What I learned from "Deep Work"

Some tips on getting your "deep work" done (and why it's important)

I think most of us can agree, it's challenging to find time to do "deep work". There are so many distractions and interruptions that make it hard to focus. This is why the author of "Deep Work" believes that performing deep work is harder and more important than ever.

I had been wanting to read "Deep Work" for a long time after hearing the author, Cal Newport, on a podcast. Perhaps ironically, I started reading it while also reading another large book (a biography of Joni Mitchell, which happens to include a part of her life when she isolated herself in a cabin in the woods to produce some of her greatest work).

While a portion of Deep Work is dedicated to explaining its importance (a fact lawyers can quickly acknowledge), I was particularly interested to see how I might be able to expand my own ability to perform deep work. Over the past years I've made some strides to minimize distractions - turning off phone notifications, hiring a phone answering service, setting timers to kick me off social media, etc. Yet, it can be a struggle to get into the legal work that takes the most brainpower.

So, what did I learn from Deep Work?

"To learn requires intense concentration", i.e. we need deep work to learn new skills.
The ability to master new things quickly is an important skill (and certainly for lawyers, as the law is always changing).
There are different approaches to deep work. Some people shut themselves off from the world for days, others block off periods of time.
We use emails and face time in the office as a proxy for productivity (in other words, we focus on being visible because we think others will view us as busy and therefore valuable). This is a trap.
Some of the most productive people are those who are not visibly busy (e.g. they aren't on Twitter; they have email bounce-backs to say they are out of office when they are actually in the office doing deep work and want to avoid distraction).
A day filled with deep work leaves little room to ruminate on things that stress us out. A day filled with shallow work lets our brains wander (and, more often than not, worry).
Deep work --> flow state --> happiness.
Deep work requires practice. You can rewire your brain and improve your ability to work deeply.
We have finite capacity for deep work (about 4 hours a day).
Working deeply takes discipline.

What practical strategies can we take away?

Batch hard but important intellectual work into a period free of interruptions (e.g. the professor who only teaches in the fall and performs research in spring/summer; the lawyer who blocks off a day to finish a factum).
Blocking off an entire day without meetings to write a factum, which I did recently, is actually a sensible strategy (even though it's hard to let emails go unanswered, especially from clients).
Walk in nature (or places with fewer distractions) because this increases concentration during subsequent work (sunshine not required).
Stop working at the end of the day (that means checking email, performing searches, anything work-related) and the mind will continue to work on problems in the background, often with better solutions. Trying to get deep work done at home in the evening may actually backfire from a productivity perspective.
To improve your ability to work deeply you can:
- set a timer for a deep work (e.g. 40 minutes followed by a break)
- set rules (such as no internet use during deep work time)
- perform memory exercises (such as trying to memorize a deck of cards in a particular order - the book teaches you how)
To reduce the addictive pull of social media/entertainment sites, give your brain a quality alternative (e.g. reading).
Because shallow work can deplete our capacity to perform deep work, schedule your day to ensure there is time set aside for deep work. You can also schedule empty blocks so if something new pops up it does not throw off your plan.
Protect your time:
- Try to reduce shallow work. Spend 2 extra minutes to respond to an open-ended email so that the next steps are clear and the loop is closed (e.g. send calendar link, map out next steps).
- You could set expectations about when you will or won't respond to email.
- You could make people pay a fee for consultations to eliminate those who aren't serious and waste your time.
Rituals can help us get into the deep work state. Rituals can be based on location (whenever you need to do deep work you go to a different place, such as a library instead of your home office); or a change in environment (posting a do not disturb sign, having a cup of tea to signal your start). You can have rules (e.g. no checking email or going online). You could set goals (e.g. how many words or pages you will type).
Use "grand gestures". The author wrote about a man who took a roundtrip flight to Japan solely so he could write a book (change in environment + cost heightened the need to use the time wisely). JK Rowling paid for an expensive hotel room to write the final chapters of one of the Harry Potter books.
Be realistic about the blocks of time you set for deep work (90 minutes was mentioned as a realistic timeframe). If it's too short, you likely won't get into the deep work state.

Quotes I Like

"Our brains instead construct our worldview based on what we pay attention to."
"A shutdown habit, therefore, is not necessarily reducing the amount of time you're engaged in productive work, but is instead diversifying the type of work you deploy."
"Without practice such switches can seriously deplete your finite willpower resources".

If you enjoyed reading about Deep Work, you might also enjoying reading When (a book I previously blogged about and from which I learned the times of day that are best for me to attempt deep work).

Categories: : Book Recommendation