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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

#21

Post by wodenokoto »

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.…

    Do people really have a
    problem just riding the
    flow and not heading off 
    to hackernews mid-task 
    (honest question)?
Yes, lots of people have problems staying focused.

I have on more than one occasion even caught myself thinking "now I'm really in the zone, maybe I should check reddit"... But why would that help anything?

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

#22

Post by cerrelio »

My experience is pretty similar to the author's. The number of distractions that exist in my life have been pretty constant since I started using dial-up BBSes in the early 90s. I could chat with friends instantly, download games/porn, war-dial and find new systems to (unlawfully) play with.

However, when I was away from my computer I was less distracted and could get a lot of (high school) work done. Cell phones are pretty much the only technology that has made distraction ever-present. That giant box with the 12-lb keyboard that used to sit on my desk at home is now shrunk down and within arm's reach at all times. It does pose a problem.

Also, the modern office is a place of distraction; especially open-format offices. I work in one of these and I generally avoid coming into the office if I have some detailed work I have to do. Managers don't seem to realize what an awful place those types of offices are for actually getting work done. High ceilings that bounce noise, inconsistent temperatures, seeing frequent movement out of the corner of your eye, people goofing off two rows away.

I've already picked up some of the behaviors the author details. I don't use social media (except LinkedIn, very infrequently). I silence my phone while working. I take breaks every 90-120 minutes. I keep a calendar of all my appointments and meetings, in and outside of work.

One other suggestion I think is good: have a "work" computer and a "play" computer/device. If you have a work laptop, then this is pretty easily done. I equate this to the advice given about beds. Beds are only for sleeping and sex. Don't study in a bed, don't eat in a bed, don't work in a bed. I find when I'm in front of my "work" machine, that I'm more naturally prone to doing "work" things and not "play" things.

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

#23

Post by wodenokoto »

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 )

Facebook runs the Web version of messenger on messenger.com

This is just the chat function - no need to edit CSS or anything.

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

#24

Post by mattkrause »

imgabe wrote: post #15
mattkrause wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's pretty unrelated to deep learning.

That's my point....

Remember how in the late '90s, everything was e-/i-/cyber, even things that were only tangentially related to computers or networking? It feels like that.

Today, I've seen posts and ads for "deep work", "deep analytics", "deep thinking", (not using anything recognizable as deep learning), and a few other things. Most of these are more-or-less idiomatic, but I think they would have been called something else 5 or 10 years ago.

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

#25

Post by hsitz »

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.…

"I think self-control should be valued higher than self-restriction."

Well, I wish it could be that way. But it's not. Or, at least, it's not even an issuing of valuing one more than the other. Using self-restriction strategies is based on understanding and acknowledging that our self-control is not as strong as we want it to be, our level of self-control varies over time and may not be as strong in the future as it is right now, and our level of self-control is not wholly within our power.

What you call "self-restriction" strategies involve changing things so we don't need to assert self-control (will power) as much, but still get the benefits. Yes, this conflicts to some extent with (an old-fashioned, inaccurate, unjustified) view that ties lack of self-discipline to lack of personal responsbility. But the emphasis on self-restriction is actually an enlightened way of being _more_ responsible. You can (1) forego self-restriction and rely entirely on self-control and self-discipline as distractions come up, or (2) you can acknowledge, sadly, that self-control is limited and use self-restriction methods to reduce the need to rely on self-control as much. Which of those two is more responsible?

The author of the article ends it by suggesting that, although he hasn't found it, "there may be magical fix". That's wishful thinking. Yes, the "internet era" has made this stuff harder, but it has never been easy.

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

#26

Post by notliketherest »

Installed SelfControl app for Mac, and blocked every website that doesn't contribute to my work for two 4 hour periods during the work day. The first few days it's AMAZING how many instinctual visits to those blocked sites I made. After a couple days I stopped with the distraction and it actually helped me concentrate on my work.

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

#27

Post by anotheryou »

Swizec wrote: post #20
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 enc…

Hehe, makes sense, I'm guilty of compiler-facebook checks.

But here is also the question if it wasn't better to listen to your body in the long run, instead of tricking it in to something. On the other hand we need to counteract facebooks trickery of course.

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

#29

Post by anotheryou »

hsitz wrote: post #25
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.…

"I think self-control should be valued higher than self-restriction." Well, I wish it could be that way. But it's not. Or, at least, it's not even an issuing of valuing one more than the other. Using self-restriction strategies is based on understanding and acknowledging that our self-control is not as strong as we want it to be, our level of self-control varies over time and may not be as strong in the future as it…

Your reply makes sense and triggered some further thoughts:

We need to push ourselves to do things with no immediate reward (because our instincts are a bit short-sighted).

I however still fear that (2) might cause some detachment from your "inner self". If you force your mood, your feelings, your body to step back to make the high-level goal possible you might burn out quicker. The high-level goal being something you imposed on yourself, like having a skyrocketing career. That in itself might be triggered by swelling fears you don't want to deal with (to stay productive and functioning, haha, here we are in a spiral). On the other hand effective working might reduce stress too and your career can avoid money trouble. It's hard to weigh in all factors. But as said, I think it's healthy to be a bit skeptic towards such self-optimization.

edit: Another thought: when I was young I used to play computer all day long for the first 2 weeks of the big summer holidays. After that, quite suddenly, it urged me to do something more fulfilling that might be considered more healthy. I think there is power for self-regulation, even on a subconscious level, but it might need some more freedom to keep that. In this case it needed a whole 2 weeks to waste on games before it made me feel empty and longing for something else. 2 weeks of time sadly is a luxury I just had once a year as a teenager and is hard to come by as an adult.

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

#30

Post by neovive »

I tend to fall into the distraction trap for days/weeks at a time. It's hard to notice until you take a step back and realize how little was accomplished over a given time period.

"This is all a lot easier if you’re working on interesting and important things." Definitely one of the more important points made at the end of the article and, unfortunately, not always something within our control.

I was recently reading about learning theories (during a period of distraction) and noticed a possible relationship between Vygotsky's Zones of Proximal Development [1] and distraction. There must be a point of inflection between "completely distracted" and "deep working focus" where we feel compelled to switch off a current task or procrastinate. Maybe a similar scaffolding approach can be used to ease you back on task.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_proximal_development

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