The Forgotten Art of Deep Working

Deep working as stated by Cal Newport in his book ‘Deep Work’ is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time.

The concept behind it is simple – remove all distractions from your environment and train your brain to focus on the task at hand for higher-quality results.

In an age where attention spans are rapidly declining, we have become used to instant gratification – getting what we want when we want it.

This way of living has depleted our concentration levels and has made boredom our nemesis. We grab any free second that we get to immerse ourselves in our phones browsing social media and devouring short-form content, so we don’t spend a single moment being bored.

It’s getting hard to continue reading, isn’t it?

Your brain is twitching to move on to another task – check your email or reply to your friend’s message or get on Instagram to browse funny reels and get that dopamine rush.

We have become addicted to juggling tasks and never spending enough time on just one. So, what is the point of deep work? To summarize –

It provides you with the ability to quickly master hard subjects/concepts.
It makes you capable of producing work at an elite level both in terms of quality and speed.

Does that sound good? Then continue reading.

The book narrates a few core concepts and rules to deep working. To keep this article short – just the way you like it – I’m focusing on a few highlights.

“If you cannot learn, you cannot thrive”

- Cal Newport in Deep Work

Form a Habit

Prioritize a schedule that works for you and during that time, strictly focus on work. That means no checking emails, no distractions, and certainly no scrolling on social media. Working this way can limit burnout and keep you focused on your work.

The way to form a new habit is to set a desired goal and try your best not to break that chain.

Jerry Seinfeld a popular comedian wrote a joke every single day and the reason for his undeniable success he says, “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.”

Make it Fun with Math

By making your goals quantifiable, you can make your habits fun. Who knew math could be exciting right? Accountants, that’s who.

Jokes aside, by breaking down your goal – in this case deep working for a few days of the week – the task becomes simpler and attainable.

If you keep a scoreboard and track every hour that you deep work, your only job is to keep going until you reach your goal.

Here’s where the fun part comes in and by no means is this necessary if you don’t want to do it. By tracking your productivity, in a few weeks of deep working, you will be able to see clear results.

Say your Goodbyes

A lot of us have trouble disconnecting from work – especially in a remote setup where we aren’t commuting to the office every day.

Having a daily downtime routine is immensely helpful in this scenario to put a definite end to your day so you can relax and recharge for tomorrow. There are a few ways to do this –

Keep a fixed time when your day ends.
Keep a task list for actions that need to be completed the next day. This puts your brain at ease knowing that nothing is forgotten.
Run through emails to make sure that nothing has fallen through the cracks.
Say ‘shutdown complete’. This is the magic word that trains your brain over time to stop obsessing over tasks as you have taken care of them in points 1-3, hopefully.

A relaxing and unwinding ritual is as necessary as concentration to deep work. Your brain needs rest to perform better the next day.

“People who multitask all the time cannot filter out irrelevancy. They cannot manage a working memory. They’re chronically distracted. They’re mental wrecks.”

- Cal Newport in Deep Work

Go Big or Go Home

A drastic measure that can be helpful – estimate how long a task is going to take and then drastically reduce it. This leaves you with only one option, to deep work.

This method removes all opportunities for excuses as you must squeeze out every ounce of concentration to complete the task.

Use your Brain when your Body is in Movement

Use the time when you’re performing repetitive tasks to ponder problems/concepts.

Productive meditation is a period in which you’re not occupied mentally but physically. For example, walking, cycling, showering, or cooking.

During this time, you focus your attention on a single professional problem that’s bothering you. This exercise gives clarity and most often than not, provides a solution.

The 4DX Framework

The 4DX framework helps prioritize tasks and stay focused on your goal. Briefly –

Focus on the wildly important: A small number of essential and important tasks.
Act on lead measures: The time spent deep working on a task dedicated to your wildly important goal. Lag measures describe your output – tasks delivered/completed.
Adopt the scoreboard system: Track your deep work hours & productivity.
Be accountable: Review progress periodically to keep you on track.

By following this framework, you can avoid shallow work – simply put, any noncognitive demanding work that you perform usually when distracted that doesn’t add much value (checking emails, social media, idle internet browsing) – that takes up chunks of your time and doesn’t make you productive.

Relaxing is for Winners (and for those who continued reading until the end of the article)

And finally, have fun in your free time. Planning your free time with activities that bring joy and help you continue your productive streak and work on things you love doing.

Reading a book, going on a walk, listening to a fun podcast, or playing with your pet can boost energy and happiness levels.

What I personally like doing is switching on soft lights, fixing myself a cup of tea, and then sitting in a cozy spot to read a fiction book.

Before I sleep, I’ll pen down my to-do list with tasks for the next day (sometimes which also includes having a yummy cup of coffee because why not?) so my mind is at peace knowing everything I must get done is noted down.

Unless one of my cats gets to the list first, in which case, I’ll just wing it.

Disclaimer: Not all topics in the book are covered in this article. It’s my key takeaways and highlights condensed into a summary of the book. For an in-depth understanding of the concept, please read the book.