We all have dreams that drive us, but sometimes it can be difficult to put one foot in front of the other and make it happen. Life gets in the way of our dreams all too often. Kids, our day job, coffee with that friend from college that you haven’t seen in a few years. Suddenly the book you wanted to write or the business you wanted to start seems to slip from your fingers, moving further and further away from becoming a reality. When someone asks why you never did it, you respond that we simply don’t have the time.
The hard truth, however, is that you do have time. It’s how you prioritize that time that makes all the difference. In Cal Newport's book Deep Work, he discusses the concept of Deep Work vs. Shallow Work. According to him, shallow work is what has become the standard in today's society. We sit down to write a blog post, and we stop five minutes in because we got an email notification that distracted us. Fifteen minutes later we’re starting to settle back into the groove of the writing and an Instagram notification pops up on our phone. Suddenly we’re out of the zone again. Shallow work is never your best work, and it’s easy to replicate making it less valuable.
Deep work is achieved by removing distractions from your area and getting into a state of hyper-focus. The result of content produced by deep work is of higher quality and can not be easily replicated. Now that you know the difference between the two, it’s obvious which type of work is going to assist you in reaching your dreams.
How to Achieve Deep Work
- Put your phone away - At its core, getting your mind into a state of deep work means getting rid of distractions, and what is your phone besides one big distraction? It’s constantly buzzing and dinging and ringing, all of which your mind is conditioned to focus in on. If you’re trying to get into the zone, put your phone in another room before you sit down to work.
- Stay off the internet - This is easier said than done, as many of us use the internet for research when we’re working. A great tip to utilize is to collect your research prior to digging into deep work. That way the tabs you need are already open and at your disposal, meaning you can turn off your wifi and settle into your creative headspace without the distraction of emails coming through.
- Make time for laziness - According to Cal Newport’s book, laziness is vital to deep work. The mind can only stay hyper-focused for so long. For those of us who are new at it, about an hour is typical. Any more than that and we start to falter. For experts at the craft of deep work, four hours tend to be the maximum amount of time they can spend a day in a state of extreme focus. It’s vital to give your mind a break in between. We’re humans, not machines, so rest easy knowing that vegging out and watching Netflix is actually part of your to-do list for the day.
- Set a timer - As mentioned above, there’s only so much time our brains can handle being in a state of hyper-focus. When sitting down to work on a project, estimate the amount of time you have for uninterrupted work. If your toddler is down for a nap and they typically nap for an hour and a half, set a timer for an hour. While the timer is going, you’re only allowed to work on the matter at hand. Once the timer has gone off, you can choose to end your work and pick it back up later in the day when you have another block of uninterrupted time. Having a specific start time and a specific end time eases the mind and allows you to crank out your best work.
It’s easy to write off the concept of deep work. You may say that you’re great at multi-tasking so this doesn’t apply to you, but simply the act of switching between tasks takes away from our mental energy. Shifting tasks quickly leads to shallow work. Shallow work may be easier, but doing less than your best won’t get you where you want to be. Developing your ability to achieve deep work will take time and effort on your part. Like any good habit, you’ll have to make it a daily priority before it becomes natural. Whenever you’re in a rut, give this article a reread and remember why you’re trying to develop this skill in the first place. Keep your dream at the forefront of your mind so that every time your brain tries to choose distraction over deep work, you choose instead to focus on the tasks that will benefit your life in the long run.