We live in a more distracted world than ever before. Smart phones, instant messaging, social media, and endless notifications breed constant and persistent distraction. Couple this with a working culture that prioritizes busywork over productive deep work and we are in for a world of trouble! In work and school employees and students are taught to engage in constant activity, regardless of what the results of those activities are. School assessments are ripe with page requirements for essays and papers as teachers and professors are more concerned with their student’s ability to write long papers rather than the content within those papers (a completely nonsensical approach but one that’s gripped modern America by the jugular). Employees are bombarded with endless pointless time wasting meetings that are too frequent and lack any clear direction. Deep work is missing from our culture and it is perhaps the most essential framework of productivity in the line of knowledge work. As Cal Newport defines it in his bestselling book, Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success In A Distracted World, deep work is “Professional activity performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.” Almost none of the work most people do fit under this category and instead fall under the umbrella of shallow work.
What is shallow work vs. deep work and are they both necessary?
Shallow work is work done in a state of distraction. For example, shallow work is done when work is constantly being interrupted to respond to an email or answer a text. These breaks in concentration are very difficult to recover from. It takes a lot of energy to enter into a state of deep concentration and when we get there the work we produce is an obvious level up (or multiple) from the work you would produce otherwise. As a matter of fact, I’m in that state as I write this right now! Deep work is an essential part of my day. It allows me to focus on getting my best work done in writing, content creation to build my real estate brand, and also gives me uninterrupted time to learn by reading books and watching videos on things that will help me improve a skill I wish to create value with and in turn monetize. This concept of deep work can be applied to your life as well, personally and professionally, to reach a deeper level of work quality you cannot come close to achieving otherwise. If you need to write something, learn something, create a presentation, etc., what better way to do that than turning your phone off, leaving it in another room, and locking yourself in a room for 2 hours distraction free. It’s a simple concept, but a lost art in our world. I guarantee you will unlock a level of unmatched productivity using this strategy.
Shallow work for many jobs including mine is necessary by default, but must be separated from deep work times by time blocking and scheduling. For me, shallow work is the day to day things I need to accomplish to run my business. My deep work is what drives the direction of the business and keeps it at the forefront of innovation and trend setting in my industry. My shallow work consists of developing presentations for the deals my team puts under contract, making social media posts and engaging with potential buyers for my deals, and scheduling/fielding phone calls to sell these deals to real estate investors. This work cannot be avoided, but I have designed a system to make this process as seamless as possible, so much so, I should be able to outsource it in the future. My goal is to create systems and processes to run my business and I use my deep work period to manifest these systems and processes so I can stop working in my business and instead work on it. Unfortunately, at least for now, half of my day consists of shallow work. This work is shallow because it’s distracted and bombarded with stimuli overload so much so my concentration is constantly broken. I am jumping from one call to the next and my brain is scattered in a million different directions. I acknowledge the necessity of this in my current state. My business wouldn’t be able to operate if I didn’t do these things. However, I understand that deep work is the true driver of my business and will be yours too if implemented correctly and consistently.
Make distractions invisible
To many, entering this state of deep work can seem impossible. However, we can borrow a nugget from Atomic Habits by James Clear when he says, to paraphrase, in order to eliminate a habit the first thing we should do is make whatever triggers that habit invisible. For all of us, it’s our phones and notifications. Right now as I write this, my computer monitor is off and I have one tab open. My phone is out of sight and it is currently on “do not disturb” mode with a timer on it so I know when my deep work period is over. Out of sight out of mind! I am now free from the shackles of distraction to work as deeply as I possibly can. It is really that simple. If you doubt this, try it. Is there something you have been trying to accomplish for only God knows how long but you can just never seem to bring yourself to do it for one reason or another? Great. Lock yourself in a room for 2 hours, leave your phone in another room, put it on “do not disturb” mode, and get to work! The concentration you will unlock will be a high you probably haven’t experienced in some time if ever! Learning to incorporate pockets of deep work into your schedule can literally change your life for the better permanently! The secret is simple, deep work is the answer.