Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Millions of copies sold

The bestselling modern classic that sparked a worldwide conversation about the value of concentration--and the true costs of fractured attention.

"I'm handing you the answer to the overwhelm you feel, and his name is Dr. Cal Newport." --Mel Robbins, The Mel Robbins Podcast, author of New York Times bestselling The Let Them Theory

Deep Work-- the ability to focus without distraction on cognitively demanding tasks--is one of the most important abilities you can cultivate in our current moment. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce quality results in less time.

And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep--spending their days in a frantic blur of emails, online meetings, social media, and AI slop, not realizing there's a better way.

In Deep Work, bestselling author and professor Cal Newport makes the case for reclaiming focus as a critical skill in our digital world, providing step-by step instructions for achieving this goal, including four rules for transforming your daily habits:

1. Work Deeply
2. Embrace Boredom
3. Quit Social Media
4. Drain the Shallows

A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Deep Work offers a vitally important message: in our age of constant distraction, focus is a superpower. With inspiring examples and clear rules, Deep Work will teach you to introduce this ability in your own life.

"As a presence on the page, Newport is exceptional in the realm of self-help authors ... Six ­pages in, I powered down my laptop. Twenty pages in, I left the house to buy an alarm clock so that I wouldn't have an excuse to sleep next to my phone."--Molly Young, The New York Times

"One of the few books I would call life-changing." --Tim Maurer, Forbes

"I've read lots of books about productivity and lots of books about distraction. For me, Deep Work is among the best, on both counts." --Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker

" Deep Work] has changed how I live my life. Particularly, it's led me to stop scheduling morning meetings, and to preserve that time for more sustained, creative work." --Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show