He recommends practising 4 rules to regain our ability for deep work:

Rule-1: this chapter outlines the basics of deep work, including differing approaches to deep work, and patterns and rituals that support its practice. It’s probably the most important chapter in the book.

Rule-2: this is the corollary of “Work Deeply”, as in order to concentrate intensely, we also need to reduce our addiction to distraction. Enter the embrace of boredom.

Rule 3 – Quit Social Media: I found this the most challenging idea for freelance work, as we depend so much on social media to publicise ourselves. But Newport brings a welcome chunk of perspective, because when I looked at the clients I’ve had in my brief freelance career, almost none have come from my Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter accounts.Rule 4 – Drain the Shallows: Newport recommends reducing the amount of time spent in shallow tasks. He proposes that most people, even those practised in deep work, cannot spend more than 4 hours in deep work. But, conversely, shallow tasks easily consume more than 4 hours in the day if we are not suspicious of them, and consciously work to reduce those tasks.