pranav
First half of the book, pages is a bunch of interesting case studies and a description of the problems with email. The author also quotes from academic papers and research, given his background as a Professor. The basic problem is that we tend to keep checking mail throughout the day, which keeps us distracted from actual deep work.
Interesting quotes:
“Those who retained access to Marshall were provided a clear structure for their interactions, turning briefing the general into an exercise in controlled efficiency. You were instructed to enter his office and sit down without saluting (to save time). At Marshall's signal, you would begin your brief while he listened with “absolute concentration.” If he discovered a flaw or something missing, he would become angry that you hadn't noticed and resolved the issue before wasting his time. When you finished, he'd ask for your recommendation, deliberate briefly, then make a decision. He then delegated taking action on the decision back to you.” – a model for manager-employee communication.
Try reducing your actual working hours from the existing ones to maybe 2 hours lesser, and see how you are able to finish your work in the reduced time. It will make you prioritise better and also prevent you from stretching your work just to fill up the timeclock. It will also reduce context switching, and thus overload.
“If people trust you to handle the work they send your way, then they're generally fine with not hearing back from you right away. On the other hand, if you're flaky, others will demand faster responses, as they'll feel they have to stay on you to ensure things get done.”
“He notes that without this structure, you're left with only one option for increasing productivity: figuring out how to get people to “work faster.” Once you see the whole process, however, a much more powerful option emerges: “We can change the nature of the work performed.” Optimize processes, he urged, not people.”
“An email arrives that informally represents a new responsibility for you to manage; because there's no formal process in place to assign the work or track its progress, you seek instead the easiest way to get the responsibility off your plate—even if just temporarily—so you send a quick reply asking for an ambiguous clarification. Thus unfolds a game of obligation hot potato, as messages bounce around, each temporarily shifting responsibility from one inbox to another, until a deadline or irate boss finally stops the music, leading to a last-minute scramble to churn out a barely acceptable result.”
“As Johnson explained, the manager in question has a schedule that begins every day with three hours of uninterrupted deep work before he receives “even a single input.” This is time set aside for the manager to think intensely about his projects—making informed decisions on how to go forward, where to focus next, what to improve, and what to ignore. Only after this morning block ends does the manager turn his attention to actively managing the projects he runs.”
“Every employee of Optimize is expected to spend at least the first ninety minutes of every day in a deep work block, free from inputs (some people, like the manager profiled above, spend much more). One of the key uses of this morning block is to think about processes and how to improve them.”
The Protocols part of the book is extremely insightful, and has plug-and-play principles which can be applied.
On the whole, this book will have its biggest impact on you if you know Newport's style of writing, and have read his previous books, especially Deep Work.
A very quick and power packed read. Good ideas from the talented author on religion, society and it's norms, and much more. I skipped the parts on politics and laws, but found the mythology and history parts interesting.
Another concept discussed is that we live in the Age of Vaishya, and we have emerged from the Age of Kshatriya. Money is power today over large armies. ‘An aspiring money maker should be dharmik and earn money the right way, without breaking laws, spend wisely, control indulgences, and contribute to charity.'
His perspective on rebellion is also refreshing. It is actually a part of the Indian culture to question, as long as it is not violent.
On the British Era, we must not forget the past, we cannot deny it, but it is foolish to apply it to the English people in today's world.
On the golden past of India, the decline in the wealth of Golden India came due to the concept of Kala Pani, or making it criminal to visit foreign shores, a big contradiction to the sea faring and super trader past of ancient India.
Even atheism has its place in India: read about the Charvak, Samkhya and Mimamsa schools.
On purpose, swadharma is a concept which talks about discovering your purpose on your own or not and not allowing society to enforce their interpretation on you. The beauty of finding it is that if you live life in sync with it in success or failure ceases to matter. You experience nothing but joy. But swadharma taken to its extreme can lead to unbridled individualism and selfishness. The author has put this into action in his own life he was previously a Banker who turned author. His first book was written while to a still working and and he self-published it. Only when he could see that there was good demand for it he decided to resign from his job and write full time
And a lovely last quote to finish this review - May the Shakti (force) be with you!
A useful summary of Uncle G's ideas in one nifty resource. A lot of exploration of his past experiences. An important takeaway is that staying poor/middle class is selfish, as you help less people this way.
Whenever you get more income from any source, move it off into separate accounts from your spending account. Be broke, not poor. When we you get a bonus or a sudden income, use this surge to stash away some more.
When you set aside money like this, it motivates you to work for more. Do this for a minimum of 10 years. By then, you should have made a large enough bulk of money, off which you can make sustainable passive income, which, you guessed it, will be put into more investment that will throw off more cash flow.
Be concentrated in your investments. Go through every possible worst case before Investing, and once you're satisfied, don't be afraid to go all in.
You don't need to replace one flow of income. Supplement that first flow with a second one which is related to the first one. Something which uses the same skills. See how you can make your employer, clients as well as yourself money.
