Digital technology is evolving at a pace we cannot keep up with.
Consequently, there is a significant gap between humans (and their respective skill sets) and digital resources (AI and machines).
The problem is that if this gap continues to increase, employers may eventually choose to work with machines instead of humans. So, for us to have a single chance of bridging this gap, we need to find a way to quickly improve our skills and adapt.
For Cal Newport, computer science professor and bestselling author, the solution comes down to deep work.
Deep work has little to do with technology and a lot to do with an environment free from distractions. It is the strategy that allows us to fully tap into our potential and individual intelligence. Deep work is what allows you to quickly master new and demanding skills and produce work at an elite level.
These are abilities necessary to thrive in the current digital environment. According to Newport, only 3 profiles of people are set to succeed:
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The high-skill workers – they are the ones able to work with complex intelligent machines.
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The superstars – the specialists in their field.
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The owners – the ones with capital.
As it is harder to be one of the latter, deep work is the solution we should be focusing on.
Cal Newport gathered his insights on this topic in a book entitled “Deep Work”. In this article, we will share the key insights as well as the 4 rules to incorporate deep work in your daily routine and produce outstanding and hard-to-replicate outcomes.
Deep work vs. Shallow work
Productive or focused work is not necessarily a synonym of deep work. We are breaking down this concept because only when you fully understand deep work can you critically examine your habits and be conscious of how you do work.
Deep work, for Cal Newport, encompasses all “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive abilities to their limit”. He also adds that “these efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are harder to replicate”.
Shallow work can be perceived as tasks that are logistical and non-cognitively demanding. We can often perform them while being distracted. Examples of these may be answering the phone, checking an email, etc. These efforts do not create the same value as the one generated through deep work and are easy to replicate.
Deep Work is valuable
Deep work may lead you to develop your best work. And since we are currently living in a globalised and interconnected world, you can easily share your knowledge with millions of people. In other words, the work you produced in a 3 hour deep work session may impact the lives of people in a different country.
Science has also discovered that deep work allows us to rapidly connect ideas and generate creative solutions. A team of neuroscientists have found that when we intensely focus on a task for a certain period, myelin develops in relevant areas of the brain. Consequently, our neurons fire faster and clearer signals between each other.
Deep Work is rare
Being able to work uninterruptedly for at least a couple of hours feels like a mirage.
Over the years, employers have adopted a few business trends supposedly aimed at making collaboration and work more productive and effective at achieving expected results. Nevertheless, this backfired as they made deep work increasingly difficult.
For instance, we started working on open offices, which made us susceptible to constant distractions. We started communicating through instant messaging platforms and we are now expected to respond immediately to emails and messages. And there is increasing pressure to build an online presence through our social media channels.
To add to the problem, our brains are naturally wired to be distracted and pay attention to novelty. Be it a notification, a phone call, or a noise, it will take our focus away from the task we have at hand. And recovering from such interruptions is highly costly both for employees and companies.
Instead of having organisations supporting deep work, we have companies supporting connectivity and urgency.
While trying to find the reasons that explain why deep work is so hard, Newport came across two potential explanations:
- The principle of least resistance – we tend to act in the way that is easiest for us at a certain moment. Open offices and instant messaging do that for us – they allow us to quickly connect with others and find the answers we are looking for. Also, meetings can be another example as they may help us to organise our time and force us to act.
“The Principle of Least Resistance… supports work cultures that save us from the short-term discomfort of concentration and planning, at the expense of long-term satisfaction and the production of real value.” – Cal Newport
- The absence of indicators of productivity – job ambiguity and a lack of indicators of productivity for knowledge workers leads us to always try and look busy. Thus, we fill our work hours with emails, scheduling meetings, and doing other visible tasks, instead of focusing on deep work.
5 Rules of Deep Work
Based on his research, Cal Newport developed a set of 4 rules that work as guides for you to integrate deep work into your daily routine. Here is how you can do it:
Schedule your deep work hours
You must know exactly when it is time for deep work and when to do shallow work. There are different methods you can use to figure out your ideal schedule. Newport advises you to choose between the following 4 strategies (or philosophies as he calls them):
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The monastic philosophy – you isolate yourself for long periods and avoid all distractions. During this time, you should never do shallow work.
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The bimodal philosophy – you reserve a few consecutive days to do deep work in a monastic way. You should pick at least one day a week.
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The rhythmic philosophy – you use 3-4 hours of deep work every day in a monastic way. If you are new to deep work, this is probably the easiest way to start as it allows you to easily build a consistent habit. Early morning is typically the best time to dedicate to undisturbed work – nevertheless, you should choose the time that best works for you.
