Shifting Gears
"People fight desires all day long," resulted from a study by Wilhelm Hofmann and Roy Baumeister. The psychologists equipped 205 subjects with beepers that activated at random times. When the beepers sounded, the subjects recorded their desires and feelings during the activity they were participating in. They discovered people often struggle with these common desires: eating, sleeping, sex, and taking breaks from work (via e-mail or social media).
Baumeister later went on to write about his further discovery of human willpower: we have a finite reserve of willpower that depletes with utilization. The subjects in his previous study strained their stores of willpower as they fought against distractions until their reserves were emptied. Matters which require intense or direct attention quickly exhaust these stores of willpower. However, leisurely activities, especially those in nature or with family and friends, can restore these reserves to full capacity. Adding routines and rituals to amplify your intentions is integral to creating effective deep work habits.
In his book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Cal Newport describes the various philosophies for integrating deep work into your professional habits. The Monastic Philosophy prioritizes deep work by minimizing all other work. To accomplish this philosophy, you have to focus extensively on deep work for your specific goal maintaining your specific goal with utmost and sole importance. The Bimodal Philosophy allows you to divide your time between responsibilities. Here, you define distinct stretches of time toward deep work and other times to your other responsibilities. Bimodal work can be extremely productive, only if the participant dedicates enough time to allow the brain to reach maximum cognitive capacity, usually at least one day. The Rhythmic Philosophy is more beneficial for those who have many responsibilities, such as new parents or students with jobs and other priorities. The participant schedules certain hours of each day solely for deep work, allowing their bodies and minds to form a rhythmic habit, saving their willpower reserves from exerting energy on deciding when to work deeply. The Journalistic Philosophy is more difficult as it requires the participants to be more methodic. This is most common amongst journalists who are more capable of going deep at a moment's notice.
In addition to adopting one of the above philosophies, knowledge workers can mentally recreate David Dewane's Eudaimonia Machine to encourage deep work. Named after the Greek concept eudaimonia, which describes achieving your full potential, Dewane's machine seeks to encourage this concept. His proposed structure contains five rooms that are connected in such a way that you must pass through each to get to the next, there is no hallway to bypass any room. The gallery intends to inspire by showcasing previous works created in the "machine" to create healthy competition. The salon encourages debate amongst thinkers and developers, providing a safe space for brooding and conceptualizing. The library maintains a record of all works previously made in the machine as well as many resources and books for new thinkers. The office space is secretarial in design, where thinkers can complete their shallow administrative tasks before delving into their deep work. The final room is filled with individual chambers, each soundproofed to reduce distractions, where thinkers can devote ninety minutes of work followed by ninety minutes of rest up to three times per day (before the mind has reached its attention capacity).
"Great creative minds think like artists but work like accountants."
David Brooks
When creating rituals and routines for working deeply, keep some important notions in mind:
1. Find or create a quiet place to think without distractions. Note how long you can spend in this space: can you only spare a few hours at a time or will you be spending days in your sanctuary? Make sure this space has the appropriate necessities for the length of time you will be there.
2. Develop rules for how you will work. What do you need with you to work? What do you need to leave behind to keep yourself focused? Understand how you work most effectively.
3. Ensure you have allowed yourself time to rest and recharge before strenuous amounts of deep work. You should understand yourself well enough to know how much support you will need before you can resume deep work. Systemize your work and leisure time to reduce the amount of mental energy needed to calculate when you'll go deep.
By following similar habits in your deep work practices, you can promote personal and professional productivity.