{"id":743,"date":"2019-02-22T18:06:24","date_gmt":"2019-02-23T02:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/?p=743"},"modified":"2019-02-27T13:58:30","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T21:58:30","slug":"deep-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/deep-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Work: How to Become More Productive using Deep Work Concepts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the weekend I read a fascinating book: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World<\/a>* <\/strong>by Cal Newport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve written before about the dangers of distraction that come from our smartphones and even published a poem<\/a> about it by a good friend. This book further explains why<\/g> our smartphones are making us dumb and dumber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should preface this review by saying that this is not a fun book. The writer is a college professor and as such writes like one. I have read other nonfiction books such as Stumbling On Happiness<\/a><\/strong>* by Daniel Gilbert which are<\/g> both profound and fun to read. This book is a bit too dry to be fun to read. Another criticism of the book is that the author uses himself as a case study of one, tying his impressive academic output to deep work. I\u2019d have preferred more people included in the case study. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That being said this is still an important book and even more so an important concept. In this article I will explain the concept, and suggest some ways to implement it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Deep Work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is deep work? Deep work is work that pushes your\ncognitive capabilities to their max and which is performed without distraction.\nIt typically results in some sort of productive product or output, although it\ncan also result in some new learning or new skills. Deep work takes place\nduring long sessions of uninterrupted high intensity, focused work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does this compare with shallow work? Shallow work is\ntypically logistical in nature, is not particularly cognitively challenging,\nand often produces little or no real output. Email is a great example of\nshallow work. Reshuffling your to do list is another example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the author doesn\u2019t make this distinction, I would\nadd two more categories which would be shallow play and deep play. Shallow play\nis all of those things we do which are basically mindless. Checking Facebook,\nsurfing channels on TV, reading a thriller novel \u2014 all are examples of shallow\nplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deep play, in contrast, requires us to use our full set of\nabilities. Learning a new language, playing a musical instrument, practicing\ntai chi, improving one\u2019s golf game \u2014 these are all examples of deep play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is Deep Work Important?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is deep work important? Deep work allows you to reach\nyour maximum cognitive capacity. It also allows you to produce extremely high-quality\noutputs, and to learn important and significant new skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author talks about types of work and those who will\nthrive in the future economy. He makes the point that three types of workers\nwill do well. One type is those people who control and own capital, such as\nventure capitalists. Another type is those who can work with machine learning\nand intelligent machines. The final type is the superstars in almost any field.\nIt is this third group who will most benefit from learning how to do deep work.\nThe capability for doing deep work is what distinguishes the superstar from the\nmerely average worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning How to Do Deep Work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you train yourself to do more deep work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a challenge. Deep work is hard! Shallow work is easy. The biggest challenge to doing deep work is that so many of the forces in our current environment push us in the direction of shallow activities. All the apps on our smartphones push us into the shallows. (With the exception of reading apps.) Email pushes us towards the shallow. Surfing the internet, looking at YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, \u2014 all of these push us towards rapidly shifting attention and shallow focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And since most of us work on an internet connected computer, even if we try to do deep work it\u2019s all too easy to get distracted or to avoid by jumping to something shallow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse yet, we have zero tolerance for even a few moments of\nboredom. What do you observe when you see people waiting in line? You see\neveryone looking at their phones. Nobody just stands there thinking. We have\ntrained our brains to instantly shift to mindless activities whenever we are\nbored or restless, instead of thinking about the deeper issues in our lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even while writing this article, there were several moments when I remembered something that I forgot to do and checked my email to see about taking care of it. Looking back on these episodes I realized that I had run into a difficult point in writing this article. Instead of staying focused, I avoided the difficulty by switching to something shallow and meaningless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Deep
Deep Work in Action<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Avoiding Crashing in the Shallows<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is so easy to go into the shallows. Our days disappear into a haze of shallow activities. Even when we are productive, it is still all too easy to be productive in a shallow way. I will answer 10 emails \u2014 shallow. Let me check the headlines \u2014 shallow. Time to update my to-do list \u2014 shallow. Now let’s straighten up my desk \u2014 shallow. We check off to-do items with great joy even when they are completely shallow and unimportant. We forget to ask ourselves if each productive activity can really alter our world or the world at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest challenge of deep work is training yourself and your brain to be able to achieve long periods of focused concentration. I don\u2019t know about you, but I sometimes feel like the internet<\/g> has broken my brain. It is all too easy for me to jump from website to website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My only saving