Essay Options for Deep Work:

Choose One

Option #1

In a 1,000-word essay, defend, refute, or complicate Cal Newport's argument that Deep Work is an invaluable asset to your personal and professional life while Shallow Work and the mindless Internet habits that accompany it is a liability that results in mediocrity and nihilistic despair.

Typical Essay Structure for an Argument

One. Introduction

Two. Claim (also called a thesis) with mapping components

Three. Supports otherwise known as mapping components

Four. Counterargument-Rebuttal (usually 1 or 2 in a 1,000-1,200-word essay)

Five. Conclusion: Dramatic restatement of your claim

Six. Works Cited with credible sources.

Sample Thesis #1

Cal Newport's book Deep Work is a life-saving masterpiece that has slapped me in the face and made me stare into the mirror and confront my wasted time on my smartphone, it has diagnosed the insidious ways I do busy work to placate my conscience and thereby encourage my own proclivity for mediocrity, it has diagnosed the stifling work environments that breed complacency and mundane work, and has given me strategies to help me dig myself out of my shallow-work grave.

Sample Thesis #2

Cal Newport's book Deep Work is a work of pompous propaganda designed to scold us for spending too much time on our technology when in fact that time might be in our best self-interests, designed to make us feel like losers if we're better suited for shallow work than deep work, designed to impose a rigid system of deep work that doesn't work for all personality types, and designed to present an over simplistic representation of that which is supposed to be "deep work" and that which is supposed to be "shallow work" when in fact the dividing line is not as clear as Newport would have us believe.

Sample Thesis #3 (That Refutes Newport):

While the value of deep work over shallow work is a necessary and self-evident principle, Newport's attempt to show how shallow work has triumphed over deep work for students and employees is rooted in too many superficial observations, over simplifications, either-or fallacies, and rigid "deep work" systems that too often have zero application to the complexities of real life.

Sample Thesis #4 (That Supports Newport):

While some of Newport's deep work dogmas are too rigid and could be improved with some flexibility, his program to wean us off shallow work and to help us find tools to be more conscious of doing deep work is effectively presented in terms of his diagnosis of the problem, his prognosis, and his prescription.

Option #2

In a 1,000-word essay, write a persuasive essay to someone you know who is shackled to mindless social media habits that they must replace their Internet addiction by radically transforming their brain hard-wiring, which could only be accomplished through the habits of Deep Work.

For both options, you must have 3 sources. You can use the book, and 2 sources from Cal Newport's Study Hack website.

Study Questions

One. How do we reach eudaimonia (our state of full potential)?

Deep Work.

What about people who find life to be easy? I know such a person. His name is Will Moton.

Two. Do we all need Deep Work?

We have basic needs in life: to love and be loved, a good job that pays well. For some, that's enough. I know a lady who works in the court house. She takes attendance of prospective jurors in the morning and afternoon for ten minutes and reads or watches TV in her office when she isn't taking attendance. She makes 85K a year, has full medical benefits, and excellent job security. She is content.

To be a Somebody

But for many people, the above is not enough. Some of us "have to be somebody."

What does that mean?

I'm not talking about grandiose status or riches or fame. I'm talking about achieving something in your work or art that gives you distinction as a craftsman.

You are a master of what you do. You have attained excellence, mastery, and distinction in what you do. You have become, in other words, "a somebody."

Pastry chef

Pianist

Cyber Security Analyst

Comedian

Risk Assessment Consultant

Physician's Assistant

Painter

Singer

Song Writer

Novelist

Satirist

Special Needs Therapist

Social Worker

Actor

Video Producer

Beats Producer

TV script writer

But you can't be a somebody unless you put in at least 10,000 hours of deep work with a mentor or teacher to monitor your progress.

Creating a Deep Work Station

Since being in prolonged states of intense focus on meaningful goals gives us deep happiness and helps us achieve our potential, we should learn how to create a Deep Work Station.

We must be “a disciple of depth in a shallow world.”

We achieve this by creating rituals and routines because we cannot rely on willpower alone.

The more we use our willpower the more our willpower diminishes in strength. The solution is to rely on routines and rituals that cut down on our need to use willpower.

An example of a routine is adhering to a daily time block to your deep work.

Two. What is a Depth Philosophy?

