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You’ve probably heard that the average person spends less than half of their workday doing work. A study conducted on almost two thousand British office workers revealed that the average amount of time spent productively each day is only 2 hours and 53 minutes (Vouchercloud n.d.). The respondents reported that most of their workday is spent on social media, reading the news, and socializing with coworkers or with people outside of the office.

But the other side of the story is that office workers have never been this stressed. Another British study showed that 90% of office employees experience a negative work-life balance because of stress (Workfront 2015). 42% of them report doing at least six hours of overtime per week.

Although our productivity is low, we feel overworked and pressured. The solution to this problem is multifaceted – for example, experiments with a shorter workday have generally had favorable results (DeMers 2017). Even when that’s not an option, you can improve your job experience by practicing better time-management.

But it is also a good idea to think about the quality of the work you do. The concept of deep work was developed for employees working on complex, creative tasks, and it can bring comprehensive positive changes to any career.

What is Deep Work

Deep Work vs Shallow Work

How to Do Deep Work

Deep Work Rules

What is Deep Work

This term was coined by Cal Newport, an academic whose main area of study is computer science. As Newport put it in an interview with Stew Friedman, deep work is “when you focus without distraction for a significant amount of time on a cognitively demanding task. And the simple summary is that this tool, deep work, is incredibly valuable, but almost no individuals and no organizations are actually focusing on it.” (The transcript is available here.)

Deep work has many benefits, and the major ones are increased productivity and higher-value results. Using this tool lets you test and hone your cognitive abilities, which enables you to secure an advantage in the workplace.

But most importantly, deep work creates new value. Once we learn to use this tool to its full extent and make it an integral part of our routine, it helps us complete complex tasks that can’t be replicated. Through giving us the opportunity to use our intelligence and creativity to the fullest, it allows us to grow as professionals. This leads to decreased stress and more job satisfaction, which in turn makes it easier to keep focusing on the task at hand.

Cal Newport – The Man Behind the Theory

Calvin C. Newport is an MIT graduate who teaches computer science at Georgetown University. He’s well-known for his blog, Study Hacks, where he writes about the challenges that people face in the digital age. His tips on productivity and focus are of great help to students, but they also have a wider appeal – anyone looking for straightforward and specific advice on improving their focus can benefit from visiting the blog.

But Newport’s most significant work is his book, published in 2016 with the title Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. He uses his comprehensive knowledge of the intersections of culture and technology to construct and explain this tool and its applications.

Some of his other self-help books are written specifically for college students or even high school students. But if you’re looking to improve the quality of your work, you should also look into his published work on the concept of digital minimalism.

Deep Work vs Shallow Work

To understand deep work and the potential it holds, shallow work needs to be defined too. It’s important to think about why people do shallow work more often and what can be done to decrease its hold on our workday.

Shallow work refers to cognitively undemanding work, which is often repetitive and which doesn’t require intense concentration. Deep work is the opposite of that, and it requires concentration and dedication. It encompasses tasks that not everyone can mimic or replicate.

It is tempting to say that shallow work should be entirely eliminated from our day, but this isn’t generally an option. For example, attending meetings and answering emails doesn’t require a great deal of concentration, but they are still obligations that most of us need to fulfill. At the same time, it helps to recognize that these tasks require shallow work, and also that minimizing the time spent on them is a good way to increase productivity.

By improving the balance of the deep and shallow work you do, you can get ahead and reach positions where shallow work will be much easier to delegate. On a wider scale, companies that prioritize deep work have a competitive edge, which lets them streamline their infrastructure and minimize the amount of shallow work that employees have to do.

Shallow Work

Answering messages, reorganizing your calendar, working on administration – these tasks may be a necessary part of the workday, but they can easily turn into a time sink. In the long term, sticking to shallow work can make one’s job feel monotonous. It can also lead to employees feeling replaceable, which increases their stress levels.

But even the most highly skilled and respected professionals sometimes find themselves spending the majority of their time on shallow work. This can easily turn into a form of procrastination. Since these tasks are easy to complete and sometimes result in an immediate response, they can provide some instant gratification and a feeling of recognition.

On the other hand, an excess of shallow work is often the result of bad organization on a company level. This can create feelings of resentment and helplessness in employees who feel like they’re stuck doing nothing but busywork.

To improve the quality of one’s work, it’s important to identify which tasks require shallow work, and then pay attention to the amount of time spent on them. Can any of these tasks be delegated, automated, or simply cut out of one’s routine?

