For Part 1 of this post, which discusses why Deep work is valuable, hard and meaningful, click here
Once you accept that deep work is valuable, isn’t it enough to just start doing more of it? Why do we need reminders to concentrate more? The primary obstacle is the urge to turn our attention towards something more superficial. We have finite amount of willpower that becomes depleted as you use it in a day.
Jeff Bezos said: “Good intentions don’t work. Mechanisms do”. The key is to move beyond good intentions and add routines and rituals to our working life designed to minimalize the amount of willpower needed.
For example: Suddenly one afternoon, you decide to put aside some time for deep work, you are cashing out from your will power bank. Such adhoc attempts aren’t a good way to manage your will power supply.
The solution is to schedule deep work time every day to increase your chances to success. The author discusses four different philosophies of deep work scheduling:
1. Monastic – Maximize deep work by eliminating or radically minimizing shallow obligations. These people have a well defined and highly valued professional goal they are pursuing and their professional success comes from doing this one thing exceptionally well. Example quoted by the author: Neal Stephenson, Science Fiction Writer
2. Bimodal – Divide your time dedicating some clearly defined stretches to deep pursuits and leaving the rest open to everything else. During the deep time, the bimodal worker will act monastically, seeking intense and uninterrupted concentration. The minimum unit of time for deep work in this philosophy is at least one full day. Example quoted by the author: Adam Grant
3. Rhythmic – The easiest way to consistently start deep work sessions is to create a simple regular habit. In this way, you don’t have to invest energy in deciding when to schedule deep work sessions. Have a big red X on the calendar to block time. It is perfect for standard office jobs. Example quoted by the author: Jerry Seinfeld
4. Journalistic – you fit deep work whenever and wherever you can into your schedule. This goes back to using our will power for such sessions. However, if you are trained to shift into a writing/working mode on a moment’s notice, as is required by the deadline driven nature of some professions, it would work. Example quoted by the author: Walter Isaacson
Make a Grand Gesture – Bill Gates is known to take Think Weeks where he does a get away with a bunch of papers and books for a week and he focuses that week on reading, away from distractions. It is not just the change of environment or seeking of quiet that enables more depth. The dominant force is the psychology of committing so seriously to the task at hand.
Insights:
Which philosophy is the best? I think there is no one size that fits all. It depends on the individual, their career, circumstances.
For example: I have a full time job, mostly filled with back to back meetings, where I do not have control over all the meetings scheduled. I carve out a couple of hours for myself first thing in the morning, when my energy is at the peak, before anyone wakes up at home. I set aside a few hours in the weekend for deep work. So rhythmic philosophy works for the most part. At the same time, I schedule deep work during the day as needed (my job may not allow me to do this in a rhythmic way, so I use journalistic philosophy and might schedule some blocks at different times depending on how the day goes), disable notifications on Slack and available via pager for emergencies.
One may ask, “if I block my calendar for focused work, I can’t unblock my team”. From my experience, there are a few tips to combat this:
- Scrum project management methodology replaces a lot of adhoc messaging with regular, structured and ruthlessly efficient status meetings.
- Sr. Engineers can schedule an office hour block in the morning and afternoon to help answer questions. This will allow others who have questions for these Sr. Engineers to get more organized in collecting their questions knowing that they don’t have any time access to them.
- Having a clear goal of what needs to be accomplished in a day will help us avoid unnecessary meetings and focus on what we need to accomplish for the day. If we don’t have clear goals, it is easy to get carried away with shallow work.
- Ensuring the meetings are effective will avoid unnecessary meetings in the future. How to make the most out of meetings is a separate topic by itself, a and for another day. But a couple of quick tips would be to make sure every meeting has an agenda and a detailed outcome or action items with clear owners and dates.
There are niche situations which cannot make rhythmic philosophy possible, especially for Senior leaders in an organization, but other philosophies or a combination of them should work. The bottom line is Deep work is not optional for success, regardless of the situation. The strategies might vary though.
I happened to try out making grand gestures twice in the last few years (before I read about it in any book) – once where I took a weekend away from distractions surrounded by books to work towards a goal and another time when I went on a trip with my husband and kids to a simple off grid cabin without devices and no where to go around. I would say they both served distinct purposes with better than expected outcomes and probably two of the best decisions I took in my life.
Part 3 will cover Disciplines of Execution, why downtime is important, shut down rituals at work and more tips and strategies for deep work. Stay Tuned!
What mechanisms do you use to stay focused? I am always learning and would love to hear about new ways. Share in the comments below!