You create rituals and routines that suit your life.

Creating a Depth Philosophy is Rule #1.

For example, you may choose a Monastic Philosophy in which you eliminate non-deep work activities from your life. You “minimize shallow obligations” like returning marginal emails and social media comments, or you eliminate social media accounts altogether.

Newport points to novelists who don’t answer emails because if they did, they wouldn’t have time to write their novels.

You shun shallow work. Monasticism may work for some, but not all.

Most people would probably be more suited to a rhythmic strategy in which one carves a daily time block of 3-4 hours of deep work.

Jerry Seinfeld told a comedian to write a joke every day and put it on a calendar so that he was making a “chain” of jokes throughout the year. This rhythmic philosophy is about creating a daily ritual of time blocks devoted to deep work.

A bimodal philosophy means you divide your time in the bustle of society but find a retreat for your deep work, as did Carl Jung.

Rituals are the rule, not “inspiration.” If you wait for inspiration, you’re doomed to a life outside the world of deep work.

To have an effective deep work ritual, you must have a set time and place with set rules to avoid distraction.

Make Grand Gestures

J.K. Rowling stayed in an expensive hotel to write her last novel.

Another Grand Gesture could be to delete your Facebook account, as I did. Or remove social media apps from your smartphone.

Some people break up with their friends, romantic interests, even their own family.

Some people move far away where no one can find them.

Three. What are the 4 Disciplines of Execution?

To achieve deep work, Newport quotes Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen who came up with the 4 Disciplines of Execution.

Discipline #1 Focus on the Wildly Important

You can only focus on so many things. If you try to do too much, you’ll engage in shallow work. Deep work results in finding what you’re wildly passionate about.

Discipline #2 Focus on Lead Measures, Not Lag Measures

Lag measures are areas you’re trying to improve. By the time you work on your lag measures, it’s too late to change your behavior.

For example, working on student evaluation scores is based on my past behavior.

Instead, I should work on lead measures, behaviors that will create success from my lag measures. I should focus on doing deep work on things I’m wildly passionate about, not go into the past and see what I did that rendered my performance scores at that time.

Discipline #3 Keep a Compelling Scoreboard

This means keep measurable goals or objectives. For example, if I’m playing piano for two hours, I must complete the major and minor harmonic scales without looking at the piano three times in succession, and I must write at least part of a song composition.

Or you must learn X amount of computer code every day if you’re a computer science major.

Discipline #4 Create a Cadence of Accountability

This means you regularly meet with peers or a mentor (or boss) to get feedback from the performance of your deep work.

When You’re Not in a Deep Work Time Block, Shut Everything Down

Shut everything down.

“Be lazy.”

Ideas grow while you’re on shut down.

Newport says you gain insights during your downtime.

Downtime helps recharge energy for the next day of deep work.

Rule #2: Embrace Boredom

The undistracted focus becomes a habit like flossing one’s teeth.

Suppose you’re reading a book for class, and some of it’s interesting, but then you hit a boring passage. You’re tempted to check your email or social media “activity.” Big mistake. You just broke your concentration and the myelin “muscle” in your brain isn’t getting stronger. It’s getting weaker.

Newport compares deep work to being an athlete. An athlete must be consistent with getting his or her “reps” in whether it be doing squats in the gym or running around the track. Failure to get in these “reps” results in atrophy and general breakdown. You need to build up your “mental muscle” with time block reps of uninterrupted focus on your deep work.

“Attention switching” makes you “a sucker for irrelevancy” and shallow work. Attention switching and distraction make you a bottom-feeder, not an apex predator at the top of the food chain.

To improve your focus, make huge offline blocks. Learn to be comfortable staying off the grid.

Too many people, seduced by the lies of technology, fear that unless they’re connected to social media and internet they won’t remain visible and relevant. They’ll experience a death, so to speak.

But the opposite is true. When you become dependent on the internet, THAT is the death, that is the condition of someone who got manipulated by the lies of technology.

Learn to stay off the grid for longer and longer amounts of time as you find your happiness and fulfilled potential in deep work.

Rule #3 Quit Social Media

Newport observes Baratunde Thurston’s experiment called “#UnPlugged” in which he goes off the grid. At first, it’s scary, but over time he feels less addicted to news and other people’s shares and he’s less addicted to sharing to feel relevant and alive.

