Deep work
This concept explained in the book of Cal Newport gave me the importance and benefits of focused, distraction-free work and how to embrace boredom as a tool for creativity
Last week I’ve skipped sending the newsletter as I was recovering from a long distance trail running competition. It was a 100 km long race and I’ll talk about it in the next newsletter. Until then, let’s dive into deep working.
As I mentioned in another newsletter, I struggle with an attention disorder. I’m not sure if it’s a clinical issue or a result of living in a world where our attention is constantly hijacked by smartphones, laptops, games, apps, social media, TV, peer pressure, social pressure, and emails—all of which act as triggers demanding our response.
Two years ago Apple introduced a feature to the iPhones called Screen Time and I've been using it, which tracks how many hours you spend on your smartphone. To my not-so-surprise, I found out I was spending 4 hours and 30 minutes on my phone every single day. This is just a side note to our main topic, but it illustrates how much time I was wasting each day! And that’s just the time on my phone, not including other distractions around me.
In recent years, I've started to take a more conscious approach to learning and gaining knowledge. Specifically, I began reading books. The insights and knowledge I found in them inspired me to start this newsletter.
One of the books is called Deep Work, by Cal Newport, who Dr. Andrew Huberman invited to his now-famous podcast. Here is the link to this great talk, I highly recommend listening to this podcast :
This book didn't provide any groundbreaking insights, but it helped connect the various ideas that had been floating in my head without any clear connections.
Ideas and key concepts from the book
focus on the wildly important work, and make a priority list, and will help you understand what is important and focus on that
divide your work into shallow work and deep work
Deep work refers to professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve skills, and are hard to replicate. - try and find time without any distractions, no phone, no internet, and focus for any amount of time to deep work, 1-2 hours or even 30 minutes
Shallow work consists of non-cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to be easy to replicate and do not create much new value. while necessary, should not be confused with deep work. - Tasks like replying to emails, washing dishes, and cleaning the room, although needed, are not highly significant. It's important to recognize this because completing these tasks can give you the illusion of productivity and a dopamine reward, while you may have neglected the most important work that you need or want to do.
the increasing value of deep work - deep work is becoming more valuable in today's economy, which rewards complex problem-solving and creative output. Those who can perform deep work will thrive in their careers.
the rarity of deep work - despite its increasing value, deep work is becoming rarer due to the prevalence of distractions (e.g., social media, constant connectivity). Many modern workplaces and societal norms do not encourage deep work practices - open office desks while encouraging networking and collaboration, will do that at the cost of less deep work and attention focus on one single thing because you will get distracted by others
Some of the rules that I’ve read in the book and I have started to implement :
Work Deeply: Cultivate a deep work habit by creating rituals and routines that minimize distractions and promote focused work. This could include setting specific times for deep work, designing a work environment that supports focus, and employing techniques like time blocking.
Embrace Boredom: Resist the urge to constantly seek stimuli and train your brain to be comfortable with boredom. This helps build focus and resist distractions.
Quit Social Media: Evaluate the impact of social media on your life and consider quitting or significantly reducing usage. Newport advocates for an intentional approach to social media rather than passive consumption.
Drain the Shallows: Minimize the amount of time spent on shallow work. Schedule every minute of your day to create a more structured work routine prioritizing deep work.
And a few examples of strategies found in the book that I’m trying to implement:
Schedule Deep Work: Block out dedicated time for deep work sessions in your calendar.
Develop Rituals: Create routines that signal to your brain that it's time for deep work (e.g., a specific location, time of day, or pre-work activity).
Work on One Task at a Time: Avoid multitasking to maintain high levels of concentration and productivity.
Measure Your Success: Track the amount of time spent on deep work and aim to increase it gradually.
Environment Design: Create a workspace that minimizes distractions and supports focus.
Say NO to anything around you that can steal time from you because somebody else’s needs are not aligned with your interests (of course I’m not talking about family and friends)
Time off the internet - 1 hour per day
I have adopted without knowing some of these - at work, I’m diverting all answers to the people who work on those instead of trying to be helpful and find the information for those people
laser focus on the job on what’s truly important and skip and chat, call, and meetings that are not related to my work directly or don’t help my work directly
Fixed schedule productivity - meta-habit very important thing to learn, to stop work at a certain time, let’s say 5:30 PM
The author talks about the idea that after a day of work, we often seek relaxation and do nothing. However, the brain is always active, regardless of our level of activity. Instead of viewing after-work hours as complete relaxation (which is a misconception), this free time should be seen as crucial for personal development. If you subtract 6-8 hours for sleep and 8-9 hours for work from the 24 hours in a day, you are left with 6-8 hours for personal growth, spending time with family, and engaging in both shallow and deep work.
When was the last time when you’ve done something significant for you to develop? something like Deep work?
Don't make excuses for not engaging in deep work, and don't blame your life, job, family, or kids. In the long run, this will make things worse, as you'll likely develop a causal link between not achieving your personal goals and external factors like your kids. This can lead to the belief that these external factors stand in the way of your goals. You've probably heard the expression, "I (as a parent) have sacrificed my life/money for you (the kid)." This happens when you haven't focused your thoughts on what you want and found a way to achieve it, regardless of life's circumstances.
The proof lies in the fact that some people successfully manage parenting, jobs, hobbies, and passions. They achieve this by knowing their priorities, eliminating time-wasting activities, and focusing on what’s important, often utilizing deep work techniques.
One last thing to repeat before closing this newsletter.
Boredom - is something that I was constantly avoiding since childhood and has negative connotations, but actually it is recommended to get bored, the brain rest in those moments and take a needed break from intensive tasks, and allows your mind to wonder, and this precise action can drive to new ideas and creativity. I’ll write a specific newsletter only about boredom, because it deserves this kind of attention.
I hope you’ll read this book, it’s worth your time.
Until next week. Don’t forget, don’t trust anything I say here, do your own research. :)
George.