To leave the distracted masses to join the focused few, Im arguing, is a transformative experience. The deep life, of course, is not for everybody. It requires hard work and drastic changes to your habits. For many, theres a comfort in the artificial busyness of rapid e-mail messaging and social media posturing, while the deep life demands that you leave much of that behind. Theres also an uneasiness that surrounds any effort to produce the best things youre capable of producing, as this forces you to confront the possibility that your best is not (yet) that good. Its safer to comment on our culture than to step into the Rooseveltian ring and attempt to wrestle it into something better.

Deep Work by Cal Newport