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You should be patient with yourself. Research shows that people new to deep work usually only manage to hold their attention on the task for about 1 hour, while masters of deep work can do it for up to 4 hours with intervals between 16-19 minutes throughout the day.
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The journalistic philosophy – you alternate your day between deep and shallow work as it best suits you. If you are new to deep work, you should not start with this approach.
Create a shutdown ritual
As deep work is cognitively demanding, you need to rest and restore your energy. Hence, a calming evening and a good sleep routine are essential.
For an effective shutdown ritual, Cal Newport recommends you to plan your following day. You can do this by making a list of every unfinished task and goal you can realistically accomplish in a day. For each, you can add a column with the steps you will take to achieve them. Laying everything out allows your mind to quickly disconnect from work for the rest of the day.
Embrace boredom
According to Newport, you need to feel bored. It is essential for your mind to fully recover from the hard work of deep focus.
But, nowadays, we do not allow ourselves to feel bored anymore. As soon as we finish a task or have “nothing else to do”, we immediately go online because we feel we need some entertainment to distract us from silence.
The problem is that switching between different contents, pages, and platforms in short periods of time has negative consequences for our brains as it makes us more prone to seek distractions in the future. Thus, it ultimately makes deep work harder for us.
“People who multitask all the time can’t filter out irrelevancy. They can’t manage a working memory. They’re chronically distracted. They initiate much larger parts of their brain that are irrelevant to the task at hand… they’re pretty much mental wrecks.” – Cal Newport
Here is what Cal Newport advises you to do to avoid this:
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Take breaks from focus – to help you handle distractions and keep your brain sharp for focus work, you should schedule your distraction periods. Instead of allowing yourself to go online when you wish or when a notification comes in, you have special slots, at home and work, for these online wanderings.
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Meditate productively – you can seize moments where you are doing mentally automated tasks like walking and driving to think about pressing problems. This may help you to fluidly come up with solutions in a period that would initially be wasted.
You may feel this is a bit extreme. But let us explain Newport’s point of view.
He came to realise that most people justify their use of social media with any benefit it gives (e.g. entertainment). He calls this an “any-benefit approach to network tools”. By contrast, some people use social media as a tool to help them achieve a certain professional or personal goal. This intended use of social media Newport calls “craftsman approach to tool selection”. This latter approach is much more helpful for deep work aspirants.
Here are 3 strategies you can use to minimise dispurposed use of social media:
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Apply the law of the vital few – this law states that 80% of a given outcome is due to 20% of possible causes. You can use this to assess if your use of network tools is really fundamental or can be minimised and eventually eliminated. Simply ask yourself if social media contributes to necessary activities you have to do to achieve your goals, to the 20% that makes a difference.
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Quit social media for 30 days – after this period ask yourself: Have these 30 days been better? Has anyone noticed that I have been missing? If you answer YES to the first question and NO to the second, you should stop using social media altogether.
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Stop using social media to entertain yourself – you should be intentional about how you spend your free time. Pursuit hobbies, plan activities with friends and family, try new things, etc. You can even seize this time for activities that will help you achieve long-term goals.
Drain the shallows
Although there should be a balance between deep and shallow work, you may often find shallow work taking much longer to complete than expected. Worst still if you cannot avoid these less demanding cognitive tasks.
“Treat shallow work with suspicion because its damage is often vastly underestimated and its importance vastly overestimated. This type of work is inevitable, but you must keep it confined to a point where it doesn’t impede your ability to take full advantage of the deeper efforts that ultimately determine your impact.” – Cal Newport
Newport urges you to have control over these shallow tasks that devour your time, so he suggests the following:
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Schedule your workday – planning helps you stay focused. At the beginning of each workday, or on the night before, divide your day into blocks and assign tasks to each one. Although unforeseen events may happen, this method ensures you know what you should be focusing on as time goes by. Plus, you can always edit the schedule to accommodate changes.
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Quantify the depth of every task – to understand if the task can qualify for deep or shallow work, you can ask yourself: How much time will a graduate student without special training need to do it? If they take a lot of time, it is probably deep work.
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Do not work after you finish working – disconnect from all notifications and worries once you finished working. Prioritise your personal time.
Key takeaways
Deep work is an effective strategy to achieve hard-to-replicate results. It is also the solution for employees who wish to effectively develop their skills and produce work at an elite level.
Nevertheless, as years go by, it has become considerably harder to stay focused on a single task for long periods due to the extensive use of technology and unhelpful business trends.
According to Cal Newport, you must practise and create a habit of deep working. Here are the 5 rules you should follow:
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Schedule your deep work hours
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Create a shutdown ritual
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Embrace boredom
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Quit social media
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Drain shallows
Deep work is probably what sets you apart from expanding your potential.