grace is that in my work as a psychologist, I have extended periods each day during which I am completely off the Internet and off my phone while working with clients. I automatically fall into a deep work mode while doing therapy. It is one of the reasons I cherish doing therapy. It is like a forced meditation into deep work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is my prescription for how you can learn to do more deep work. First of all, just like any other muscle, you will have to build up your ability to do deep work. If you\u2019re currently doing little or no deep work, then it\u2019s probably best to aim at only doing one hour a day of deep work. Once you get used to doing that level, you can gradually increase it. Newport says that the maximum amount of deep work that anyone can really do is four hours per day. I think this is too much for most people, and a goal of two hours a day of deep work would be more reasonable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next you need to set up an environment which minimizes distractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will need to make sure that your smart phone is muted or\non airplane mode so that there are no vibrations or sounds. Even better, put\nyour smart phone in a different room. That way you won\u2019t be tempted to look at\nit. Also turn off any notifications on your computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go someplace which is un-distracting. If you are at the\nworkplace go find a conference room or other quiet space where you won\u2019t be\ndistracted or interrupted. If you are at home you will also need to set up or\nidentify the least distracting space. If your deep work requires using the\ncomputer you might even want to disable the Internet temporarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another trick is to have a separate computer for deep work. I have a friend who has two identical laptop computers. One has the normal complement of apps, web browsers, etc., the other laptop is his writing laptop. That one has virtually no apps, except for Microsoft Word. It doesn\u2019t even have a web browser. On the writing laptop he has disabled the network card so that even if there is Wi-Fi, he can\u2019t access it. Basically, that laptop is only good for one thing, writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Another way to accomplish the same thing with only one\nlaptop would be to have two separate Windows or Mac users. Your Writing User\nwould only have the basic tools for writing, while your other user would have\nall your regular apps. When you are ready to write, you shift to the Writing\nUser.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or just go old school. Many years ago, I got several\nspeeding tickets in a row and had to attend two days of traffic school, back in\nthe ancient days where you actually went to a classroom and sat there for eight\nhours a day. I had 16 hours of listening to a boring instructor drone on about\nthe dangers of speeding. I sat in the back of the classroom with a large yellow\npad, and I wrote about 40 pages of a book I was working on. I never could have\nbeen so focused in a normal environment. Even now, I sometimes take a pad and\npen to a caf\u00e9 or library, put on some noise blocking headphones, and handwrite\nsomething I am working on. I usually leave my phone behind or at least I power\nit off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time-Structuring Deep Work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several different time-structuring strategies for doing deep work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is the Thoreau method, where you go to a cabin in the country (preferably with no Internet), and spend several weeks to work on a project. You work, take walks, work some more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is the Thoreau-lite method, where you block off a day\nor two per week and isolate yourself someplace relatively un-distracting and\nwork on a project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally, there is the daily approach, where you set\nyourself a daily period of doing deep work for an hour or two. Ideally, you\nwould do this first thing in the morning, but some people have also been\nsuccessful working late at night after their families are asleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mastering Your Gadgets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some other tips that may be helpful for avoiding\ndistractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turn off all notifications on your phone. All those beeps\nand vibrations from multiple apps are very distracting. I recommend you turn\nall of them off, even text messages. If you\u2019re worried about missing important\nmessages, tell people that if they want to reach you urgently they should call\nyou. You can batch your text messages just like email. Look at it before lunch\nand before dinner and respond accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uninstall all of the so-called endless page apps on your phone. This includes Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and all the other apps that require you to pull in order to refresh. You may also want to install reading apps such as Flipboard, Feedly, New York Times, etc.  On your computer, you may want to sign out of similar apps such as Twitter, Facebook, and even email. This requires you to sign in to use them which creates a small speedbump which makes you more mindful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to engaging in deep work activities is spending less time doing shallow activities. We all have a finite amount of time in our days, weeks, months and years. The more time we spend shallow the less time we spend deep. Realize that the shallow is tempting, fun, and easy \u2014 but ultimately relatively unsatisfying. If you can learn to do several hours of deep work per day you will be better at whatever you do. And you’ll be better than most people who spend almost no time doing deep work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that I’ve done some deep work in writing this article it’s time for a walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[*Affiliate link: The blog may receive a small commision if you purchase through this link, these commissions help defray the cost of hosting this blog.] <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend I read a fascinating book: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World* by Cal Newport. I’ve written before about the dangers of distraction that come from our smartphones and even published a poem about … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[144,136,143,109,146,145],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.PsychologyLounge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}