I have to do related to running my businesses. And I also find that I enjoy writing at night. So if I'm going to be working after dinner, then it's almost always that it's almost always writing and not other shallower activities. And this has been my basic schedule really since the beginning. I'm not working as much now as I was in the beginning because when I started, I didn't have two kids. And so I was able to just put in long hours, but I'd say I'm probably

averaging 50 to 55 hours per week at the moment. And I still follow this layout and it has served me very well over the years and has allowed me to maintain a steady, very high productive output without putting me at risk of burnout mentally or physically. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people

that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. So please do reach out. All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode. And I hope to hear from you soon.

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