I recently finished reading Deep Work. Here are my takeaways from that.
Your will power gets depleted as you use it. If you schedule things in advance, you don’t have to engage it that much, so things become easier. So, for example, while I can try to resist using the phone, it probably won’t work after sometime. A better way would be to know upfront what I am going to do at a given time, so no need to try not checking my phone. Rituals and routines are important. Schedule each hour of work day. Really important. Try to regularly get 3-4 hours of deep work. (4 hours is the upper limit for a day, so don’t try beyond that.) It’s fine to adapt the schedule based on emergent reasons. Probably try to do the same outside work too, because mind doesn’t know the difference between work and otherwise. But that’s difficult for a new father. So, at least, schedule time whenever I want to go deep. And schedule distraction time. As the book says, focus should be the default and distraction exceptions. Do only one thing at a time. Multi-tasking sucks big time. Distraction time doesn’t only happen on phone because I’ve been focusing a lot on that lately. It happens on computer too, so be careful. Maybe this approach will help me do some of my wishlist items. In my experience, focus work will happen better during non work hours if, whenever I open my phone or computer, I know upfront what I am gonna do. Otherwise, I have to fight my will power to not be distracted. 4 ways of going deep: Monastic: crazy style. Only works if you want to focus on a single thing in your life. Bimodal: you go deep for a stretch of few days or week, do regular things otherwise. Rhythmic: rock solid routines on a daily basis. Probably best for me right now. Journalistic: go deep at a moment’s notice when required. It’ll probably help in personal time but only if I know upfront what’s the major thing I want to focus on. Collaboration is important but you still need to focus alone to put those ideas to use. Think like a business. The 4DX framework. Focus on the wildly important. The term ‘wildly’ is important. As I’ve been trying for awhile, I should figure 1-3 most important goals for myself and just focus on those that help me there. That will automatically make me ignore other distractions. Act on the lead measures. Lead vs lag measures. Focus on the inputs, such as number of hours spent on deep work, instead of outputs. In other words, control your behavior that you think will help you meet your goals. Keep a scoreboard. Track hours spent on deep work. I’ve created a spreadsheet to try this out. Create a cadence of accountability. Regularly review the previous scoreboard and improve the process accordingly. Fixed schedule productivity: Finish your work day on a fixed time and don’t think about work for rest of the day. Downtime is important for the mind. I used to think that it’s good to keep thinking about work all the time. However, the book suggests the other way around. Embrace boredom. Multitasking sucks. If you have a habit of taking out your phone the moment you are bored, your brain is rewired such that it can’t focus even if you schedule time to focus. Focus should be the default, distractions should be explicitly scheduled. Example of latter is Internet use. Become hard to reach: Don’t instantly respond to Slack or email. People adapt and will find a way to unblock themselves. Like I do now, clearly set expectations. Also, give them a way how to connect in case of emergencies. Example: page or text on phone. Some ideas that aren’t applicable to me right now. Grand gestures, to trick your mind to take something seriously or give yourself more space. Set artificially tight deadlines for yourself to squeeze out higher amount of focus. Meditate productively, such as on long walks. Memorize things, such as a deck of cards, to train your mind’s ability to focus. Quit social media. Look at these as tools and be mindful of the tools you choose. Use only those that significantly help you achieve your goals. Note: This goes well with this other note.