Deep Work ROI Calculator

How much money is shallow work costing you? Find out in 10 seconds.

Your Numbers

What's an hour of your time worth? If salaried: annual ÷ 2000
Uninterrupted, focused work — your best output
Email, meetings, Slack, admin — necessary but low-value
Typical: 230-250 (after holidays, leave, weekends)
Your annual deep work is worth
per year
$ Deep work revenue
Shallow work cost
+1 extra deep work hour/day =

How This Works

Deep work is focused, uninterrupted work that produces high-value output — coding, writing, designing, strategising. Shallow work is everything else: email, Slack, meetings, admin.

The calculator assumes deep work hours produce 3× your hourly rate in value (conservative — Cal Newport's research suggests 5-10× for knowledge workers). Shallow work produces 1×.

Annual Value = (Deep hrs × 3 × Rate + Shallow hrs × 1 × Rate) × Work Days

Based on Cal Newport's deep work framework. The multiplier is conservative — many knowledge workers find their deep work output is worth 5-10× their hourly rate.

Want to Actually Fix This?

The Complete Collection includes The Focus Blueprint — a proven 5-step system to double your deep work hours.

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📖 Also read: Deep Work Routine — 5-Step System