In today’s run-of-the-mill life, where there is competition in all quarters, every person tries to win. Forgetting the whole caboodle, he just keeps running after work and success. To win, he switches to multitasking, with the thought that maybe this will make him reach his destination soon. Juggling between inboxes, meetings, chats, presentations… throughout the day makes life a mechanical one. These things keep a person engrossed the whole time, cutting down the efficiency.
Without knowing that the factors keeping us occupied are obstructing our path to move forward… we get caught in this elusive web. And we end up with a breakdown instead of being endowed with amazing success. We always feel that even after doing a remarkable job, we have failed. We do not know the fact that the multitasking process we were working with was covertly reducing productivity without a clue.
Here we’ll discuss the following:
- Shallow Work
- Deep Work
- Importance of Deep Work
- Types of Deep Work
- How to do Deep Work
Shallow Work
We are surrounded by so many distractions all the time that even when we are busy, our productivity gets bogged down. Such distractions undeniably disrupt our main task. These minor tasks done in the state of distractions are denoted as Shallow Work. Shallow work increases the time to accomplish a task and decreases its quality.
Shallow work or distractions have become so ingrained in our daily lives that we do not even realize that they have become a hindrance. Just think, about how many times you unnecessarily check your phone in the middle of doing a task, check your mail or get busy with an app, and you don’t realize how much time was wasted. The work that we could have done in 1 hour consumed a whole precious day. The question is: Why don’t we realize it? Because everyone else is doing the same.
Deep Work
By now you must have understood what deep work is. Let’s get the idea with an example.
You have to work on a big project, and you also have some emails and chats to answer. But realizing the importance of the project, you clear away all the distractions for some time and put your full focus and attention in your work. Wonderful! Pat yourself, you have chosen Deep Work over Shallow Work.
According to Cal Newport, who published the book on Deep Work – ‘Deep work is an activity done in a state of full concentration and nodistraction’.
Importance of Deep Work
‘Deep Work is the superpower of 21st Century’ – Cal Newport mentioned this statement in his book about Deep Work.
Why it is called a Superpower? Nowadays most professional activities are either done by algorithms or through machinery. In human resources, businesses give priority to people acquainted with deep thinking and have extraordinary potential. They look for people with excellence and creativity. These traits can only be developed through Deep Work.
To sustain yourself and be successful in the 21st century, it is very important to habituate yourself for deep work.
Deep work:
- Increases concentration.
- Enhances productivity.
- Saves time.
- Escalates creativity.
- Reduces anxiety.
- Promotes Health.
Types of Deep Work
4 Deep Work philosophies are:
- Monastic Deep Work
In Monastic deep work, a person isolates himself and cut off the world. Staying isolated for a longer period without distractions represents this philosophy.
- Bimodal Deep Work
Keeping yourself isolated for a certain period represents Bimodal deep work. It could be a week’s isolation or a few days’ isolations. The motive is to leave the distractions for few days reserved for deep thinking. For example, Bill Gates, an American Business Magnate isolates himself for ‘Think Weeks’ twice a year. He uses this ‘no distraction’ time for reading books or for planning new projects.
- Rhythmic Deep Work
In this philosophy, a fixed pattern or rhythm is followed for Deep work. This scheduled pattern for daily deep work could be of 3-4 hours. The important thing to note is that‘follow the same pattern daily’.
- Journalist Deep Work
In this modal, a person chooses to do deep work as and when it is required. Instead of reserving day, time or hours it is done as per the need. This philosophy is not recommended for beginners as it has higher chances of failures due to no set pattern of deep work.
How to do Deep Work
Let’s check the steps for Deep Work:
- Set a Ritual – Make it a part of Lifestyle.
- Make a Schedule for Deep work.
- Set Deadlines for the Target Tasks.
- Make yourself Unavailable for Distractions.
- Stay Strong, Embrace Boredom.
