This is the book’s most important term. Cal Newport does not assume the reader will automatically know what deep work is. He defines it as “[p]rofessional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate” (3).

In contrast with deep work is shallow work, which Newport defines as “Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate” (6). It is Newport’s contention that an increasing amount of work taking place in the modern workplace is shallow work. Shallow work, he argues, interferes with habits that lead to developing skills for deep work and are therefore counterproductive.

This is the hypothesis that drives much of the book. As Newport says: “The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive” (14). According to his hypothesis, the ability to perform deep work is not a moral position; instead, Newport posits that the ability to perform deep work effectively makes a person more valuable in the labor market, even in spite of the fact that so much work is continuing to become shallow.