Anyone can take a more mindful approach to these tasks. Doing so will give you the chance to focus on deep work without becoming exhausted.

Deep Work

We live in a world of excess information than drains our attention spans. We are on call all the time, and this takes its toll on our mental health and relationships, but it also has a significant negative impact on the work we do.

At the same time, this rapidly-developing world demands more focus than ever. Many industries are looking to hire focused and dedicated workers who know how to set aside all distractions. This is the only way to achieve true progress and come up with substantial new ideas.

A good way to find balance is to train yourself in the art of deep work. This involves using the full extent of your creativity and problem-solving, without holding anything back. Learning how to apply your full attention to a task is one of the best ways to progress in any field, and it can make you indispensable at your workplace. As many tasks are becoming automated, true job security lies in offering unique skills that are difficult to replicate.

But deep work requires practice, and you have to build up to using this tool. Happily, there is a wide range of resources you can use to hone your ability to do deep work.

How to Do Deep Work

Unfortunately, deep work is not a state that one can simply step into at will. Newport teaches his readers a few different ways to achieve deep work, depending on their usual schedule, their priorities, and the nature of their work.

For example, some people can set aside a few days a week only for deep work. Some even put aside half of the year to do deep work with minimal interruptions. But that’s not an option for everyone, and if you’re new at this, it might be best to simply introduce a period of deep work into every workday. How do you set up the conditions to make that possible?

First of all, it’s crucial to schedule the time when you feel like doing deep work. Think about the time when you feel most productive and focused during the day - this is the peak of your efficiency, so try not to waste it on routine tasks.

When you’re setting up a schedule, it’s important to take it seriously. Treat it as if it were a meeting with your boss - that is to say, don’t try to avoid it, and be there on time.

The next step towards deep work requires decluttering both your physical and mental domains. Learn to quiet the mind through practices such as meditation, but also keep your workspace clean and distraction-free. You can also consider changing workspaces for the duration of your deep work session.

Newport calls this option a grand gesture – he says that changing your location helps underline the importance of the task (Adegbuyi n.d.). For example, you can book a conference room or attempt to work from home for a few days. But even just changing something about your work surface can be enough to help you switch gears.

Next, putting away all the distractions and going radio silent helps maintain the mental state necessary for deep work. This is probably the most important step, and it may require preparations such as letting people know you won’t be available for a while.

And finally, when the time to start doing deep work arrives, just jump into action. All the preparations mentioned above make this leap into action smoother and easier.

Deep Work Rules

Once you have successfully achieved a state of doing deep work, the benefits of using this tool will be obvious. But maintaining a routine is more challenging, and here are a few ways you can improve your chances.

Be realistic when setting up a schedule.

Cal Newport advises stretches of about 90 minutes of deep work to achieve a specific goal, but he warns that the 21st-century lifestyle has done a great deal of damage to our ability to focus. In the beginning, it might be better to try a 30-minute session, or even a 15-minute one. Remember that it’s all too easy to overestimate your ability to focus, which leads to failure and disappointment.

Set goals.

For deep work to have any measurable success, clear and concise goals must be set. The deep work period must have a specific objective. Without goals, one’s focus dissipates much more quickly, and it becomes difficult to assess what was achieved during the process.

Set the stage.

It can be helpful to perform each deep work session in the same place. Some people find that sticking to a particular kind of music can be helpful too. The idea is to train yourself to slip into a deep work state more easily over time.

Radio silence.

Toss your smartphone aside and silence it, assign a “Do Not Disturb” status to any application that you’re using to communicate at work, and close all email tabs. Interruptions from coworkers and family members should be brought to a minimum, and turning off all social media is extremely important.

Keep an eye out for procrastination.

Instead of pondering over questions unrelated to the goal of the deep work session, make a habit of simply getting into it. Your focus may start to crumble at some point, and your thoughts will wander. Reassert them by forming a ritual - perhaps a phrase such as “Get back to work” or “You’re losing focus”.

Respect the schedule.

When the time period allocated to deep work is up, just stop working. Deep work is cognitively exhausting, and you shouldn’t try to keep doing it past the point of fatigue. Recover by putting the mind to good use – read a book, cook, spend time with family and friends, etc. This is referred to as “high-quality leisure” and it leads to even better deep work sessions later on.

Assess deep work.

Have the goals of the deep work session been achieved? Was too much (or too little) time allotted to the activity? Make the necessary adjustments, and keep at it. Consistency in practice is essential.

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