He experiences life more deeply with more focus. He becomes happier.

Newport makes the case that the alleged benefits of social media are far outweighed by the liabilities.

Newport argues that network tools, like any tools, should be evaluated from the point of view of a craftsman, a person who cultivates his or her craft through deep work.

We should only use online internet tools if they are in service to our deep work.

Sharing on Facebook is shallow work.

Maintaining contact with your fans or followers will take away your time blocks to achieve deep work and be the person who created a fan base in the first place.

Newport proposes the Quit Social Media for 30 Days Test and see if you’re life isn’t better. He predicts your life will be better after 30 days and that you will be compelled to delete your social media accounts.

When You Do Deep Work, You Realize How Limited Your Time Is

That’s why people who go on Internet to be entertained go down a rabbit hole of wasted time. Newport argues you should not go to Internet for entertainment. It’s a time suck that steals from your deep work.

Rule #4 Drain the Shallows

A 4-day work week of 32 hours engaged in deep work is far more productive than a 5-day work week of 40 hours largely consisting of shallow work.

Deep work is exhausting, so it’s more suited to 4 days of 32 hours total.

This lesson teaches us to “drain the shallows.” You drain the shallows by scheduling every minute of your day. Too many people spend their day on autopilot, meaning that they are mindlessly wasting hours of their day.

Conquer your mindless autopilot default setting by time-blocking your daily schedule. Know what you’re going to do every hour.

Time Blocking Helps Us Quantify Depth [and Shallowness] of Every Activity

We can know how much of our day is wasted on shallow work only by time blocking our daily schedule.

Review of Shallow Work Definition:

Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts don’t create value and they are easily replicated.

These tasks are not unique or high-quality; therefore, if we define ourselves by shallow work, we are replaceable in our career occupations.

Drain the shallows by becoming less available online and on social media.

Revisit Writing Option #1

Typical Essay Structure for an Argument

One. Introduction

Two. Claim (also called a thesis) with mapping components

Three. Supports otherwise known as mapping components

Four. Counterargument-Rebuttal (usually 1 or 2 in a 1,000-1,200-word essay)

Five. Conclusion: Dramatic restatement of your claim

Six. Works Cited with credible sources.

Introduction:

Do you need to be "a somebody" by doing Deep Work or would you be content getting by with a well-paying, comfortable job? Explain your answer in a paragraph.

Do you need an intervention to get you off your smartphone? Is your smartphone interfering with your Deep Work? Is your smartphone in essence ruining your life? Explain.

Then transition to your thesis.

"Based on my response to the question of being a "somebody" or not, I find Cal Newport's proposition that we need to engage in Deep Work to be . . .

UnPlug by Baratunde Thurston

Recognizing Logical Fallacies

Begging the Question

Begging the question assumes that a statement is self-evident when it actually requires proof.

Major Premise: Fulfilling all my major desires is the only way I can be happy.

Minor Premise: I can’t afford when of my greatest desires in life, a Lexus GS350.

Conclusion: Therefore, I can never be happy.

Circular Reasoning

Circular reasoning occurs when we support a statement by restating it in different terms.

Stealing is wrong because it is illegal.

Admitting women into the men’s club is wrong because it’s an invalid policy.

Your essay is woeful because of its egregious construction.

Your boyfriend is hideous because of his heinous characteristics.

I have to sell my car because I’m ready to sell it.

I can’t spend time with my kids because it’s too time-consuming.

I need to spend more money on my presents than my family’s presents because I need bigger and better presents.

I’m a great father because I’m the best father my children have ever had.

Weak Analogy or Faulty Comparison

Analogies are never perfect but they can be powerful. The question is do they have a degree of validity to make them worth the effort.

A toxic relationship is like cancer that gets worse and worse (fine).

Sugar is high-octane fuel to use before your workout (weak because there is nothing high-octane about a substance that causes you to crash and converts into fat and creates other problems)

Free education is a great flame and the masses are moths flying into the flames of destruction. (horribly false analogy)

Ad Hominem Fallacy (Personal Attack)

“Who are you to be a marriage counselor? You’ve been divorced six times?”

