The modern economy rewards people who can master complicated things quickly and then apply that skill to produce results others can’t easily copy. That combination is not talent alone; it’s attention applied at high intensity.
When you work deeply, you learn faster because your mind stays on the edge of competence instead of resetting every few minutes. You also produce better work, because quality usually requires sustained reasoning, revision, and the patience to hold many details together.
Shallow tasks feel urgent because they’re measurable: emails sent, messages answered, meetings attended. But they scale differently. They’re easier to automate, easier to delegate, and easier for competitors to match.
Depth, by contrast, creates leverage. Protect it, and your output starts to compound.