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Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

alexdenning.com

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Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#11

Post by smcguinness »

I recently had to go through the process of "re-learning how to work." I didn't realize how bad I was at deep work, as the article references it as, until I quit my job and set out on my own full-time.

I found that I was replacing the normal interruptions of the office - meetings, email, phone calls, lunch; with getting distracted on social media, general reading, checking alerts, etc. It was like my brain was conditioned to expect a distraction and thus made me seek it out.

It took some effort, but making sure I am organized for the week has really helped as I know what I need to get done. Also, I've now been able to use my "distracted level" as a litmus test of how organized I am. I know when I'm not focused as much as I should, I need to spend some time on my planning.

edit: grammar

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#13

Post by sevenironcows »

Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #7

These are tricks and "hacks," which are certainly useful. But they are only band-aid fixes. The external environment will continually evolve to find new ways to blast stimuli at you. The only real defense is training your mind.

Absolutely. I try and address this in the post when discussing the Pomodoro Technique, which is probably the most frequently cited "band-aid fix". But – these band aid fixes are a decent way of starting to train yourself to resist distraction, so aren't to be immediately dismissed.

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#14

Post by sevenironcows »

anotheryou wrote: post #9
kareemsabri wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a nice sentiment, but the products/sites/apps that aim to suck our attention are designed to exploit human weaknesses via dopamine release, variable reward etc. (see the book Hooked), making it exceedingly difficult and potentially expending your finite store of willpower on things you could much more easily avoid altogether. Personally, cultivating the self-control to avoid checking facebook.com is less interes…

I kinda block my facebook newsfeed via CSS, but just to be able to access chat without having to read the feed if I don't want to (remaining just one click away from toggling it back on). (you can also do that my typing an invalid url and setting it as your facebook bookmark, e.g. https://www.facebook.com/asdfgwhatever )

News Feed Eradicator is really good for this. You can also use messenger.com to access chat without any other notifications - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicat...

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#15

Post by imgabe »

mattkrause wrote: post #5
amerine wrote: post #2

This is the first I've heard the term "deep work". Is this a more common term or something coined recently?

I feel like the hype around deep learning is slowly spreading to all "deep [Noun Phrase]" phrases.

It's pretty unrelated to deep learning.

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#16

Post by anotheryou »

sevenironcows wrote: post #14
anotheryou wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kinda block my facebook newsfeed via CSS, but just to be able to access chat without having to read the feed if I don't want to (remaining just one click away from toggling it back on). (you can also do that my typing an invalid url and setting it as your facebook bookmark, e.g. https://www.facebook.com/asdfgwhatever )

News Feed Eradicator is really good for this. You can also use messenger.com to access chat without any other notifications - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicat...

oh thanks, the web version looks good. I just tried the windows metro app and it failed to notify on new messages all the time...

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#17

Post by martin-adams »

amerine wrote: post #2

This is the first I've heard the term "deep work". Is this a more common term or something coined recently?

I was new to it as well when a commenter on my YouTube channel recommended the Deep Work book. Listened to the audio book and really, really appreciated it. Deep work is now something I aspire to get better at because I'd been feeling it was something I was missing for a while now.

I think of it like getting in the zone with coding where you get deeply valuable work done without distractions.

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#18

Post by jasikpark »

anotheryou wrote: post #9
kareemsabri wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a nice sentiment, but the products/sites/apps that aim to suck our attention are designed to exploit human weaknesses via dopamine release, variable reward etc. (see the book Hooked), making it exceedingly difficult and potentially expending your finite store of willpower on things you could much more easily avoid altogether. Personally, cultivating the self-control to avoid checking facebook.com is less interes…

I kinda block my facebook newsfeed via CSS, but just to be able to access chat without having to read the feed if I don't want to (remaining just one click away from toggling it back on). (you can also do that my typing an invalid url and setting it as your facebook bookmark, e.g. https://www.facebook.com/asdfgwhatever )

Just use http://messenger.com

Re: Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction

#20

Post by Swizec »

anotheryou wrote: post #6

I think self-control should be valued higher than self-restriction. With self-restriction I mean blocking bookmarks (hindering you), not muting the phone (removing outside distractions). To me this self-improvement through shedding responsibility is scary. It's the same for fitness tracker that tell you when to do. (I have to admit there is some grey area in between though. Some habit forming can be beneficial ((e.g.…

It's a form of procrastination, especially frequent when you are tired, unsure of how to tackle what you're doing, or just don't like what you're supposed to be doing. The worst is when you run a compiler or something and it takes 5 seconds. You obviously can't just stare at empty space for that long so you go spend 5 minutes on the internet.

The slower your tools, the viciouser the cycle.

Opening the internet on encountering any sort of difficulty or setback in your task is a particularly vicious reflex. Sometimes I'm on my phone or checkinn slack or whatever before I even consciously realize whay I'm doing.

Pomodore helps bring a modicum of structure to that behavior by keeping me off the internet for 25min and then letting the flood gates loose for 5min. It fails in the face of slow tools of course.

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