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Without structure, it’s easy to allow your time to devolve into the shallow – e-mail, social media, Web surfing.

We spend much of our day on autopilot – not giving much thought to what we’re doing with our time. This is a problem.

…the typical knowledge workday is more easily fragmented than many suspect.

…once you’ve hit your deep work limit in a given day, you’ll experience diminishing rewards if you try to cram in more.

…if you not only eliminate shallow work, but also replace this recovered time with more of the deep alternative… [the business] can become more successful.

The shallow work that increasingly dominates the time and attention of knowledge workers is less vital than it often seems in the moment.

…when it comes to relaxation, don’t default to whatever catches your attention… but instead dedicate some advance thinking to… how you want to spend your [day]…

…in the scheme of your life and what you want to accomplish, [social media is] a lightweight whimsy, one unimportant distraction among many…

…network tools… can claim your time and attention… [and] if used without limit can be particularly devastating to your quest to work deeper.

If you service low-impact activities… you’re taking away time you could be spending on higher-impact activities. It’s a zero-sum game.