Maximum Focus: Harnessing the Power of Deep Work for Success

Follow this scenario:

• You wake up in the morning.

• You look at your to-do list.

• You have so many activities, but just two very important tasks for the day.

• You join a lot of meetings during the day.

• You have tons of emails in your mailbox.

• You have pending approvals you need to get from someone.

• You have to plan a team event.

• You try to juggle all these at once by multitasking.

• You end up confused and unable to finish any of the important tasks.

• You feel tired and deflated.

• You end the day on a low note.

• You sleep troubled, thinking of all the work you couldn't do.

• You wake up in the morning and the cycle continues.

That's how most people spend their workday. In the end, they are viewed as underperforming. This is not because they lack the ability to deliver, but because they haven't found a rhythm for their work.

There are many techniques to resolve this and become productive.

One good method to use, along with proper organization and prioritization, is 'Deep work.'

Deep work is when you're super focused, so you can learn hard things and do great work fast. It's like having tunnel vision on your task, no distractions allowed.

Cal Newport was the first to talk about it. He says to really get things done, we should take a break from emails and chats for a few hours each day. In his book, Newport describes deep work as when you're totally focused and your brain is firing on all cylinders, without any distractions.

He described shallow work as tasks that are easy to do while you're not fully focused, like organizing tasks and communication that can be done quickly and repetitively. They are also called ‘work about work’

You'll increase your productivity if your deep work (actually getting things done) outweighs your shallow work (work about work).

Bill Gates famously has a deep work period called 'Think weeks,' which he does twice a year. No email, no phone calls, and no internet access. No distraction, just focused work, learning, and creating new solutions. Some companies practice no meeting days—a day for team members to dedicate their time to innovation and creativity without meetings to disrupt their flow.

To profit from this deep work concept, you have to find a way to incorporate it into your schedule.

The goal is not to completely remove shallow work, but to do more deep work.

Here are some ways to do it:

• Have a Most Important Task list (deep work) separate from your general to-do list (shallow work)

• Create a routine for deep work. These are activities that get you in the mood for deep work. Eg. Clearing your table, being in a particular space, using a physical watch, etc.

• Understand which deep work philosophy works best for you.

  1. Planned and scheduled 2 hours every day - Rhythmic philosophy

  2. Utilize any available free time between activities - Journalistic philosophy

  3. Plan for long stretches at least up to a day or more to do focused work only, use the remaining for other activities - Bimodal philosophy

  4. Complete eliminate or reduce shallow work by delegating to others - Monastic philosophy

• Have a clear goal or expectation from the deep work session.

• Utilize time management techniques to handle deep work cycles (52/17 rule, timeboxing, time blocking, etc.).

• Reduce distractions (no phone calls, emails, social media activities or even internet connection)

• Schedule rest and shallow work time.

• Track progress and review session.

As you go about today’s activities, try to increase deep work and reduce shallow work to enhance your productivity.