Deep Focus At Work

Deep work is a state of peak concentration that lets you learn hard things and create quality work quickly. The concept of deep work was first coined by computer science professor Cal Newport, who suggests that to be truly productive, we should log out of all communication tools for multiple hours a day in order to sustain our focus. In this article, we explore the benefits of deep work and offer seven rules to help you take advantage of deep work in your daily life.

Deep Focus at Work

Learn hard things fast: Learning is a key part of any job, no matter your field. For example, an IT manager needs to learn how to troubleshoot technology at an organizational scale, an accountant needs to learn about tax law, and a software engineer needs to learn new programming languages. In that way, the ability to gain new skills through deep work makes you a valuable asset.

Create quality work at speed: Learning new skills is one thing, and producing quality results is another. This second value of deep work helps you utilize those skills to make a positive impact. For example, deep concentration could help a project manager learn how to write a project proposal, then create an in-depth proposal that helps secure funding for a new initiative.

Many of us have forgotten how to focus deeply on a single task, or never really learned to in the first place. In school you may have done well enough by practicing mostly shallow work on a day-to-day basis, with the occasional deep work session a few times per semester to write a last-minute paper or cram for a final exam.

One strategy that can help intensify deep work is imposing time limits on yourself. These time limits should stretch your abilities but not be impossible to accomplish. For instance, you might guess that researching a topic for a 1500 word essay takes around 3 hours. This strategy proposes that you give yourself 1.5 hours instead.

Working on your memory is yet another tactic Newport recommends to prime your mind for deep work. The focus that memorization requires is beneficial when it comes time to sit down and direct your focus towards an important task at work.

Adjusting to home office and taking care of our new born has meant re-evaluating how I schedule my time and stay productive. The Ambition & Balance blog from @doist has some great articles for finding what system works best for you.

Since deep work is currently under-practiced as a skill, Newport believes that those who can produce high-quality work at a superior rate will quickly outpace their colleagues and land the best jobs. In an increasingly automated future, this ability to quickly grasp and engage new skills is also essential to our job security and continued employability.

But it actually takes quite a lot of discipline and thought to continually repeat. There's a whole supportive framework behind deep work to ensure you actually get quality work out of it, whatever your role and responsibilities, whatever you're working on. The following section breaks down the basics, so you can start your own very first deep work experiment.

Depth philosophy at a glance: Your personal approach for achieving deep work, from completely removing shallow work, to carving out regular periods for it in your daily routine, to performing whole weeks of deep work at a time.

So think about what important work you want to prioritize and what you want to achieve by the end of your session. While a simple notepad arguably does the trick, tools like Asana provide a clean digital space for breaking large objectives into manageable tasks suitable for deep work sessions.

Digital tools are often cited as the mortal enemies of deep work, since they have huge potential to distract and derail our attention. But a select few can help set you up for success. Try using these smart tools to facilitate your deep work practice:

There are apps and techniques that can help with this, too. The 30/30 app encourages users to work for 30 minutes with zero distractions followed by a 30-minute break to recharge. You can also customize your work/break cycles.

Some people work best in short bursts and others prefer long stretches of time. Music can be a focus-enhancer or frustrating distraction. Night owls might find it impossible to focus in the morning, and the list goes on.

It happens all the time. You start out the day with great intentions to get that financial report done or to work on your marketing plan only to find it's 3pm and you've barely scratched the surface. Every time you sit down to work on something, a ping, ding or dong stops you in your tracks.

Social media and email are our biggest distractors, according to Cal Newport, author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. While turning off devices may seem a simple solution, Newport says the problem runs much deeper. Our attraction to digital devices has created a permanent fracturing of our attention, affecting our ability to maintain focus and be present.

Engaging in deep work isn't as simple as setting aside a chunk of time to work on something. "You have to treat your attention with a lot of respect, like a professional athlete might treat their body," says Newport. This also means training your brain to focus.

Schedule time on your calendar to work on something. If you're engaging in a cognitively demanding task, Newport recommends no less than a 90 minute chunk. Once it's in your calendar, treat that time like an important meeting or appointment. If someone asks to meet at noon and that's in the middle of your deep-work time, schedule the meeting for another time.

"Be wary of the habit of never being bored," says Newport. Many of us fall into the habit of whipping out our phones every time we feel a little bit bored. "Your brain loses its tolerance for boredom and lack of stimuli which means when it comes time to do deep work it's going to have a hard time staying focused," says Newport. Improving your ability to focus means training your brain to be a little bored. Try it next time you're standing in the line at a bank. Reduce the urge to whip out your phone and be ok with being a little bit bored.

Train your brain to focus by thinking of a single problem that you want to solve and hold that problem in your mind for a set period of time. Newport says this works best if you go for a walk. Just as in mindful meditation, when you see your mind wandering from the problem, notice it and bring your mind back to the problem that you're working on.

Just as a long-distance runner stretches her muscles before a run, you may need to adopt some rituals to prepare for deep work. Your deep-work ritual could be as simple as cleaning off your desk and hanging a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door -- anything that tells your brain that it's time to shut off the rest of the world and focus on the task at hand.

Whatever deadline you set for yourself, cut it by 20 percent. "Now you have to scramble with as much intensity to get this thing done," says Newport. Adding a sense of urgency to the task is like doing interval training for your mind. It forces you to work just a little bit harder.

One of the books I have read in the last year that helped support me in my quest for greater focus was Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. There were many valuable learnings, but one in particular that has stuck with me is how powerful setting a deep work ritual is.

What you consider cognitively demanding will vary depending on your role and the type of work you do. Generally, it requires problem-solving or has some level of complexity that requires your full attention.

For me, deep work shows up in many facets of my work but most often as strategic thinking and writing. Writing (and being able to focus while doing it) is particularly important to me because it is a primary source of value I create for clients and is a marketing driver for my business.

You can compare choosing your environment to how some people force themselves to go to a gym to exercise, or hire a personal trainer so there is an obligation, or just hit the road for a run. These are all the environments for exercise and you should think about your environment for deep work in a similar way. What environment is most likely to set you up for deep work?

If you can, consider is having a location for your deep work that is different from your usual workspace. Having a separate deep work space helps your mind associate that space with the practice which can help you settle into your deep work faster and with greater ease. It supports the other parts of your deep work ritual but is not required.

Decide how long you are going to spend in your deep work. If you leave your deep work open-ended it will become a slog that loses value, because there is no end in sight and you have limited attention and willpower resources. Additionally, depending on your role and work location, you have to be practical about how long you can commit to deep work.

Beyond choosing the duration of your deep work you should think about when you are best equipped to be focused. Think about a time that fits in with your ability to control your environment and with your energy cycles. Think about the parts of your day when you feel most fresh and energized. It is much easier to focus and get in the zone when you are not fighting the post-lunch coma!

Items that support deep work are the physical objects that, in addition to your environment, set your deep work session up for success. These items help you focus, relax, and get in the zone. Examples could include::

Perform deep work every day (or every workday). Consistency is what will make the practice effective and drive results. The ritual becomes programmed into your mind and body. In the same way a bedtime ritual prepares your mind and body for sleep, your deep work ritual prepares your mind and body for focussed work.

Deep work is like working a muscle. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. You will notice over time that you get into the deep work mindset faster and can maintain it longer. You are able to focus and work through the problems, tasks, processes, projects, or whatever you are working on, with more creativity. And you will make noticeable progress, which is a great motivator! 041b061a72