Deep Work
PART 1: Why Deep Work?
- Deep work - Tasks that create new value and hard to replicate, push cognitive capabilities to their limit, performed free from distractions.
- Shallow Work - Tasks that do not create much new value, easy to replicate, often performed while distracted.
- “The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive”
- The new law of productivity is: High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)
- Deep work is
- valuable
- rare
- meaningful
PART 2: How to implement Deep Work?
- Four rules for deep work:
- Work Deeply
- “Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit“
- Fight desires like eating, sleeping, sex, TV, Internet while trying to do deep work.
- Monastic Philosophy: Eliminate all shallow obligations and maximize productivity. Impractical for most people.
- Bimodal Philosophy: A more balanced approach. Divide time between deep and shallow work. Clearly define timelines and work to be done during the deep work phase.
- Minimum unit of time for deep work should be at least one day.
- Rhythmic Philosophy: To start deep work sessions consistently, have a simple ritual to transform it to a regular habit. Having a rhythm will minimise the friction and reduce the energy need to go deep.
- Embrace rituals
- “Rituals provide the structure that supports deep work”
- Questions to answer when scheduling deep work:
- When you will work and for how long?
- How you will work after starting - Eliminate certain distractions.
- How you will support your work - Something like have a good cup of coffee, take a short walk between sessions, light exercise etc
- Schedule deep work-“No one ‘has time’ for deep work. You make time for deep work”
- Block out specific time slots for deep work and adhere to the schedule as if it were a professional commitment
- Deep work doesn’t have to be done alone.
- Collaboration also plays a part in deep work.
- Interactions and clear division of work will restrict the shallowness of work.
- Execute like a business
- Focus on wildly important goals.
- Act on lead measures (direct measures like number of hours) instead of lag measures (measures for outcomes or results)
- Keep a scorecard
- Be accountable
- Be lazy
- Downtime from work is important to gain new ideas and recharge your mind.
- We can usually focus only 3-4 hours per day to do best deep work.
- Create a shutdown routine when you are finished. It can be as simple as saying “Shutdown Complete”
- Embrace boredom
- “The ability to resist distractions and focus deeply is crucial in achieving deep work”
- “Once your brain has become accustomed to on-demand distraction it is hard to shake the addiction”
- Schedule blocks of time when internet is allowed.
- Commit to a hard deadline
- Meditate productively: train mind to focus on a particular problem when you are occupied physically but not mentally
- Quit social media
- Don’t use any-benefit approach to stick to social media
- Instead use craftsman approach. Identify what value does it add to your life. Weigh both positives and negatives.
- Power law (Pareto Principle)
- 20% of activities generate 80% of the results.
- Identify those 20% activities. Is social media one of them?
- Don’t use it to entertain yourself
- If social media were to close suddenly, how would you entertain yourself?
- If you have other avenues for entertainment, social media would most likely have more negatives than positives.
- Don’t use any-benefit approach to stick to social media
- Drain the shallows
- Schedule everything
- Adopt fixed-schedule workday - especially for shallow tasks
- Become hard to reach:
- Make people do more work to reach you.
- Do more work when replying to people.
- Don’t respond to everything.
- Work Deeply
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