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Deep work in practice: reimagining my workflow for radically less distraction
- amerine 10y agoThis is the first I've heard the term "deep work". Is this a more common term or something coined recently?
- throw20160915 10y agohttp://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/
- henrik_w 10y ago+1 for the book - really good!
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- mattkrause 10y agoI feel like the hype around deep learning is slowly spreading to all "deep [Noun Phrase]" phrases.
- amelius 10y agoWe're in deep shit now.
- imgabe 10y agoIt's pretty unrelated to deep learning.
- mattkrause 10y agoThat'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.
- imgabe 10y agoI can't really speculate on what might have happened 5 or 10 years ago, but I've read the book and have been following Cal Newport for a while (I read his previous book too) and it doesn't strike me as an attempt to capitalize on the "deep learning" trend. I mean, it's not even tangentially related other than that the author happens to be a computer science professor (who works on distributed systems, not AI).
- martin-adams 10y agoI 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.
- qntty 10y agoThis is the blog post that (I believe) coined the term: http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-bad-at-working-and-heres-what-to-do-about-it/ http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-...
- davidvaughan 10y agoI think it's a new term for something very old. People who needed to do serious work went to monasteries or lived in caves. The biggest distraction for many people is other people. Solitude is the way to get real work done. There's a lot of interesting stuff here: http://www.hermitary.com/articles/ http://www.hermitary.com/articles/
- anotheryou 10y agoI 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. allways riding the bike to work)) Personally I like small breaks between the tasks, but only if I change work contexts anyways. Do people really have a problem just riding the flow and not heading off to hackernews mid-task (honest question)? edit: here I especially don't get the "pomodoro" technique where you are interrupted by your own alarm every 20 min. Btw: noisy music works wonders for me sometimes (other times it's Bach I admit, but even than: loud Bach)
- kareemsabri 10y agoIt'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 interesting to me than editing my hosts files to block it, and using my willpower for more rewarding tasks (exercise, learning piano etc.) With that, I'm turning my block back on HN :)
- anotheryou 10y agoI 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 https://www.facebook.com/asdfgwhatever )
- sevenironcows 10y agoNews 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-eradicator-for/fjcldmjmjhkklehbacihaiopjklihlgg https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicat...
- Disruptive_Dave 10y agoThese 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.
- sevenironcows 10y agoAbsolutely. 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.
- tertius 10y agoI think this applies to escapism in general. Escapism is bad, but stopping it won't solve why you're escaping. Stopping the escapism is still important.
- smcguinness 10y agoI 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
- peterbsmith 10y agowhew! you're nailing it, good thing you're not taking silly breaks like going on hacker news and posting comments instead of working!
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- s3arch 10y agoDeep work is not only about spending maximum time on what you really want to do. It more on how you get the maximum efficiency out of it. And oh yes, "deliberate distraction" is highly recommended while doing deep work. So there is nothing wrong posting comments related to deep work on HN. :)
- awinter-py 10y agoHe uses 'decline in productivity' as evidence. Output per hour is measured in dollars, not %. I think he's giving us productivity growth. This is the wrong stat to use.
- cerrelio 10y agoMy 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.
- notliketherest 10y agoInstalled 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.
- 7402 10y agoAdd to the list of distractions: work situations that have a policy requiring a developer to keep a chat or messaging app open and monitored while working, either at the office or at home.