A lot of people give great advice and present sound arguments even if they don’t apply their principles to their lives, so we should focus on the argument, not a personal attack.

“So you believe in universal health care, do you? I suppose you’re a communist and you hate America as well.”

Making someone you disagree with an American-hating communist is invalid and doesn’t address the actual argument.

“What do you mean you don’t believe in marriage? What are you, a crazed nihilist, an unrepentant anarchist, an immoral misanthrope, a craven miscreant?”

Straw Man Fallacy

You twist and misconstrue your opponent’s argument to make it look weaker than it is when you refute it. Instead of attacking the real issue, you aim for a weaker issue based on your deliberate misinterpretation of your opponent’s argument.

“Those who are against universal health care are heartless. They obviously don’t care if innocent children die.”

Hasty Generalization (Jumping to a Conclusion)

“I’ve had three English instructors who are middle-aged bald men. Therefore, all English instructors are middle-aged bald men.”

“I’ve met three Americans with false British accents and they were all annoying. Therefore, all Americans, such as Madonna, who contrive British accents are annoying.” Perhaps some Americans do so ironically and as a result are more funny than annoying.

Either/Or Fallacy

There are only two choices to an issue is an over simplification and an either/or fallacy.

“Either you be my girlfriend or you don’t like real men.”

“Either you be my boyfriend or you’re not a real American.”

“Either you play football for me or you’re not a real man.”

“Either you’re for us or against us.” (The enemy of our enemy is our friend is everyday foreign policy.)

“Either you agree with me about increasing the minimum wage, or you’re okay with letting children starve to death.”

“Either you get a 4.0 and get admitted into USC, or you’re only half a man.”

Equivocation

Equivocation occurs when you deliberately twist the meaning of something in order to justify your position.

“You told me the used car you just sold me was in ‘good working condition.’”

“I said ‘good,’ not perfect.”

The seller is equivocating.

“I told you to be in bed by ten.”

“I thought you meant to be home by ten.”

“You told me you were going to pay me the money you owe me on Friday.”

“I didn’t know you meant the whole sum.”

“You told me you were going to take me out on my birthday.”

“Technically speaking, the picnic I made for us in the backyard was a form of ‘going out.’”

Red Herring Fallacy

This fallacy is to throw a distraction in your opponent’s face because you know a distraction may help you win the argument.

“Barack Obama wants us to support him but his father was a Muslim. How can we trust the President on the war against terrorism when he has terrorist ties?”

“You said you were going to pay me my thousand dollars today. Where is it?”

“Dear friend, I’ve been diagnosed with a very serious medical condition. Can we talk about our money issue some other time?”

Slippery Slope Fallacy

We go down a rabbit hole of exaggerated consequences to make our point sound convincing.

“If we allow gay marriage, we’ll have to allow people to marry gorillas.”

“If we allow gay marriage, my marriage to my wife will be disrespected and dishonored.”

Appeal to Authority

Using a celebrity to promote an energy drink doesn’t make this drink effective in increasing performance.

Listening to an actor play a doctor on TV doesn’t make the pharmaceutical he’s promoting safe or effective.

Tradition Fallacy

“We’ve never allowed women into our country club. Why should we start now?”

“Women have always served men. That’s the way it’s been and that’s the way it always should be.”

Misuse of Statistics

Using stats to show causality when it’s a condition of correlation or omitting other facts.

“Ninety-nine percent of people who take this remedy see their cold go away in ten days.” (Colds go away on their own).

“Violent crime from home intruders goes down twenty percent in a home equipped with guns.” (more people in those homes die of accidental shootings or suicides)

Post Hoc, Confusing Causality with Correlation

Taking cold medicine makes your cold go away. Really?

The rooster crows and makes the sun go up. Really?

You drink on a Thursday night and on Friday morning you get an A on your calculus exam. Really?

You stop drinking milk and you feel stronger. Really? (or is it a placebo effect?)

Non Sequitur (It Does Not Follow)

The conclusion in an argument is not relevant to the premises.

Megan drives a BMW, so she must be rich.

McMahon understands the difference between a phrase and a dependent clause; therefore, he must be a genius.

Whenever I eat chocolate cake, I feel good. Therefore, a chocolate cake must be good for me.

Bandwagon Fallacy

Because everyone believes something, it must be right.