The Deep Work Experience



It was the summer of 2017 and my days were packed with multiple things. Co-organizing a Summer Camp for kids with my friends was one of the major work those days. There were regular meetings in the evenings and I would often work for the Summer Camp preparation in between office hours too. There was always a challenge to shift between multiple works and sometimes perform multiple tasks simultaneously. In simple terms – “Life was messed up”.

Thankfully, it was during this time I came across the book “Deep Work” by Cal Newport through a super-voracious (literally) reader friend. Implementing the techniques suggested in the book not only helped me in successfully organizing the Summer Camp, but it also gave me a direction to manage my personal work efficiently.

First, please keep in mind that this is not a book review. I am just sharing a few of my experiences after implementing the techniques of Deep Work.

Not going into the technical definition of Deep Work given in the book, in my simple words, it is giving your full concentration and effort on a particular task by shifting all your focus on it. To achieve this state of mind, it is incumbent to free yourself with all possible distractions. Speaking of distractions, I am sure nobody can deny the threat of our mobile “Notifications”. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc, etc., it is all right there in your small handheld device to keep you distracted as much as possible. As a result, you end up doing “Shallow Work” – the exact opposite of what Deep Work is all about. It is the practice of Deep Work, which actually produces the best works by Script Writers, Academicians, Philosophers, Scientists, and others. As a matter of fact, this article too is a result of a few hours of Deep Work.    

The time spent on Deep Work depends from person to person and from profession to profession. My personal experience with Deep Work is an hour’s cycle repeated 4 to 5 times a day. So it is 45 minutes of Deep Work followed by 15 minutes of break and the cycle repeats. However, let me also tell you that it took me close to two months to master this technique. The hardest part that I feel for the starters of Deep Work is detaching themselves from their phones. To achieve this, I had to make a very difficult decision – quitting social media, especially Facebook and Instagram. The fear of losing all my contacts revolved around my mind for a few days. Finally, I took a brave step and permanently deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts. Today, I have realized that my real contacts are still intact. On doing an estimation, I realized that I have saved myself at least 3 hours on a daily basis. To be honest, this had a huge impact on my personal and professional life. I get more time to spend with my family and friends. In addition, of course, more time for reading, writing, origami art, etc.  

All I want to say is that, with just a little conscious effort, we can take control of our lives and our precious time.

Keep Reading! Keep Growing!

For more information on the subject, read “Deep Work” by Cal Newport: 

Watch Cal Newport himself explaining why you need to quit Social Media in this TED Talk:

And lastly, to help yourself free from the trap of checking your phone again and again, check out this amazing website: 

Comments

  1. Really motivating! Keep writing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is something many of our generation need to read and implement. Apart from turning off notifications, avoiding mobile phone distractions or limiting one's time on social media, what other techniques can one follow that deep work may be done?

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    Replies
    1. Time Management too plays an important role in this. By time management i do not mean creating a time-table and strictly sticking to it. That will not make us live our lives to the fullness. We need to prioritize our works as per the situation. Prioritizing work is something we all need to develop within us. It is a skill that if mastered, we will be in a position to do bigger and better things in future.

      Another important thing that would help us in Deep Work is "Avoid Multi-tasking". Doing multiple works at the same time results in shallow work. If we want to produce the best results in the "little" time we have, then I suggest we take one task at a time and give it our best shot.

      A close friend use to say "If you are sweeping the floor, sweep it like no one else does" :)

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  3. Detaching ourselves from mobiles is one thing we all need to learn. Keep writing

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  4. Good article Shoib. Something to ponder upon. These things are common sense but unless we are concious about them we will fall prey to them. Like me, I am plagued with Shallow Work. Your article has now motivated me to read the book and practice Deep Work in real life. Thanks for sharing.

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