- neovive 10y agoI 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_proximal_development
- hal9000xp 10y agoSince February 2016, I started working with a timer. I have an agreement with myself that if a timer on my phone is set for 15, 30, 60, 120, 180 minutes, I should work non-stop without any distractions (no food, no music, nothing except my work). Since then, it's much more easier for me to work really hard and be very focused. If I'm too lazy to set timer for 3 hours, then I set for 15 minutes. It's easy to convince yourself to work hard during 15 minutes. Then I usually become warmed up a bit and set a new timer for 30 minutes, then for 60 etc. I also keep track of how much time I spend daily. For example, in October, I worked purely on algorithms like this: 01.10.2016 4 02.10.2016 6 03.10.2016 1.75 2 04.10.2016 2 0.75 05.10.2016 0.5 10.10.2016 0.5 11.10.2016 0.5 12.10.2016 1 13.10.2016 0.5 1 14.10.2016 1.5 15.10.2016 1 2.5 16.10.2016 0.25 2 2.5 17.10.2016 1.25 18.10.2016 0.5 Numbers are hours. I.e. 0.5 = 30 minutes. Several numbers mean that I had pause/time gap in between. Algorithms/math and problem solving olympiad problems require a lot of really hard work. With a timer, I'm working much more effectively like I never did before. P.S. Why timer on a phone instead of a computer? Well, it's easier for me to just click and close window on the computer. If timer rings on phone, I have to get up and walk to the phone (I intentionally put it on the next table). By the way, it's very good to keep a journal because overtime your collected data about yourself become valuable. For example, I plan to draw a graph with moving average, so I would see overall picture how dedicated I'm. If you don't have such data, it's easy to fall into trap convincing yourself how good you are (like I did before).
- Arun2009 10y agoA key skill in focusing on something is realizing when you have become distracted and bringing your attention back to the task at hand. The sooner you do this, the better. Usually we tend to get carried away by stimuli and become "lost" for long times at stretch. This not only eats up time, but also consumes mental energy that we could have otherwise used for productive work. I have been successfully using meditation as a "model problem" to train my ability to become aware when I have become distracted and bring my attention back to the object of focus. A classic analogy of mindfulness meditation is that of an elephant (your mind) tied to a post (your breath or whatever is the object of your focus) through the rope of mindfulness. When the elephant strays, the rope pulls it back to the post. While there seems to be some scientific evidence that meditation does indeed improve your ability to concentrate on any general task, my own conviction arises from seeing first hand the similarity between countering distracting stimuli during meditation and during general work.
- J-dawg 10y agoI only heard the term "deep work" yesterday, listening to Cal Newport on James Altucher's podcast. It's a pretty good introduction and he talks about his own approach to work. He's also a professor of computer science! They talk about his other book first (also interesting), so you need to skip a little way ahead for the deep work stuff. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-james-altucher-show/id794030859?mt=2&i=375568891 https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-james-altucher-show/... http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2016/09/cal-newport/ http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2016/09/cal-newport/
- mitul_45 10y agoRecently, I have been working on something exactly similar - An app to schedule your day: https://github.com/mitul45/ta-calendar https://github.com/mitul45/ta-calendar Check it out and let me know what you guys think!
- ChrisLTD 10y agoLooks good! I built a similar free app for iOS: http://longdayapp.com http://longdayapp.com
- rpastuszak 10y agoJust realised I was reading this article whilst listening to a TED talk in a different tab. I guess he has a point here.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- adambmedia 10y agoThe irony of Hacker News articles on productivity and focus is not lost on me.
- agumonkey 10y agoMy takeout from this: positive unknowns are addictive to your brain. Everytime you checkout a website too often you're mostly like a kid before christmas. For a second it defused my own behavior pattern, I may be able to stop losing hours of void refresh per day.
- laredo312 10y agoLike what people are saying about mindfulness. Ideally, we can notice ourselves drift and self-correct at that moment. Also think fear plays a role. Hard work can be scary. This video on procrastination from School of Life comes to mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QetfnYgjRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QetfnYgjRE Personal favorite tip: Breaking things into bite-sized tasks! I have a whiteboard for just this purpose. Timewarp is going to help me. Set some wormholes up with quotes like "Stop playing the slot machines"
- repeek 10y agoFor macOS users, there is a very lightweight app called, appropriately enough, SelfControl [1]. Add the domains you'd like to block to the blacklist, then set the amount of time you'd like them blocked. Another thing that helps me focus is Chrome's user profiles (and the main reason I haven't migrated to Safari). I maintain both 'Work' and 'Play' profiles -- that separation helps limit the urge to cycle through my bookmark bar. [1] https://selfcontrolapp.com/ https://selfcontrolapp.com/
- epitomix 10y agoI find that I am actually more productive with constant stream of minor distractions. Although I do find real work distractions to be more effective, e.g. background conversation, people walking by.