Industry Roundtable: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

When:  Jan 17, 2018 from 12:00 PM to 01:00 PM (CT)
Associated with  Chicago

Description

For many design and construction professionals, the ability to concentrate on important tasks is becoming more difficult as our work environments are packed with distractions. 

 

This industry roundtable will be a discussion of the concepts put forth in the best-selling book Deep Work by Cal Newport, moderated by Scott Conwell, CDT of International Masonry Institute. 

Participants are encouraged to read the book in advance of the roundtable, but it is not required.  Start off the New Year with a commitment to master this important skill!

 

Following is an excerpt from the book’s Amazon page:

One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.

Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there's a better way.

In DEEP WORK, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill.

A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, DEEP WORK takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories -- from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air -- and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored. DEEP WORK is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.

 

Continuing Education: pending approval

Learning Objectives:
  1. Attendees will learn definitions of deep work and shallow work, how do discern between the two, and why deep work is valuable, rare, and meaningful.
  2. Attendees will be able to identify distractions that commonly interfere with deep work, and techniques for overcoming them.
  3. Attendees will be introduced to the four general philosophies of scheduling deep work (monastic, bi-modal, rhythmic, and journalistic), and will be able to identify which philosophy they are naturally suited for.
  4. Attendees will learn specific techniques within each philosophy that lead to a distraction-free work environment.


Registration ends Friday, January 12 for priority member seating.  Limited seating available on a first come basis. Complimentary to members and non-members. Non-members requesting to attend will be added to a waiting list until registration end date. Notification of available non-member spaces is sent at least two business days in advance.

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Event Contact

Beth Winkler
773-466-4147
csichicagochapter@gmail.com