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

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

#101

Post by taeric »

coldtea wrote: post #90
taeric wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just the true Scotsman fallacy, though. I have been plenty focused before and not accomplished anything of note. More, I've had plenty of brief diversions into a topic that produced more learning than some deliberate attempts I have made.

> This is just the true Scotsman fallacy, though I think the "true Scotsman fallacy" is often used as a way to dismiss actual classification mistakes. What one calls focused might not actually be focused -- humans are easy to deceive themselves. Besides, I don't see what other possibility would there be. That being focused is not important? That people can just as well achieve the same (or even more) things when unfo…

So what are you arguing? My point is that "not deliberate, happy accidents," as you call them, likely number in similar magnitude as the result of deliberate focused work.

So, why then don't we encourage more practices that encourage happy accidents?

I accept that the one argument is more appealing to emotional logic. I am highly suspicious of arguments that speak to that form of plausibility.

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

#102

Post by iancmceachern »

jonathanfoster wrote: post #45

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…

Agreed, really a great book!

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

#104

Post by manigandham »

Amygaz wrote: post #97
hutzlibu wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until it is all empty and my stomach is sick ... And then I don't like it for a while...

When I crave chocolate pudding, I'll eventually make a bowl, and instead of splitting it into many desert cups (which I would just crave for), I eat the entire bowl in one go. Then I'm cured from pudding for a while. Chips (or fries) though, I can't resist. Better not to buy any...

This is a common way to deal with diets and other things.

Do enough of the bad stuff to get sick of it enough to associate it with bad feedback, and that should keep you away from it in the future.

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

#105

Post by ryanstorm »

BeetleB wrote: post #55
jonathanfoster wrote: post #45

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…

>Block off each hour of the day and and fill it with one of the TODO items Generally agree with the points but I'd like to note that this point is the most likely failure point in the method. Organizing the day by hours doesn't work for a lot of people. Most productivity books in the old days (60's) recommended it. They generally don't anymore due to the low success rate. That was one of the first things I tried as a…

There's a very relevant article on this subject by Paul Graham: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

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

#106

Post by Malp »

sampl wrote: post #23
auntad wrote: post #2

I really like his example at the end - step-by-step deep dive into a specific topic. 30 hours of learning, direct links to resources, come out the other end as informed and aware of the topic at hand. I usually find it difficult to wade through the mountains of possible (often outdated) resources on a topic I'm unfamiliar with - At one point I was thinking it'd be useful to crowdsource those kind of step-by-step guid…

I'm building this right now actually. Superclass [1] is a place to submit online learning resources by topic, then upvote/comment on the most helpful ones. The goal is eventually something just like you described, kind of a crowd-sourced curriculum builder. This version is rough and buggy, but would love everyone's thoughts/feedback (sam@directedworks.com) https://superclass.co/ Edit: sign up for occasional email upd…

This is a great idea, good luck!

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

#107

Post by ryanwaggoner »

dkural wrote: post #98

" dedicate a few consecutive days (like weekends, or a Sunday, for example)" - who's parenting the kids? Note that about 86% of adults end up having kids.

In the grand scheme of life, if you have 2-3 kids on a typical age distribution, the years in which at least one needs to be taken care of the majority of the time is 10-15 years. You'll likely have 2-4x as much time where you're both lucid and not responsible for childcare.

Incidentally, that ~decade will likely be the most precious of your life; don't miss it. [1]

1. https://avc.com/2010/06/being-present/

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

#108

Post by wjossey »

bitexploder wrote: post #72
BeetleB wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Block off each hour of the day and and fill it with one of the TODO items Generally agree with the points but I'd like to note that this point is the most likely failure point in the method. Organizing the day by hours doesn't work for a lot of people. Most productivity books in the old days (60's) recommended it. They generally don't anymore due to the low success rate. That was one of the first things I tried as a…

This is addressed in Cal's book. He acknowledges no plan will survive the day perfectly. Basically, you just re-prioritize your blocks throughout the day. The goal is not to break the day into hour long blocks as much as it is to always have a priority and to maintain focus on that priority. Things happen and no plan survives contact with reality. I have found this method to work well and fit with a modern knowledge…

“In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” – General Dwight D Eisenhower

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

#109

Post by bolivier »

megaman22 wrote: post #18
adamnemecek wrote: post #7

I agree one hundred percent with this. I quit my job a while back to hack on a project and it’s insane how much shit you can accomplish in a good week. I recommend it to anyone questioning their current employment situation. Hit me up (email is in my profile) if you want to explore this life style. The crazy thing is that even if you fail, you’ll be ten times the programmer as when you left.

If you can swing some kind of work-from-home heavy situation with your employer, it's also astounding the amount of stuff you can get done. At my best, I was going into the office on Monday, for status meetings and planning, then I'd work from home Tuesday through Friday. I got more done in those six months than I have in the two and a half years since, now that I'm back in the office most of the time again. Unfortun…

> Unfortunately, people just love to see asses in seats.

A related problem I've noticed to this attitude is people's acceptance of it as a "fact of life." I work with a ton of people who recognize that time-in-seat is a meaningless metric, but somebody above them cares about it and they refuse to outrightly act like it's bullshit. I've been told by my manager that my time in the office is important not to him, but to our CEO.

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

#110

Post by deepGem »

I have been following learning to learn on Coursera. The course instructors lay a strong emphasis on deep work, but teach you how to learn. Prior to taking this course, I was getting into periods of deep work on and off but didn’t learn anything substantial. What I mean by learn is that I couldn’t transfer the learned skills easily.

Now, I spend a lot more time learning a topic, and follow the course methodology of chunking. 2 days in and I can already notice the differences. I woke up this morning realising there is a bug in my queue implementation.

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