Knowing what to do and how to do it are two very different things.
Individuals and companies focus a lot of time and resources figuring out the what but fail
to figure out how to execute the identified strategy.
Execution is more difficult than strategizing. The book The 4 Disciplines of Execution describes
4 “disciplines” to successfully implement high-level strategies:
Focus on the Wildly Important: have a small number of really critical goals that you will
pursue on Deep Work hours. These should return tangible and substantial professional benefits
to generate a steadier stream of enthusiasm. Less is more
Act on the Lead Measures: measure your success with 2 types of metrics: lag and lead measures.
Lag measures are the ultimate goal you are trying to reach, such as the number of papers
written. Lead measures measure the new behaviors that will drive success on the lag measures.
For Deep Work, the relevant lead measure is time spent in a state of Deep Work dedicated
to your goal Keep a Compelling Scoreboard: people play
differently when they’re keeping score. Newport uses a simple calendar tracking Deep
Work hours completed each day and circles the days that produce tangible results, such
as solving a key problem Create a Cadence of Accountability: you need
regular accountability towards your wildly important goal. Get into the habit of a weekly
review in which you plan for the workweek ahead
We live in a world of distraction. Long uninterrupted stretches of time at work
are all but impossible. And we are distracted in our personal lives, by television or social
media. As a result, our attention span has decreased.
Our brain expects and requests distraction. “Interruption, even if short, delays the
total time required to complete a task by a significant fraction”
Constant task switching lessens our capacity to focus. Deliberate focused work, on the
other hand, leads to the reinforcement of neural pathways.
Here’s how to remove distractions and improve focus:
Headphones: I rate my Bose QuietComfort 35 as one of the best investments I ever made.
Coworkers will think you can’t hear them and the barrier to interrupt you is much higher
Work Remotely: start by asking for a half-day, preferably mornings
Email: treat email as a to-do and schedule it in your calendar twice per day: late morning
and late evening. Have an end time, such as one Pomodoro cycle
Disable Phone Notifications: disable all notifications. If it’s truly urgent, people will call
Schedule Internet Time: schedule in advance when you’ll use the Internet and avoid it
outside of those times. Restricting your usage at home improves your concentration training
Clear to Neutral: at the end of the day, close all your tabs and programs, delete or move
all the files from Downloads, empty the trash, and shut off your computer. Clearing to neutral
helps “future you” get started
Long stretches of intense concentration should be balanced with quality rest.
Research shows that we can be fully focused for only about 4 hours a day. After that,
our ability to focus intensely decreases. Rest is very important to enhance your Deep
Work efforts. “At the end of the workday, shut down your
consideration of work issues until the next morning — no after-dinner e-mail check,
no mental replays of conversations, and no scheming about how you’ll handle an upcoming
challenge; shut down work thinking completely.” You must be equality ruthless in protecting
your rest as you are with your Deep Work. Here’s why downtime is so important:
New Insights: as your conscious mind rests, the unconscious mind takes over and provides
valuable insights or creative ideas and consolidates memories
Recharge: rest fills up the energy needed to work deeply. You restore your ability to
direct your attention by giving this activity a rest
Evening Work Is Usually Not Important: work that you fit in your downtime isn’t normally
high-value activities that really advance your career but rather low-value shallow tasks
(executed at a slow, low-energy pace) Quality downtime is not mindless web browsing
or watching Netflix. Be more intentional with tech by adopting digital minimalism and doing
a digital detox. Rest is something that everyone does. But
mastering the skill of rest can transform your life and make you more productive.
Improving your Deep Work ability is a process and as such you need to practice it constantly.
Here’s how to get better at Deep Work: Quit Social Media: all those notifications
hurt your ability to focus and stay focused. Social media isn’t all bad but it’s definitely
a bad habit. Practice Saying “No”: be selective when
deciding what opportunities to go after. Anytime you fail to say “no”, you’re saying
yes by default. Read Essentialism by Greg Mckeown
Meditate: 10 minutes of meditation in the morning will greatly increase your ability
to focus throughout the day As with any new practice, adjust it to your
own life. There’s no one-size-fits-all model of Deep
Work. There’s only the way that works for you.
And once you find it, you’ll become unstoppable.