What's up guys ?
Today, I'm going to be talking about the first productivity hack in my new productivity hack series. This hack is known as Deep Work.
Deep Work was actually coined by Cal Newport, an assistant professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University.
He received his PhD from MIT and is the author of several phenomenal books. This video is inspired by his book titled "Deep Work"
Book defines Deep Work as
professional activities performed in the state of distraction-free concentration
that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit.
These efforts create new value, improve your skill and are hard to replicate.
Examples of deep work would include:
studying, writing a book, making music or solving a new and tough problem.
On the contrary, shallow work is defined as non-cognitively demanding, logistical style tasks often performed while distracted.
These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate
Examples of shallow work would include
scrolling through social media,
doing easy homework problems,
organizing data in Excel
or answering emails.
People who spend more time engaged in deep work activities
will be more productive and accomplish more than people who are constantly engaged in shallow work.
Dr. Newport argues that the practice of deep work will enable you to
Learn difficult things quicker and create to the best of your ability.
In this video, I'll go over why you should care and some best practices for incorporating deep work into your life.
So, why should you care?
The main idea behind deep work is to eliminate all distractions
and to focus intently on a single subject or task for an extended period of time
Dr. Newport argues that the ability to work deeply is becoming the most valuable asset for a worker in our knowledge economy
at the same time that it is becoming increasingly rare.
The explosion of the Internet, social media and non-stop advertisement has created a world in which the vast majority of people are in a state of constant distraction.
In order to be the best student or worker we can be, it is important that we learn to work deeply.
This ability will boost your grades and have companies knocking at your door to hire you
Now let's go over a concept called flow.
When the brain is allowed to work on a task without distraction
it eventually enters a state of "flow".
The term flow was created by a Hungarian psychologist whose name I can't pronounce
so I'm just going to put it on the screen.
Here's a quote from Wikipedia about flow.
In positive psychology
flow, also known as the zone, is the mental state of operation
in which a person performing activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus,
full involvement and enjoyment in the process of the activity.
In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does.
Most of you have probably experienced flow before. It's that feeling of being in the zone.
Deep work doesn't only put you in a state of flow, but it will actually make you happier.
According to the hungarian psychologist whose name I can't pronounce,
being in a state of flow is more likely to make you happier than having free time.
Here is his exact quote.
"Ironically, jobs are actually easier to enjoy than free time because like flow activities they have built-in goals,
feedback rules and challenges, all of which encourage one to become involved in one's work, to concentrate and lose oneself in it.
Free time on the other hand is unstructured and requires much greater effort to be shaped into something that can be enjoyed."
Let's talk about incorporating deep work into your life.
Start by picking certain days weeks or months that you will dedicate to deep work.
During these periods of time, you can't engage in any shallow work at all such as social media, emailing, watching TV, going to meetings, etc.
This time should only be dedicated to focused learning, growing and the solving of tough problems.
For example, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Some people may choose to go on longer deep works stretches,
like maybe from Monday to Friday every week or every other month.
A Swedish psychologist by the name of Anders Ericsson wrote a paper in 1993
where he essentially revealed that someone who is new to deep work will probably only be able to do it for an hour,
while veterans can work deeply for close to four hours.
So maybe start small, then increase the amount of time you intend to work deeply as you get more accustomed to it.
After you pick a time, you need to pick a location
The location should be somewhere relatively quiet and free from distraction.
That means there should be no TVs, computers or music nearby.
Some examples would be the library, a home office or any quiet spot on a university or college campus.
Next you need to establish the laws of your deep work session
These laws are a set of guidelines that you must follow every time you're about to perform a deeper session.
An example of my rule list would be: no texting or using my phone, no internet, no email, no meetings
no chatting with others.
And I must fully solve a problem or summarize the key points of a problem before taking a break
Lastly, you need to create rechargers for your deep work session.
A recharger is something that helps keep you motivated and your energy levels high.
Some examples would be: Drinking coffee at the beginning of a work session,
taking scheduled breaks, having snacks at hand or cleaning the workspace.
Finally, let's put it all together.
Now that you know the basics of deep work, here is an example of what a fleshed-out deep work plan may look like.
Study from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. every morning in the home office.
No texting, internet, TV or music
And before starting, I'll pour myself a cup of coffee and take five-minute breaks to stretch every 30 minutes
This was my own take on the deep work concept inspired by Dr. Newport's book.
If you found the ideas in this video interesting,
I would highly recommend buying his book, "Deep Work - rules for focused success in a distracted world"
It was one of the best books I've read within the last year.
I'll end this video with a quote from the book.
"The deep work hypothesis: the ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare.
At exactly the same time, it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy.
As a consequence, the few who cultivate the skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive."
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Thanks for watching guys, and I'll see you next time!